LeadershipHQ Magazine June 2015 2nd Edition | Page 5

Leadership and
gender equality

…”Men themselves have wondered what they see in me.
They try so much, but they can’t touch my inner mystery.
When I try to show them, they say they still can’t see.”
~ Maya Angelou, “Phenominal Woman”
Gender equality as something more than two words
written in an idealistic and ethereal construct seems
distant. However, humanity surpasses us and seemingly
impossible things can change. February 1990: South
African President FW De Klerk orders the release of Nelson
Mandela from Victo Verster Prison. Manifesting
practicalities created tension and disagreement between
the two men – the first of many - as they negotiated the
tricky path toward what was essentially, the transfer of
power. In truth, both remarkable men needed the other if
apartheid was to end.
I’m contributing to an organisation’s strategic programme to
increase its representation, distribution and participation of
women. The organisation’s history is traditional, hierarchical
and culturally masculine. Its organisational narrative
articulates aspirational pursuit of ‘excellence’, and desire to
embrace ‘change’. The organisation’s reality is somewhat
different: its proportion of women has stalled at around 15%
and inclusion of women isn’t significantly reflected in the
organisation.
Someone asked what I was bringing to the table. I said,
“I don’t think your 30% women stretch goal’s ambitious
enough”. Swift glances up from notebooks, and silence in
5 | © LeadershipHQ 2015

the room held a moment or two. I said, “If you’re going to
put a number on it, then make it 45% - and how do you
know that the problem you have stated is the right
problem?” The person said, “Wow!” I liked her; she saw I’d
just presented the opportunity to be more ambitious.
These were smart, dedicated people wanting to make
their organisation better.
I offered ‘Red Teaming’ their aspiration to employ more
women. Red Teaming (with carefully selected and
quintessential heretics) allows decision makers
to enhance their knowledge and understanding through
consideration of alternative perspectives. It challenges
strongly
held
institutional
assumptions
(not
uncomfortable!), and has to be pragmatic. 45% isn’t a
target, or tokenism - it involves developing mindsets that
women could actually comprise half the workforce essentially potential transfer of power.
If you decide to read and learn a little about feminist
theory then I challenge you not to say that, “Yes! There’s a
problem with gender as it is today, and we must fix it; we
must do better”. What consequences for an organisation,
if it doesn’t include more women? At base level, it’s about
survival; a horse exists with one sole purpose driving all
its thinking and behaviour – to pass on genetic material.