Lean In

Equality has been at the centre of numerous debates for decades, the feminist movement brought to light the necessity to consider women equal to men. And yet turning these words into actions, and proposals into facts, happens very slowly, sometimes not at all. The result is that men still run the world. The women who sit next to those men, who have access to those few privileged seats, are too weak a minority to be able to flip the trend.

There are even some countries that still do not allow women fundamental and inalienable rights. Therefore, there is still a lot of work to be done for the promise of fairness to be translated into real and tangible equality.

Challenges include prejudices (for example, sooner or later a woman will need to go on maternity leave) and a lower consideration for women’s abilities, (they are commonly deemed to be emotional).

Salaries are still different for men and women in the same role. Old fashioned beliefs still linger about marriage being the first priority in a woman’s life, a necessary step for a happy and productive existence.

Women are still designated to take care of the children and the house almost exclusively. When a woman is expecting a baby, along with “congratulations”, one of the most common questions is “what are you going to do about work?”, highlighting just how difficult it is to balance work and a family.

People tend to frown upon a woman who chooses a career over a family, and criticise using common labels such as ‘social climber’, ‘selfish’ and ‘ruthless’. It is a complex issue, but the fact is that we still need to break free of this trend that penalises women.

If men, women and companies became more sensitive to this issue, and made a commitment to put more women in key roles, society as a whole would be fairer. Having more female leaders would mean making room for more varied points of view, improving conditions for all women, and truly listening to their needs.