‘Are we nearly there?' is the familiar backseat cry on every car journey ever made with children. And surely in relation to gender equity across children's services and more widely, we have moved light years from Roger McGough's poem:
John's in the garden playing goodies and baddie
Janet's in the bedroom playing mummies and daddies
Mummy's in the kitchen washing and wiping
Daddy's in the study stereotyping.
On our Staff College ‘Women in Leadership' programme, we invite participants to watch ‘Redraw the Balance: challenging gender stereotyping' and ask a child they know to do the same activity. The outcomes are revealing – try it.
Take a look at some realities: two-thirds of directors of children's services are female, a steadily rising figure. In the key pipeline professions for those future leaders, 87% of the workforce are female, so it is not quite proportionate yet. Men are in the majority of the most senior roles in local government and the wider public sector, and in the UK, the gender pay gap will not close until 2051.
Globally, no country has yet achieved the promised UN 2030 gender equality sustainable development goals. Attitudes start early. By age five, children believe girls are not as good at maths as boys, and when picking a team for a game for ‘really smart children', both genders are more likely to choose boys than girls.
What do women in the workplace say and feel? They say ‘some progress …but more to do'. They report:
- Workplaces are more inclusive
- Hybrid/flexible working helps
- Care, health and wellbeing challenges not taken seriously enough
- Still ‘always on' at work and at home
- Feel over-worked and under-estimated
Policy is not yet translating into culture and practice where micro-aggressions are challenged, flexible working supported and intersectional bias is recognised and called out.
Systemic issues still to be addressed include broken rungs on career progression ladders, the challenge of being an ‘only', being over-mentored but under-sponsored and a ‘more of the same' approach to promotion ‘because we …commonly misinterpret displays of confidence as signs of competence, we are fooled into believing men are better leaders than women'.
Behind every statistic and story is a person. Is she one of your colleagues?
Yes, we have moved forward, but are far from there. We can all accelerate progress and contribute to ‘redrawing the balance' locally, nationally and globally, by taking the issue seriously, calling it out, being an active ally and advocate for women, and proactively identifying high potential diverse feminine talent. Life is mixed and leadership should be too.
We owe it to children now and in the future that their learning, opportunities for leadership and life chances are equitable, inclusive and fair. We must act now. The gender gap in life and work is a significant and unmerited reality, and for all of us, including children: ‘What we don't see, we assume can't be.'
Rose Durban is an associate at the Staff College
