Shifting gender norms in the workplace

Social and cultural norms collectively impact the progress of gender diversity and the path to leadership in the workplace. While we have seen progress in gender equality over the past years, a key finding in the 2019 Women in the Philippine C-Suite study by the Makati Business Club (MBC) and Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (PBCWE) is that more women than men are affected by culturally ingrained norms and biases. More women say that finding balance between family and work has been an existing challenge to them, posing a disadvantage to women who aspire and work toward leadership positions.

Furthermore, Investing in Women’s Social Norms, Attitudes, and Practices 2020 survey among urban millennials in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines found that there is a strong correlation between what people see around them and their personal attitudes on gender norms. Those employed by companies with equal or progressive representation of gender in leadership roles are more likely to have equal or progressive attitudes about women’s suitability for leadership.

Initiatives of the business community. In June 2022, PBCWE, together with Champions of Change Coalition Philippines (CCC PH), formed a partnership with the MBC’s Women in C-Suite committee, supported by Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian government, to build on the growing conversation and research on the impact of gender norms in workplaces.

The Research and Education on Influencing Gender Norms (Reign) Project was launched to analyze and highlight the substantial role of gender norms in the way women progress throughout their careers in the private sector. We aim to identify gender norms, which are often situated in the corporate setting, and to work toward formulating actionable strategies in addressing these gaps to achieve genuine gender equality.

This 2023, we launched a series of learn-and-share sessions supplemental to the Reign Project. The first session hosted by Delbros Group, through the leadership of Jose Paolo Delgado, president and CEO and CCC PH member, centered on the discussion of providing a thriving environment for women to excel in stereotypical “male” jobs by creating scholarship programs, increasing training, and shaping the overall workplace culture to be more inclusive. Anna Chua-Norbert, managing director of DDB Group Philippines and PBCWE governing council member, highlighted the value of diversity and inclusion (D&I) in recruitment, enabling the first step into the company to already be inclusive. She shared that in DDB, all qualified applicants from different walks of life are welcome to open opportunities to the talent pool while helping the company understand and navigate their markets more effectively.

The following session, hosted by Acciona, focused on raising awareness of workplace gender norms. The session kicked off with opening remarks by Acciona infrastructure regional head, Ruben Camba, followed by group discussions which emphasized the significance of D&I in empowering employees at every level and setting in the workplace. Paola Verayo, Meralco AVP and head, HR business partner-shared services, shared that the recognition of gender norms existing in their company jump-started their journey toward gender equality in Meralco. She also shared their flagship gender diversity program, #MBrace, which includes sponsoring women to support their employment in otherwise stereotypical “male” jobs. Meralco is also an active member of PBCWE.

In the third session, hosted by Quisumbing Torres, represented by lawyer Ina Dominguez, the conversations reflected the impact of allyship in grasping the intensity of gender norms in one’s workplace and taking effective action to its degree. Olive Ybañez, HR director of PBCWE Member Teleperformance Philippines, underlined the importance of including men in the conversation. The discussion also raised the importance of considering other minorities in the workplace, with a tighter bottleneck in terms of promotion.

Lessons learned. There is no one universal process for identifying gender norms that may underpin each individual company’s journey toward gender equality. Creating valuable safe spaces for companies and organizations alike through conversations that acknowledge gender norms is a crucial step toward finding the right mix of policies and practices to effectively address the barriers that hinder women from progressing in the workplace.

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Julia Abad is executive director of the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment

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Business Matters is a project of the Makati Business Club (makatibusinessclub@mbc.com.ph).