Men "less likely to recognise gender inequality" in the workplace

Recruitment firm Hays recently conducted a global survey of over 1,100 people across almost 100 countries on their perceptions of the barriers to gender equality in the workplace. The firm concluded that men may be less likely to recognise gender inequality as a workplace issue and more likely to believe their employer is committed to acheiving gender equality than their female counterparts.

The survey was conducted ahead of International Women's Day on March 8th and asked people to rate how committed their employer was to achieving gender equality on a variety of factors. This year's International Women's Day has a theme of "Balance for Better" and aims to highlight systemic inequality in the workplace.

Around 57% of male respondents said that they thought their employer was committed to achieving gender balance in the workplace, while only 38% for women thought the same. Similarly, only 23% of men believed that there was need for improvement in gender equality at their companies, while 39% of women indicated more could be done to improve balance.

Perception of working conditions and areas of improvement also differed significantly by gender among respondents. Women overwhelmingly identified equal pay as the area most in need of improvement with 72% agreeing, while only 39% of men believed this to be the biggest area for improvement. Men were more likely to suggest flexible working hours could improve gender equality (26% versus 14% for women).

Source: Written based on press release