Snake or Ladder

I always take a deep breath when I hear about companies restructuring and planning redundancies - and there is a lot of cause for taking those deep breaths at the moment (let’s just say I’m not hearing about many companies being on hiring drives and investing in people right now).

These are difficult times for everyone and nobody of any gender is immune to losing their job, but the reality is that more women than men will find themselves slipping down the snakes and facing the exit door. We can look at the data together later, if you like, but trust me - this will be the case.

Why am I so sure? Because all the invisible, unconscious forces in the workplace that favour men and hold women back from climbing the ladder to the top are the same invisible, unconscious forces that will favour men when it comes to decision time about who should stay and who should go. Because it is this simple: in the majority of cases, the people who make decisions about who gets to have a job and keep it think the man is better than the woman. Even though the data tells us that this cannot be right, when we know that women are equally intelligent, competent and talented and so should be the ones chosen (and kept) 50% of the time. But the men are more comfortable in the male dominant culture, more confident in their competence (even if this isn’t justified), more visible and networked (out from under the Umbrella). And so the perception is that they are better and of higher value than their female peers, even when they are not.

I find it deeply frustrating to see brilliant, talented women struggling to climb the career leader and being under-represented in leadership, but I find it heartbreaking to see them lose their jobs altogether. We have to stop allowing these invisible forces to lead us to under-value women versus men. If someone really must slide down off the snake, let’s do better at assessing who, really, it should be.