I believe gender equality in the workforce is about more than ticking a quota. The question I think we should be asking is ‘why aren’t there as many outstanding women ready and wanting to take that next step into management and senior positions?’ This is where we should be challenging the status quo.
I can honestly say, after almost 20 years in the corporate world, I don’t believe that I have ever missed out or been overlooked for anything because I was a woman. Now I am not naive, I know many women that haven’t been as lucky and have seen some very unfairly treated. I have been in situations where I have been treated differently being a women, especially given I’ve worked in Insurance for 18 years, but I’ve never let this impact my success or ability to do my job. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I actually think I’ve had more opportunities in my career because I am a women than the situations where I have been hindered. I’ve been on some amazing courses restricted to women, conferences, networking events and mentor groups. I know these have been needed to change embedded mindsets. I do believe, however, that we need to be very careful not to go to the other extreme where we start seeing capable and deserving men missing out on opportunities because they have been born male in this generation. Continue reading