Equality Means Business

June 5, 2014

There is a business case in pushing for equality as observed and practised by 670 global companies

From rappler.com by Pacita “Chit” Juan

“Men are hired on potential and women are promoted for performance.”

What a disturbing thought to think that in evaluating men and women, different standards apply. There seems to be an unconscious bias to rate men as leaders and bread winners while women are rated as homemakers or caretakers.

Men, please do not feel like this is the usual feminist statement. Please read on. There is a lot of sociology, culture and psychology involved than meets the eye.

Many companies now recognize dual roles in the home where it is not unusual for men to take the”caregiving”role or in local parlance, being the “house-band.” A keynote speaker in the recently held Women Empowerment Principles Event at the United Nations celebration of Women’s month, Susan Stalker, declared that her husband had no problems about being the “dominant parent” at home. Double income parents usually have to take turns in taking charge of the domestic issues. But in countries where hired househelp can be expensive, the issue of who takes charge of house stuff usually arises.

I am a witness to husbands taking charge of their sick children rather than their wives being saddled with having to take leaves from work. I admit I used to get affected as an employer when my male staff had to be the “responsible domestic parent.” After hearing the reports on what is happening all over the world, I am now more understanding of male partners being more “housecentric.”

We can admit that in the Philippines, we stereotype women as the mothers or parents to take care of all domestic matters. Well, if we ask for gender equality, we must open our minds to a broader understanding of domestic roles.

Gender equality is not about women’s lib or feminist issues. Gender equality means understanding that both sexes, both parents share in duties and privileges, as well. Companies who have signed up with the Global Compact like international audit firm Deloitte, for instance, allow both men and women to take a break from work because of a child’s important game or in our country, a first communion, a first milestone or otherwise an important school activity or a doctor’s visit.

Though we Filipinos have the luxury of being able to hire househelp, many households in the urban areas now prefer to do away with hired help. This has given rise to new business like laundromats even way back in the early nineties, to fast food deliveries and the availability of convenience products in the supermarkets like sliced vegetables ready to be made into “pinakbet” or chopsuey. This phenomenon shows a skew towards having households with both parents working and having to still cook when they get home.

Equal pay

Besides taking care of domestic matters, gender equality also means allowing more young mothers to quickly join back the workforce. Did you know that in the USA, even with Masters degrees, about 51% of degree holders drop out of the work force – what they now call “the missing middle”? Are the reasons child-bearing years? Besides having to rear children from toddler to teenage years, women also feel they “lose less” than having their husbands drop out from work.

And this is why equality means business. Both parents must realize these “midlife” choices and probably take turns in leaving work or in taking different roles at home. And the opportunity loss must be equal. Not pro-males or anti-females. If women and men had equal pay, this would be an easier decision to make.

The other area needing equality is in the boardroom. A top global company stated they had 32 board members and only 2 were women. For more women to get into the board (recommended diversity percentage is 20% of seats to be at least another gender), some of the men will have to give up their board seats, and allow women to rise to the top. Who takes care of this decision? Shareholders do.

Let us think of this “diversity in the boardroom” the next time we vote directors into board positions (Maybe our group SHAREPhil can make a campaign on this.).

So, equality also means gender pay parity and equal opportunity hiring or recruitment. Men are more likely to get raises or accepted into positions. If only quailfications or work experience are stated in resumes, and genders were blind, think about how many more women may be chosen rather than men or vice versa.

This is where recruitment needs a push from the CEO to be gender-blind.

And lastly, think about procurement. Gender equality also pushes the CEO of a global firm to think about women-owned enterprises or WOEs. Women-owned firms specially SMEs have to contend with more issues like access to finance and access to markets because of their limited exposure and domestic jobs they still are in charge of.

Culturally, women-owned firms also have to contend with multinational competitors whose financial muscle and marketing may be miles ahead of SMEs. Gender equality suggests giving SMEs (mostly WOEs) an equal chance by making even government look at the Procurement process, and choosing to diversify supplier preferences to include small, WOEs.

Around 670 companies globally have already signed the Global Compact who observe the WEPs. Or Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). Read about who these companies are in: www.weprinciples.org/Site/CeoStatement

In brief, the Women’s Empowerment Principles ask signatories to:

1. Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality;
2. Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights andnondiscrimination;
3. Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers;
4. Promote education, training and professional development for women;
5. Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women;
6. Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy; and
7. Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

Companies can engage with the WEPs in a number of ways:

• Demonstrate high-level commitment by signing the CEO Statement of Support.
• Use the Principles to assess, improve, promote and report on progress in implementing gender equality goals within the company and its sphere of influence.
• Share examples of business efforts for inclusion in the WEPs document Companies Leading the Way: Putting the Principles into Practice.
• Participate in meetings and events at the global and local levels.
• Promote the WEPs to peers and partners.
• Offer financial support and corporate sponsorship.

Is your company ready to sign up? Think about it. There is a business case in pushing for equality as observed and practised by 670 global companies. We need thousands more to sign up. (Check out www.weprinciples.org.) – Rappler.com

Chit Juan is a founder and owner of ECHOStore sustainable lifestyle, ECHOmarket sustainable farms and ECHOcafe in Serendra , Podium, Davao and Centris QC malls. She is co-chairperson of Women Corporate Directors (PHL chapter) and president of the Philippine Coffee Board Inc. You can follow her on twitter.com/chitjuan or find her on facebook:Pacita “Chit” Juan. Email her at puj@echostore.ph.