In January we met to discuss \u2018Why men win at work:\u2026 and how we can make inequality history\u2019 by Gill Whitty-Collins. This book looks beyond the facts and figures of gender bias in the workplace and studies the psychology of gender inequality. Described as \u201c\u2026an almighty set of recommendations\u201d by Sunday Times Magazine and \u201cA must read for everyone working for a big corporation\u2026\u201d by Lorraine Candy, author. Find the book online here, or try out an Exeter independent here!<\/p>\n
Gill Whitty-Collins was relatively late discovering gender inequality, as some women are if they are privileged enough never to have experienced overt discrimination and harassment earlier in their career or have not been brought up to recognise their privilege. Multiple members have commented in past WiC meetings that they only appreciated the issues around gender inequality and other diversity issues in the workplace after commencing their PhD or postdocs in some cases. Gill Whitty-Collins says she has mentored hundreds of women during her career and through this will have gained insight into how gender inequality has affected many women. The gender spectrum is acknowledged but the simplistic men\/women binary is described and generalised, which is not intended to take away from people whose experiences do not fit these generalisations; workplace diversity benefits people from all genders.<\/p>\n
Gill Whitty-Collins takes a complex and nuanced issue and simplifies it into key themes and messages, including to-do lists for individuals and organisations. This makes the book a palatable and straightforward read, which hopefully encourages more people to read it and take onboard the messages within. Our members generally found lots in the book that they identified with and recognised from their own lives and careers.<\/p>\n
The overarching message of the book is that men win simply due to people believing that they are best at their jobs, but of course, this isn\u2019t true, with lots of data supporting that women are just as competent, intelligent and have just as much leadership capability.<\/p>\n
Gill Whitty-Collins persuasively and powerfully describes the key reasons why people believe this (under which there is lots of complexity not always covered in the book, though we guess the book is intended to be as straightforward as possible).<\/p>\n
Some of the points raised by our members include identifying with the sentiment that \u2018Men are afraid women will laugh at them, and women are afraid that men might kill them\u2019. It is easy for the privileged in society to not realise or forget the existence of underlying dynamics that don\u2019t affect them and considerations of those who are in a minority.<\/p>\n
We also felt like the book includes excellent practical advice, for example, in dealing with conflict; humour can be a useful tool to defuse tension. The author\u2019s position as an industry leader enables insightful useful practical advice.<\/p>\n
Although the consensus is that \u2018Why Men Win at Work\u2019 is a powerful, practical, and persuasive book that is ideal for sharing with newcomers thinking about diversity, the brevity of the book means that underlying complexity is not fully addressed, nor are other protected characteristics beyond the occasional brief mention, and intersectionality of gender with other characteristics is not covered. Some WiC members feel there are points in the book that we don\u2019t fully agree with such as the assertion that sport might be an easy fix for increasing woman\u2019s resilience to failure, or that men are better at taking criticism (or do they often deflect blame?). Some of the \u2018The science bit\u2019 chapter is thought to be inaccurate by our members, and we would suggest using the book as an opener, and then with an engaged audience you can start more nuanced diversity conversations, and encourage the reading of books by specialists who have debunked some of the past \u2018science\u2019 on gender, e.g., Inferior, Invisible Women, Delusions of Gender and Testosterone Rex.<\/p>\n
The additional chapter in the new edition on Covid-19 highlights that flexible working during the pandemic has not helped equality, with women taking on more household and childcare responsibilities, and so although flexible working can help some women, there need to be a range of changes to organisations and societal attitudes to improve gender diversity at senior levels in the workforce.<\/p>\n
Gill Whitty-Collins concludes the book with tips to drive equality, for both individuals and organisations, some of which include:<\/p>\n
For organisations:<\/p>\n
For everyone who this will help:<\/p>\n
For men (as allies of women and non-binary persons):<\/p>\n
In January we met to discuss \u2018Why men win at work:\u2026 and how we can make inequality history\u2019 by Gill Whitty-Collins. This book looks beyond the facts and figures of gender bias in the workplace and studies the psychology of gender inequality. Described as \u201c\u2026an almighty set of recommendations\u201d by Sunday Times Magazine and \u201cA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1187,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n