How the Parity Prescription Can Work For You
The Parity Podcast is a community for everyone ready for a workplace of true gender parity with equal numbers of women and men at all levels of organizations including the coveted top positions. Women have had the right to vote for 100 years, but most experts believe that we will not achieve workplace parity for another 135 years! 135 years is a long time, friends, to wait for equality.
The goal of the Parity Podcast is to accelerate gender parity by being a coach, mentor, and trusted friend for all of you who are ready now. We created our signature Parity Prescription to help us make meaningful change together. We want our Parity Prescription to be easy to remember, so we organized it so that it spells “script”:
S: Stop Trying to Change Women
C: Create Diverse Teams
R: Recognize Unconscious Bias
I: Intentionally Include
P: Partner with Men as Allies
T: Talk About the Issues
By implementing the Parity Prescription, we can accelerate gender parity now.
Stop Trying to Change Women
The first element of the Parity Prescription is to Stop Trying to Change Women, or in reverse, support the authenticity of women in the workplace. We will not achieve gender parity if we continue to focus on changing women instead of allowing women to be their authentic selves. Our bookshelves are filled – quite literally – with volumes of advice about how women should think, act, dress, be confident, believe in yourself, be empowered. But women are not broken; some women are just different than men. There are hundreds of books for sale about “advice for working women,” but only a few for “advice for working men.” There is an entire industry out there trying to “change” women so that we “fit” into a culture that we didn’t create. Women and male allies need to work together so that we all continuously improve ourselves and workplace cultures to create a more equitable workplace. You can learn more about how women and male allies can disrupt bias in How to Fight Gender Inequality with our Parity Prescription. You can also learn more about the importance of authenticity for women in How to Discover and FLEX Your Authenticity at Work.
Create Diverse Teams
The second element of the Parity Prescription is to create diverse teams. Creating diverse teams helps us break the bias including unconscious bias and even explicit bias or outright sexism. There is so much sharing of information and learning that happens when you create diverse teams. Studies show that diverse viewpoints in the workplace result in more profitable businesses and create more satisfying workplaces where people want to stay longer. Creating a diverse team is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also smart business. The next time you need to put people together to meet with a customer or to develop ideas for a project, make sure that your group is diverse.
It is equally critical to lead with empathy and have strong emotional intelligence. As you create diverse teams, some may gain in responsibilities while others may lose. You need to have empathy for the impact of these shifting relationships on co-workers. To the extent you can, it is nearly always better to include more people instead of excluding anyone so that no one feels side-lined. You can learn more about the benefits of diverse teams in Action Steps to Shake it up with Diversity and Inclusion. You can learn more about leading with empathy and emotional intelligence by listening to The Treasure Trove of EI: Interview of Dr. Nithila Peter.
Recognize Unconscious Bias
The third element of the Parity Prescription is to recognize that we all have unconscious bias. Resulting from a lifetime of exposure to information and images reinforcing men’s primary role in the workplace, most of us carry unconscious bias against working women especially for leadership and STEM roles. We all have some unconscious bias resulting from how and where we were raised, books and tv that we viewed growing up, and other experiences that affected us, whether we know it or not.
At a recent conference, Dow's Zen Saunders said, “if you have a brain, you have unconscious bias.” The impact on women swimming against this tide is challenging, and for Black and other women of color, even more profound due to intersectionality. You can learn more about intersectionality in a book written by the woman who first coined the term intersectionality by reading On Intersectionality: Essential Writings by Kimberle' Crenshaw.
It’s important that we all understand our own bias so that we can check ourselves and break the bias. Are we promoting Charles instead of Anne because Charles has better skills? Or is our unconscious bias playing a role? You can learn more about unconscious bias in How to Uncover Unconscious Bias So We Can See Women. You can also learn more about how to break the bias by listening to How to Break the Bias with Guests Lilian Agyemang-Yeboah and Ashia Johnson and reading 22 Ways to Break the Bias for the 2022 International Women's Day.
Intentionally Include
The fourth element of the Parity Prescription is to intentionally include women. A business does not operate at its best unless it is inclusive of everyone including women and others who are underrepresented. Women in male-dominated workplaces, professions, or industries report higher rates of gender bias.
To break the bias, workplaces should foster cultures of inclusion. Create cultures so that women are not interrupted and have equal air time during meetings and calls. Also, create safe spaces so that women can speak freely about their ideas and concerns. Everyone will benefit from these cultures. You can learn more about how to foster inclusive workplace cultures in Eight Signposts of Workplace Cultures Where Women Thrive.
Leaders should also be trained on how to lead with empathy and be active listeners. We should all be emotionally and mentally open to change so that we can reduce gender bias. One way to lead with greater empathy is to imagine stepping into someone else’s shoes. You will never fully understand another person’s experience, but the practice is a step towards greater understanding, awareness, and empathy.
In workplaces with strong cultures of inclusion, leaders are active listeners. They seek to listen and understand someone else’s experience with bias with an open mind before forming judgments. By listening and imagining someone else’s experience with bias before forming opinions, we have a greater opportunity to find new pathways for greater understanding.
You can learn more about how to intentionally include everyone in Action Steps to Shake it up with Diversity and Inclusion.
Partner with Men as Allies
Male allies are a critical part of the Parity Prescription. Male allies can help break the bias as we move towards a more equal workplace. Women alone cannot disrupt bias so we need men to step up as male allies. Unless male allies are as committed as women to reduce gender bias, change will not happen. For tips on how to be a male ally, check out How Male Allies Can Lean In For Measurable Gains to Achieve Parity.
Male allies can break the bias by mentoring women. According to studies by Harvard Business Review, formal mentoring programs have been shown to increase gender diversity. Other studies have shown that mentors often learn just as much as mentees so mentorship programs are a win/win. Male allies can also break the bias by sponsoring women or taking other steps to advocate for the advancement of women.
Allyship starts at home. According to McKinsey, women perform up to 3x as much work at home as compared to men, so it is important for male allies to support women at home as well as the workplace.
Most men want women to succeed, but men don’t always know how to support women. The Parity Podcast speaks not only to women but also to male allies. As we pivot away from “changing” women and move towards everyone within organizations making changes, male allies will be the champions making it happen.
You can learn more about how allies - how to find them and how to be them - in How Male Allies Can Lean In for Measurable Gains to Achieve Parity. You can also learn more ways about how male allies can break the bias by listening to How to Break the Bias with Guests Lilian Agyemang-Yeboah and Ashia Johnson and reading 22 Ways to Break the Bias for the 2022 International Women's Day.
Talk about the Issues
The final element of the Parity Prescription requires that we talk about the issues. Change is accomplished by speaking up – we will not achieve gender parity without open dialogue about what works and what doesn’t, and what is perceived by women as bias. Otherwise, your organization’s culture will never change.
Conversations have the potential to change your life and the trajectory of your organization. Sometimes you have to let things go, but you can’t let everything go. If you never raise your hand or challenge a decision, then things will never change. To break the bias, speak out to confront gender bias when it is safe to do so, and talk through strategies about how to have these conversations with trusted mentors, sponsors, and male allies. You can learn more about how to plan for these tough conversations by listening to How to Have Tough Conversations at Work.
Join Us
A combination of each of these elements will help us achieve gender parity. The Parity Podcast was founded by Cathy Nestrick and Deborah Pollack-Milgate. Cathy is a former law partner and General Counsel of a Fortune 500 company. Deborah is a partner at Barnes and Thornburg, practicing IP and commercial litigation. Both are committed to accelerating gender parity through the Parity Prescription. We are happy to talk to you and your organization about how we can work together to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. You can learn more about our work at www.par-ity.com and you can reach us at CathyandDeborah@par-ity.com.
