Key takeaways:

• How do males dominate corporate culture? Women comprise over half the population, but they still make up only 4.8% of the largest companies’ CEOs.
• Why does it matter? Male-driven corporate cultures can lead to unfair work environments, where women don’t have the same opportunities as men, and traits associated with masculinity are more highly valued and prioritized.
• How to ensure women can thrive: 

1. Prioritize DEI initiatives
2. Ensure female workers have a voice
3. Develop a mentorship program
4. Train employees on discrimination and sexual harassment
5. Create a culture of communication and transparency

While women continue to make strides in previously male-dominated industries, there are still big gaps between men and women.   Women often miss out on leadership numbers, pay and career advancement opportunities.

Some industries are more male-dominated than others, like computer science, engineering and other STEM fields. This dominance can introduce adversity to non-male employees, impacting the entire corporate culture of a company or even industry.

This post dives deeper into the issue of women’s success in the workplace. It offers some guidance to ensure women can succeed in male-driven corporate cultures.

It isn’t hard to find statistics that prove just how male-dominated many industries actually are. Politics is the perfect example. Women make up 51% of the U.S. population, but here are some eye-opening statistics about how present they are in government:

• 28% of Congress
• 24% of the Senate and 28% of the House of Representatives
• 0% of U.S. presidents
• 25% of mayors in over-30,000 population cities
• 31% of elected state executives across states

Men continue to dominate in the corporate realm, too. Fortune found that just 4.8% of the world’s largest companies are run by female CEOs.

The problem goes much deeper than a simple lack of representation in these roles. When men are primarily leading and driving companies, the traits and attributes closely associated with masculinity will be more recognized and valued, like taking a cut-throat approach, being crass about a woman’s appearance, winning at all costs, never admitting mistakes and many more. These masculine values, which often turn into toxic workplace masculinity, are still prevalent in the corporate world.

When young professional women don’t have any role models or examples of women in power, they’re less likely to believe they can pursue those paths themselves. They may not even see it as an option. Other problems that exist with overly masculine corporate cultures:

• Women are pigeonholed into stereotypes of being good at certain roles, like administrative duties.
• Roles like teachers, administrators, nurses and social workers will continue to be thought of as the best jobs for women, limiting what young females decide to study.
• Men feel they need to win or dominate at all costs, leading to microaggressions or aggressive behavior.
• Women are left out of old-fashioned “boys’ clubs” at work.
• Women don’t get promoted or receive equal pay for doing the same work as men.

And there are many more. The first step is recognizing these issues, and the next is putting policies and practices in place to address them.

While these facts are an unfortunate component of modern work life, there are still steps to take to overcome this adversity and succeed in male-dominated work cultures. Here is what you can do to ensure females can thrive at work:

1. Prioritize DEI initiatives

When a toxic masculine work environment exists, everyone is impacted – not just women. It is important to implement a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program that specifically focuses on these issues with trainings, procedures, data-gathering and goal-setting.

The organization should be able to use data about its workforce to assess where it stands in DEI and gender equality. It should set clear, measurable goals about where it would like to be and how to get there.

1. Ensure non-male workers have a voice

Part of addressing diversity is ensuring that every person at work has a voice and can give feedback. Ensure women have a platform. Employees at every stage, whether entry-level or executive, should be able to contribute.

Bring in employees’ thoughts and opinions about diversity at work. Address frustrations they may be experiencing, management and other topics that help paint a picture of where the work culture is currently.

 2. Develop a mentorship program

Never underestimate the power of the role model. When women can see other women in leadership positions, they start to be more confident that they can take on those roles. One study found that by simply exposing women to role models who were powerful females, they were less likely to automatically assume stereotypes about their gender and abilities.

Start by creating a mentorship program where women can work with other women in higher positions. They should be able to meet regularly, discuss career goals and provide feedback and guidance.

3. Train employees on discrimination and sexual harassment

Sexual harassment and workplace discrimination are common consequences of male-driven work cultures. Pew Research found that 59% of women and 27% of men have received unwanted sexual advances or verbal or physical sexual harassment, with 69% of those women saying they had experienced the harassment in a professional or work setting.

While policies should be put in place that state the company doesn’t tolerate this behavior, it’s also crucial to educate people about these problems. Provide the latest research and emphasize the problems. Make sure employees know that they are in a safe space where they can speak up when something happens.

4. Create a culture of communication and transparency

Communication should be a priority across the board. Leadership should take steps to ensure people know where to turn if they have a concern or question. Any time an issue does happen at work, executives should address the problem directly and show employees how they’re resolving it and moving forward. Managers should encourage consistent feedback and openness so people can always share.

Transparency is key so that everyone knows exactly what’s going on. Address how the company is taking action to prioritize women at work.

Even though progress has been made in the last few decades, we still have a long way to go to dismantle male-driven corporate culture. Prioritizing the right training programs and DEI initiatives are important places to start.

Finding the right solutions for HR can be a challenge, but it’s a must to ensure your employees are taken care of. StaffLink is here to help you create a better approach for HR tasks, payroll management, benefits administration and more so your workers can succeed.

Request a proposal or contact us at (954) 423-8262 for more information.