Not all that long ago, Gartner posted an article called A Gender Gap in Global Mobility where they referenced a new report (back in 2017) that underscored a significant obstacle to the development of women leaders in global organizations: an imbalance of opportunities for global mobility. That research discussed the value of shaping female leaders through the developmental experiences of overseas postings and showed that more women want these opportunities than get offered them.
Susan Benevides shares more statistical reinforcement for this inequity in her recent post, "Women in mobility: Seeking increased participation and greater gender balance." She referenced an article that explains growth in female participation in offshore work assignments has been slow. One of the most eye-opening statistics shared in her post was that "71% of female millennials want to work outside their home country during their career, but only 20% of the current internationally mobile population are women and only 22% of global mobility executives are actively trying to increase the numbers of female expatriates."
So, moving beyond just documenting this inequity, let's look more vigorously for a variety of ways to remedy this situation. The article I've linked to from FastCompany shares some very real ways to make an impact within your culture. Start there and see if it sparks some ideas on how you might consider making your global mobility program more gender equitable.
The workforce isn’t yet gender equitable. Women continue to be paid less than men (women of color especially so), have fewer seats on corporate boards (despite the fact that companies with strong female leadership on their boards perform better), and face the “motherhood penalty” (while men with children benefit from the “fatherhood bonus” of seeming more responsible). But those problems are big ones and will require society-level changes. What are some concrete things you do to make your office more gender equitable, starting now?
https://www.fastcompany.com/90403798/6-concrete-ways-to-make-your-office-more-gender-equitable
