Question

1. How can the inclusion of women in top leadership positions in local and national unions be increased?

Answer 1

Targeted development programs and opportunities

While both men and women are encouraged to reach for leadership positions, women face a lot more challenges to get there. In fact, a 2015 Pew Research study found 40 percent of Americans agreed that there is a double standard for women seeking to achieve the highest levels in either politics or business — women have to do more to prove themselves than men do.

Supportive mentors

Training and development is a great place to start to help bring more women into leadership, but women need more one-on-one coaching as well. Women tend to doubt their skills more than men do, and that can hold them back in the long run. After all, a study published in March 2014 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of the United States of America, found that when asked to predict their performance on a math evaluation, men overestimated their scores, while women were more likely to underestimate theirs.

Flexible work options

Work-life balance is a challenge for every professional, but women reaching for leadership positions may feel this conflict even more. While men and women share household duties more evenly, women still own more responsibility, a 2015 survey conducted by Pew Research suggests. In the survey, 54 percent of respondents said women have a larger role when it comes to managing children’s schedules and activities, and 47 percent said the mother does more when taking care of sick children.

Transparent pay policies

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room — the wage gap. According to a 2015 survey conducted by Gallup, only 22 percent of women are happy with their salary, compared with 40 percent of men. It’s no secret that men typically earn more than women, especially in fields that have traditionally been dominated by men. For example, in medical sales, women earn 80 percent of what men do, the 2016 Medical Sales Salary report found. So why would women want to work harder than men to gain leadership positions just to earn less than their male counterparts