Male middle managers must see gender equality as business-critical
16/03/2016

It is often presumed that the lack of women in senior positions is, at least in part, due to the lack of female role models. While role models are clearly important for women and men aspiring to leadership roles, just arguing for more role models for women is not going to be enough to increase the number of women in leadership roles. Instead we need to ensure that men (as well as women) become role models for gender equality and gender inclusive leadership. The reason for this is straightforward: we need organisational cultures to change and to be more inclusive for women. Even if a woman has many female role models that can inspire her, if she finds herself in a culture at work that really shows little gender awareness, it is unlikely that this woman is going to develop as a leader. We therefore need more men to practice gender inclusive leadership.
With the #HeforShe campaign that UN Women has initiated with Emma Watson, there is an increasing focus on men’s role in gender equality. In addition the Women’s Empowerment Principles a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact, asks CEOs to endorse the Women’s Empowerment Principles and thereby lend their support for gender equality. Over 1,100 CEO have become signatories. This shows that senior leaders, many of which are men, increasingly support gender equality. But are men in middle management positions supporting gender equality?
Middle managers are very crucial in organisations because they translate the strategy from the top into everyday actions. Yet they are also a group that are notoriously overworked and drawn in many directions, which gives them the reputation of being like ‘permafrost’ in organisations — resistant to change. And 70% of middle managers are men. While the men as middle managers might hear their CEOs calling for more gender equality, how they can change their daily practices to become a role model for gender inclusive leadership is often a mystery for them. In my recent report ‘Linchpin — Men, Middle Managers and Gender Inclusive Leadership’ I have outlined a range of practices that men can engage in to become role models for gender inclusive leadership. Men can be a central catalyst for making gender change happen by, for instance, checking on their own biases but also by reminding others of their biases.
Rather than calling on more women as role models for other women, it would be a better strategy to get men to role model gender inclusive leadership, particularly in middle management positions.
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Setting up a private group on Mendeley to support your group project
Many of our students are busy working on their group projects. Our top tip is to set up a private group on Mendeley. You can use it to store all your references, and to share ...
Tell us what you think of Library Services!
We want our students to have a great experience during their time at Cranfield. Each month, the University runs a short “Topic of the month” survey to focus on one service or facility and find ...
Air Transport Management alumni stories: SangHo (Henry) Han, Strategic Planning Manager in South Korea
SangHo (Henry) Han is a strategic planning manager at Air Premia in South Korea. He graduated from Cranfield University with an MSc in Air Transport Management in 2018. Here, Henry talks about his passion for ...
Life on campus and studying an Advanced Water Management MSc at Cranfield
After a year of working in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector, I started to look for opportunities to further my knowledge about water resources. Researching water organisations on LinkedIn led me to find ...
Sign up to our ‘Making your research open access’ webinar – 9 February
Do you know your green from your gold? What are publisher deals, and how can they help you? My paper acknowledges UKRI funding, do I need to do anything special? What does an author accepted ...
How the Executive Logistics and Supply Chain Management MSc improved my career outlook
Hear from Harrison Jnr Ilodiwe, Executive Logistics and Supply Chain Management MSc, on his student experience at Cranfield. Why did you choose to study the Executive Logistics and Supply Chain Management MSc at Cranfield ...