Study on non-legislative initiatives for companies to promote gender ...

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120 Gender equality initiatives 3.10 Benefits for companies To conclude this analysis of company initiatives that promote gender equality at the workplace, some of the main benefits for the companies themselves shall be highlighted. In general, the promotion of a diverse workforce (and of gender equality in particular) is said to also lead to better economic performance of the company; there are studies that support this. In the following are some statements experiences from the point of view of the companies that have been questioned in this research: • Intangible assets, such as motivation, employee pride and societal awareness help the enterprise to become a high-performance business. Therefore it is worth investing in these intangible assets. • It is not only about gender equality, but about creating an environment where everyone can deliver at their best; people perform best when they feel valued, included and respected. • Relationships are strengthened and trust is built but it is essential that gender equality is a real value to the Board as only with absolute commitment (action instead of words) beneficial results can be achieved. • Investing in gender equality measures raises employee satisfaction (of men and women) which reduces fluctuation, sickness leaves, etc. (and therefore cost for the enterprise). • The working climate in (gender) mixed teams and with both, male and female managers ameliorates and employees/managers tend to be more productive and innovative and the quality of the work improves. • Different opinions are brought in which is believed to make a company more successful. • A mixed team/employing diverse persons facilitates delivering individual solutions to the diverse customers. • The pool of applicants is enlarged when a company appeals to men and women. This is essential in competitive industries where there is a shortage in skilled persons. • The (external) reputation of the company rises which on the one hand helps to keep respectively attract customers/clients and on the other hand makes talents wish to work for the company.
Gender equality initiatives 121 4 Comparative analysis and assessment Based on the descriptions of the various approaches and types of non-legislative initiatives in chapter 2 and initiatives individually taken by companies in chapter 3, the present chapter is devoted to a comparative analysis of the diversity of measures with a view to how they are designed, success factors and drawbacks, effectiveness, and scope of use. 4.1 Comparing types and themes of initiatives The overall aim of all the initiatives identified is to tackle gender inequalities and to contribute to more gender equality. Nevertheless, many of the initiatives have a more special focus. Concrete aims for implementing such measures are manifold and reflect both specific fields where gender inequalities are visible and/or particularly challenging as well as particular regional conditions. So, the most important areas of intervention include: • Reconciliation of work and family: As women remain the main responsible person in the families to organise the household and to care for the children, a better reconciliation leads to an improvement of the situation of women in the labour market. Therefore, some of the initiatives focus on the double burden of women through supporting and highlighting of good practices of enterprises in reconciling work and family. All these initiatives include elements which aim at changing the common attitude and traditional division of labour among the genders and fostering the role and responsibilities of fathers in the long run to arrive at an equal sharing of family duties. • Horizontal labour market segregation: In all European countries, women are overrepresented in certain industry sectors and underrepresented in others. There are typical “female sectors”, such as education or personal services, and there are also typical “male sectors”, mostly technical and industry-oriented. This horizontal segregation is seen as one of the reasons for the gender pay gap, as female connoted jobs are regularly lower compensated. Thus, some of the initiatives aim at increasing women’s participation in so-called “male sectors” and economic fields to contribute to more gender equality and to tackle companies’ skills shortages at the same time. • Vertical labour market segregation: There also persists a vertical gender segregation which results in an underrepresentation of women in decisionmaking and management positions and contributes to the gender pay gap as well. Thus, some initiatives explicitly focus on measures to increase the share of women in decision-making bodies and management positions and to highlight enterprises active in this field. • Backlash in former socialist countries: The former socialist countries are confronted with a specific situation. The socialist regimes aimed at integrating all persons into the workforce and full time employment for women was the normal case (albeit poorly paid). The state provided childcare institutions and full-time day-care for children in school. Due to ideological backgrounds, education was seen as a public duty and families did not have the same importance here as in civil society. After the fall of the Iron Curtain a backlash started which resulted in a re-orientation towards a very traditional model of the
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