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Diversity and inclusion in the workplace
Diversity and inclusion in the workplace

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4 Sex

A photograph of three dice on a table showing the female and male sex symbols.

Although gender inequality, or gender bias, has been widely considered for many years, there are still a number of ways in which employers can continue to tackle it. Fuhl (2020) suggests several actions, including the following:

  • Be transparent – Report on your gender statistics and accompany this with a clear action plan on the steps you are taking as an employer to close the gender pay gap.
  • Support women into more senior roles – set targets, with interim milestones and deadlines and hold managers and decision makers accountable.
  • Implement gender neutral recruitment processes – for example, research shows that adjectives such as ‘competitive’ and ‘determined’ put women off. On the other hand, words such as ‘collaborative’ and ‘cooperative’ tend to attract more women than men.
  • Have a clear policy on discrimination – ensure that employees have a proper way to raise or report on issues of inappropriate treatment in the workplace.
  • Provide flexible working and de-stigmatise shared parental leave – shift your company mindset to assessing workers’ performance on their delivery and achievements rather than time spent in the office.