Time to Take Gender Out of the Conversation

New Zealand has a rich history of firsts, for a small country we should be proud of our history and focused on continuing to achieve at every level irrespective of gender. 

The debate still rages over gender inequality, pay scale gaps between the genders and so on.  Maybe it’s time women started to take a fresh look at these conversations and ask whether the inequality argument actually gains any traction or does the mere mention of this argument cause business leaders the world over to simply tune out?
Instead of the conversation constantly going back to what women don’t have in terms of equality or rights; women need to start conversing on an equal platform with men about what they are contributing and what they potentially can contribute.  It’s a clear case of “show me the money”.  If you do not have the right currency to effectively add value within the boardroom or the senior management table then simply being ‘a woman’ and filling a quota is frankly not enough by anyone’s standard.
Beth Brooke, a former adviser to Hilary Clinton who currently sits on the global board of accounting firm Ernst and Young, told a group of top businesswomen in Auckland earlier this month that many companies saw diversity as a soft woman's topic.
"Male CEO's are not going to listen to talk about rights. It's got to be a competitive, strategy issue grounded in economics. The conversation has to change," Brooke said.
"If we can recognise women as the economic engine we are and give them the opportunities the soft issues will be taken care of."
Dame Jenny Shipley, former New Zealand Prime Minister and Chairman of a number of boards, including the Momentum Group, speaks of the need for women to continue to galvanise change and the fact that businesses that look further than a homogenous team within their board or senior management will perform to a higher level.
Speaking at a Global Women’s conference, Dame Jenny Shipley said; “For women it is not only a question of gender, in fact research now tells us where there are women and men on boards and at senior management level, those company’s will out perform the average.”
Yes, there is a need for more women to be sponsored and mentored in order to move into top level roles.  However, women also need to do some of the ground work by changing the dialogue from “gender inequality” to a promotion of their differences and their ability to make an invaluable contribution to the business and to our economy.