Men at Work: The Roadmap to Gender Partnership

In this smart guide to creating equitable workplaces, McCollum (In Her Own Voice), CEO of Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on women’s advancement in the workforce, explores how businesses flounder when they adhere to rigid gender stereotypes. The solution is to engage men in efforts to make workplace cultures fair and inclusive, she argues: “Instead of calling them out, we need to invite them in as partners to embrace new, more flexible norms across gender.” According to the author, both men and women chafe at being confined to gendered norms in the workplace, including the expectation that men be competitive and aggressive while women remain warm and vulnerable. One antidote suggested by McCollum is to buddy up with a partner to cross-promote each other’s work; doing so can help women avoid the appearance of self-promotion, which can render them dislikable, and makes men look generous. Gender-neutral parental leave allows both men and women to take time off to care for a newborn, preventing either from being stigmatized for stepping away from the job. Expanding the number of people on a leadership team to increase diversity (instead of making people fight for inclusion in an exclusive group) can lead to more innovative decision-making. Shrewd advice and enlightening anecdotes make this an actionable manual for workplace inclusivity. (Mar.)