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Empowering women
in your workplace

These days, thankfully, more women are becoming senior leaders in a range of industries, but there’s still a long way to go, with much room for improvement.

Women are still significantly underrepresented in senior roles, and according to this ‘Women in the Workplace 2024’ report, only 1 in 4 C-suite executives are women. But the good news is, as a manager and leader, you’re in a position to help.

Better for business

As a manager and leader, you already understand your legal obligations to exclude gender discrimination.

But these days, proactive leaders know that it’s beneficial to go beyond simple ‘box ticking’, by creating a working environment where all employees feel safe, and secure, with a real sense of belonging.

Discrimination in any form leads to a toxic work culture, which can affect everyone’s performance, and even your business’s reputation.

It’s also more likely that employees will leave for more progressive employers, making it harder to attract and retain talented workers.

Not surprisingly, a discriminatory or toxic culture, has a significant negative impact on business, specifically, your bottom line.

So naturally, more inclusive businesses without discriminatory practices fare much better, attracting and keeping talent with increased productivity and a more positive workplace culture.

Empowering women in the workplace boosts gender equality and helps drive further business success by utilising a diverse range of perspectives, talents, and skills.

By creating equal opportunities for growth, you unlock the full potential of the women in your team — so, let’s have a look at some of the more effective and practical methods.

Start by listening

Hearing from women, by giving them a voice, is one of the most effective ways to empower the women you work with.

Making presumptions about what women want can be counterproductive, as needs change, each person’s circumstances are unique, and some methodologies become outdated as society progresses.

Here are three important and practical tips:

Ask questions

Talk to women in your organisation, regardless of job title, about their career development, working conditions, upskilling, work culture and upskilling.

Do they have concerns, or suggestions?

Make sure they’re heard

In group situations, like meetings, are they being listened to equally?

Are their suggestions and opinions perceived as valid?

Demonstrate

If you have capacity to bring in motivational speakers or business leaders, can they be successful women?

Create mentorship opportunities

Adding more women to your workforce is important, but it’s also imperative to support the growth of the women currently within your business.

The reality is, in most board meetings, women are usually outnumbered by their male colleagues.

One way to help address this imbalance, and help your female colleagues with career advancement, is through workshops, training sessions, skill-building exercises and mentorship programs.

When you identify women with potential and give them with right training and opportunities to perform leadership roles, you’re creating a more diverse and dynamic leadership team.

What else can you do?

It’s a huge topic to cover, so we can’t go into detail on everything you can do, but here are a few more quick tips for empowering the women in your workplace.

Welcome individuality

Differences can be strengths, lean into the varied perspectives and ways or working, be open to unexpected solutions

Make targets realistic and measurable

Often, in business, women need to prove themselves more than men, setting targets that are achievable creates solid outcomes (which can help with promotions, pay rises etc).

Be open and honest

Admitting to setbacks and mistakes is a powerful way of giving your female colleagues confidence, by proving vulnerability and failure are part of success.

Be approachable

Make sure the women in your team know you are open to hearing them, and working with them, to help them progress, or to address any issues.

Have their back

In situations like meetings, be vocal in showing your support. In other forums, like email, do the same by championing ideas and perspectives.

Celebrate strengths

Help your female colleagues gain more recognition by calling out their accomplishments and skills.
Enabling women, and your business, to thrive.

Empowering women is about fighting discrimination and pushing for social justice, but it’s also one of the most intelligent business decisions you can make, as studies show, year after year, gender diversity leads to better business outcomes.

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