Bridging Gender Gap In Emerging Areas

In order to be truly limitless in being gender balanced and have an authentic culture of equality, organisations must be inclusive by design. It is a combination of bold goals, strategic actions and ensuring all people processes are inclusive. Strategies include cultivating a diverse pipeline of talent, eliminating biases across the talent management lifecycle, tracking attrition differences across diverse groups and making intentional investments towards skilling and enabling structures for women - all in all enabling organisations to stay at the heart of market-leading innovation and creativity.

Sustaining momentum — beyond achieving a near 50-50 gender balance — demands progressive-thinking and sustained effort. As we celebrate shattering the glass ceiling, here are a few areas of focus that can help shatter the walls of the room:

Working towards bigger, bolder milestones for equality: Creating a culture of equality and inclusion is a continuous journey and it is important to drill down deeper to ensure gender balance and a robust pipeline of women across levels, adequate women’s representation in critical business & leadership roles and fostering a culture where men & women partner with each other organically.

Solving for intersectionalities: Organisations must address challenges of specific groups of women, particularly those at intersectionalities and enable support during moments that typically result in their exit from the workforce. Support infrastructure may include flexible work options, skilling and integration support to returning mothers or women returning after a career break and addressing the needs of women as caregivers, LGBTQI+ community members or persons with disabilities.

Closing the gender gap in emerging skills: Bridging the gender gap in emerging areas such as AI is crucial, given women’s underrepresentation – as per a 2020 World Economic Forum report, women account for only 26 per cent of data and AI positions. Investing in learning opportunities and leveraging women leaders as mentors can inspire more women to reinvent themselves and pursue these opportunities. This can help organisations harness diverse perspectives crucial for tapping into the potential of these emerging skills and technologies.

However, to truly shatter the walls of the room, we need to extend our learnings and impact beyond our own organisations, to the broader community. This is not just beneficial, but it is also our responsibility. We can do this by introducing skilling and sourcing models like inclusive apprenticeship programmes that empower diverse and under-served groups.