Gender inequality: Biological or Learned


AstraZeneca

How to build a gender friendly future, when young women today face different challenges in advancing equality compared to previous generations.

Enjoyed the opportunity I had to walk the walk debating about how governments, societies and companies around the world have started a serious discussion around gender equality and are striving to create a more equal environment. However, a significant gap between the genders remains and it starts to develop in the early stages of childhood.

Society, represented by parents and educators, have a key role influencing how young boys and girls perceive the world, shaping children’s gender values and the different pathways towards gender equality and how it helps to build a gender friendly future.

As a personal note, I was glad to share that coming from a very open-minded family, with strong male and female role models advocating for gender equality, I was unaware of any biases during my childhood or scholar years. I was first confronted to these stereotypes when joining the professional world. Some years have passed since then and my background and education helped me to successfully deal with stereotypes and pervasive norms. However, I am convinced that these things are still present in our current days and that they are holding young women back from a fair chance to achieve their potential.

The audience expressed the same discomfort I felt the first time I read the UK 2015 data about Gender distribution in STEM studies and careers, and the underrepresentation of women throughout the scientific career. Even if 51% of the students deciding to start an STEM degree are female, their prominence becomes less visible in the higher roles, up to a point where only 11% of women reaches top academic positions and a mere 3% are Scientific Nobel Prizes.

Without undermining the importance of an early start for a gender-sensitive education by encouraging young girls to explore their abilities in the STEM world, I focused my message on young professional women that strive to reach an executive position. The essence of my advice is based on the following five pillars:

  1. Define you professional and personal goals
  2. Decide what pathway will work for you, combining professional-personal-family-social
  3. Clearly express your needs and ambition
  4. Be determined to achieve your goals
  5. And flexible enough to change them if a better opportunity arises.

The panel concluded that gender inequalities are learned later in life through experience or the society. Each of us should accept responsibility and take ownership on a conscious avoidance of gender stereotypes. Don’t just point out, fight them and answer back!

Esther Pascual - VP and Co-Founder

Spanish Association for Executives and Board Directors (EJECON)

This article was first published on LinkedIn.