What About the Men?

When I talk to various staff across the Department of Education and Training about the nature of my work in developing the Women in Leadership (WiL) strategy, I invariably find myself engaged in a word play like this:

X: Women in Leadership strategy? Is it only for women? What about the men?
Me: What about the men?
X: When are you going to do something for them?
Me: Men in leadership? They’re already there, aren’t they?
X: Well, what about the resources women are getting? If it’s supposed to be about equity and diversity, where are the resources for men?

The essence of the WiL strategy is centred around a cultural change agenda for the Department. “Cultural change” is a popular term and one that few people argue with – it’s hard to argue against something that contains such optimistic connotations. Besides, there’s a lot of anecdotal info around, the stuff we talk about on a day to day basis in staff rooms at morning tea time and in corridors around the water coolers, that suggest a widespread interest in the need to improve the way we do our business.

And, of course, as an ‘evidence based’ organization, there are studies like the 1999 Nexus Report and the preliminary findings of the follow-up survey conducted earlier this year. This evidence suggests that there are few differences between what women and men say they want in terms of career aspirations. It would seem that both women and men perceive that there are no real structural barriers to promotion. And it appears that social barriers (such as family responsibility and mobility issues) are equally applicable to both sexes. Organisational cultural barriers, however, come in for a hammering.

It’s easier (but has been by no means easy) to change structural barriers to promotion in the Department. But a culture (or should we be pluralistic and say, the many cultures that exist across the Department) is another kettle of fish.

Where to start, what to do? Here are a few observations on how we’ve gone about the WiL strategy:

• We’ve started!
• We’ve started with women (an interesting idea!).
• We’ve started with what women say they want and what the organization requires.
• We’ve got 3 (the universal magic number) programs of work to cater for different interests, needs and aspirations.
• We have “Women Only” spaces, but also include men in most parts of the strategy as participants, sponsors and mentors.
• We work to ensure commitment and support from the top and to give this initiative a high public profile.
• We communicate all opportunities openly and engage in rigorous selection processes.
• We recognise that leadership is exercised at all levels, in all contexts of the organization and in various guises.
• We’re aware of, and accept that, a backlash is inevitable (from all parts of the system, from males and females) and work to minimise its impact through applying the principles of inclusivity and diversity to all our actions.
• We’re about ‘small wins’ in local contexts to enact deep change (dramatic effects often have subtle causes).
• We’ve planned a comprehensive strategy for an initial period of three years, but we’re in this for the long haul (no fast elevators to the top, I’m afraid).

We’re pretty sure that, with WiL, we’re onto a good thing to improve the status of women in the organization. But what about the men? Sure, we’ve included them in our programs in various ways – as I’ve said, as participants in some events, as mentors and sponsors of women in our programs. But is that enough? Well, no, I don’t think it is.

Picture this:

My hands are still circling – they’re two separate circles, not overlapping at all. They’re getting a bit tired now, but I’m still circling, circling.

And I wonder how we can achieve cultural change by only concentrating on the right hand (women - 70% of our workforce, yes, but only 30% of the top decision-making positions).

The answer comes to me – we can’t! Anyway, how fair is it to place the onus of cultural change just on women’s shoulders? (not that this is the only cultural change strategy in the Department).

So, what do men need? I could suggest that what is needed is a separate cultural change program; that it needs to be initiated by men, for men; that it needs to start with male cultural change champions; and, that this should be done without affecting the resources dedicated to WiL. But maybe, the point is that we have to find out, and let men tell us, what they want in terms of cultural change and then ensure it is acted upon.

Back to the picture of my circling hands. Now I’m bringing the circles together to indicate a cohesive, cultural ‘whole’.

Any takers?

Note:

Maryanne Coombs was appointed Principal Consultant, Promoting Women in the Department of Education and Training of Western Australia in 2005, to manage the Women in Leadership Strategy as part of the Department’s Equity and Diversity Management Plan.