Choose to challenge, to take the lead on gender parity in a post-pandemic Sri Lanka

The pandemic may be amplifying biases women have been facing for years: higher performance standards, harsher judgment for mistakes, and penalties for being mothers and for taking advantage of flexible work options – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara 

Every year, we reflect on and celebrate the progress made on gender equality on International Women’s Day. This year’s theme, #ChoosetoChallenge, pushes us to challenge the status quo, call out systemic gender inequality and drive meaningful, sustainable change for all women.

Over the last couple of decades, Sri Lanka has made commendable advances in gender equality both in participatory democracy and in labour-force participation. The country earned its place in history by electing the world’s first female prime minister in 1960. As of October 2020, women represent 34.5% of the labour force and 39% of the expatriate workforce, as shared by Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the 25th anniversary of the fourth World Conference on Women. 

Sri Lanka can gain tremendously by building on these milestones. A 2018 report on the power of parity from the McKinsey Global Institute found that if the country matched the rate of progress on gender equality of Singapore (Asia-Pacific’s fastest-improving country), GDP would increase by 14.4%, or $ 20 billion by 2025.

It is not just countries that stand to gain from investing in women; McKinsey’s research has also found a diversity dividend for companies. Our research found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile, up from 21% in 2017 and 15% in 2014.

Moreover, we found that the greater the representation, the higher the likelihood of outperformance on profitability. Companies with more than 30% female executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30, and in turn these companies were more likely to outperform those with even fewer women executives, or none at all. A substantial differential likelihood of outperformance – 48% – separates the most from the least gender-diverse companies.

However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to reverse a lot of the global progress made on gender parity. Women’s economic prospects have been hit the hardest in this pandemic. Our research has found that women’s jobs globally are 1.8 times as vulnerable to this crisis as their male counterparts’. Globally and in Sri Lanka, one reason for this is that women are disproportionately represented in industries that are expected to have the largest declines due to COVID-19, such accommodation and food service, retail and wholesale trade, and other services including arts, recreation and public administration. 

In addition to being more vulnerable to unemployment, women continue to work a double shift at home. With the closure of schools and day-care centres during the pandemic, Sri Lankan women are taking on a disproportionate share of childcare in the home. Women are also taking on many other responsibilities in unpaid care; they do an average of 75% of the world’s total unpaid-care work, including childcare, caring for the elderly, cooking and cleaning, as reported by a McKinsey Global Institute report in July 2020. 

While shifting national gender parity numbers amid the ongoing crisis may seem like a daunting task, it can be achieved through a collective effort by organisations and business leaders. We share three proposed actions for leaders to consider: 

Action #1: Leadership commitment to gender-diverse talents across the organisation

Leading companies recognise that the commitment to gender parity starts at the top, with many publicly committing to the agenda. Inclusive leaders—people-oriented leaders who recognise the business case as well as values-based need for diversity, and are excited to embrace change and able to bring out the best in their teams—are a pre-requisite to driving inclusive workplace cultures. 

According to our 2020 report on inclusion and diversity (I&D), US retailer Target is amongst the 5% of companies close to achieving gender parity on its executive team – today, it approaches 45% female representation on its top team. Target took this commitment one step further through the use of data – progress on I&D is meticulously tracked with a sophisticated dashboard and a dedicated I&D analytics team. 

Business leaders are expected to make use of this disaggregated data to drive talent decisions for their respective teams, such as setting pay or ensuring there are enough women candidates in the consideration set for any leadership role. Their performance against I&D metrics is tracked regularly and rewarded appropriately.

In Sri Lanka, a ‘hire women or explain’ policy was introduced by the Keells supermarket chain, a subsidiary of John Keells Holdings Group (JKH). Keells conducted a study to understand why they were receiving lower number of applications from women for supermarket jobs. From this research, the company learnt that most respondents perceived that only men are suited for supermarket jobs, especially in areas like managing the meat counters. To counter this, each Keells supermarket manager was asked to ensure the team manning the meat counter included a female employee, or explain why this could not be achieved. This act of accountability for representation demonstrates the company’s commitment to parity.

Action #2: Raise awareness about unconscious bias and work towards debiasing 

Decisions made by individuals are often influenced by biases that the person holds without being aware of them – this is what is known as unconscious bias. In an example known as the Howard vs Heidi experiment conducted in 2003 with a class of students at Columbia Business School, half the class was presented a case study on Heidi Roizen, a successful Silicon Valley venture capitalist and the other half were given the same case study with Heidi’s name replaced with the name ‘Howard’. Despite reading an identical case study of an individual with the same capabilities and accomplishments, Howard was seen as more ‘likable’ than Heidi who was passed off as ‘selfish’. This study illustrates that unconscious bias leads to implicitly correlating success and power with positive connotations for men, but negatively for women, who are often perceived as arrogant, aggressive and difficult to work with if they are ambitious.

The pandemic may be amplifying biases women have been facing for years: higher performance standards, harsher judgment for mistakes, and penalties for being mothers and for taking advantage of flexible work options. For example, when colleagues see young children playing in the background on video calls; co-workers may assume, consciously or unconsciously, that women are less committed to their jobs as there is now a need to take on ‘double roles’ of employee and caretaker; or when managers are evaluating women in performance reviews where they now have less in-person visibility of their day-to-day work. 

These biases can play a large role in determining who is hired, promoted, or left behind. To reduce their negative impact, companies can consider facilitating unconscious bias trainings for employees at everylevel involved in these processes. 

Standard Chartered Bank in Sri Lanka has put in place strategic recruitment policies designed to ensure gender balance in recruiting, including gender-inclusive job advertisements, a requirement for a gender-balanced shortlist, and a gender-balanced interview panel for senior hires. The bank’s people leaders have also attended unconscious bias training to limit the influence of unconscious bias on their day-to-day decisions and to ensure that new employees are evaluated on merit.

MAS Holdings, one of the country’s largest apparel manufacturers, has implemented unconscious bias training for all employees with direct reports. MAS is also looking into revamping their recruitment policies to combat biases and attract talent to job roles that currently lack female participation, as well as improving their communication policies, training and development structures. 

Action #3: Building an inclusive culture for women to adapt and thrive

Last but not least, companies can take active steps to create productive and supportive workplaces for women to grow in their careers, which will in turn instil a strong sense of belonging. For most women, especially working mothers and those who are looking to return to work after maternity leave, flexible working policies such as parental time off and remote working – a working model that has accelerated due to COVID-19 – are often helpful in helping them navigate their dual responsibilities at work and at home. Companies should make a conscious effort to ensure that some of these tailwinds provided by COVID-19 will stick, even in a post-COVID world, where there will be a tendency to revert to old ways.

An inclusive environment is achieved not only through big, systemic initiatives; it extends beyond recognising and managing potential unconscious biases into the everyday practice of conscious inclusion. Here are examples of behaviours leaders can adopt to foster an inclusive 

environment:

1. Be vocal and visible in your support for women. Managers can actively communicate and visibly embrace their commitment to diversity, build a connection to a wide range of people, and support employee resource groups to foster a sense of trust and belonging. 

2. Be curious about female colleagues and their stories. Leaders can practice the art of listening intently, without interrupting and judgment. They can get to know their colleagues, regardless of gender, by asking open-ended questions about topics that they care about. 

3. Be an ally for women and a role model. Leaders can always look for women to mentor and sponsor. A mentor coaches and guides while a sponsor goes beyond that to create opportunities and open doors. Research shows that women are over-mentored but under-sponsored. 

4. Respect the experience of whoever is in the room. Managers should try to be conscious about biases and use inclusive language – for instance, not all leaders are a ‘he’ and not all caregivers are a ‘she’.

5. Build space for a diversity of perspectives. There is space for everyone at the table and an inclusive leader will be aware of this. Pay close attention if a female colleague isn’t speaking and try to actively bring them into the dialogue. 

Under the challenging circumstances of COVID-19, inclusion and diversity may have taken a backseat in the face of other daunting issues. But our research reaffirms the strong business case for gender parity. Parity is powerful: its advancement has massive social and economic value, and enables outperformance for inclusive organisations. Organisations that see gender equality as a strategic priority are more likely to seize this opportunity and bounce back from the crisis quicker. By taking systematic steps to address gender balance, Sri Lankan leaders can improve social and economic outcomes for women across the country and help boost economic growth.

(Ganaka Herath is McKinsey & Company’s Managing Partner for Sri Lanka, based in Colombo, where Vidhya Ganesan is also based as a Partner.)