You’re sitting in a meeting and your ideas are going unheard. You’re just as qualified as your colleagues, but you’re feeling undervalued. On top of that, you’re trying to balance work commitments, a sick child at home, helping your elderly parent, keeping up with your children’s schedules—the list goes on. And as you sit in that meeting, you think “What’s the point? Is this all really worth it? I’m fighting to push my career ahead and feeling stressed out. It’s just not worth it.” The good news is that women are no longer alone. Companies and brands are starting to get it—and starting to understand that they can help.
根据世界经济论坛的《全球性别差距报告》，目前女性的平均收入是男性的 68%。此外，妇女仍然承担着大部分家庭责任。事实上，全球 89% 的女性表示主要或分担了日常购物、食物准备和家务劳动。这意味着，女性每周都要承担更多的要求，而满足这些要求的时间却更少。
Companies have an obligation to help women avoid feeling that it’s not worth it and keep them in the game. It’s not just the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing. The substantial evidence that gender diversity at the management level enhances a company’s performance has been reported widely. But to reduce the friction women face in advancing to leadership roles and help them avoid those “it’s not worth it” moments, companies need to look at how they can help women both internally via the company’s culture and policies, as well as externally by simplifying their daily lives.
Many organizations have acted to address gender inequalities in pay, recognition and leadership. For example, Nielsen has policies to foster gender diversity and inclusion—and we’ve received recognition for our efforts in countries around the world, including India, Mexico, Colombia and the U.S. to name a few. Our CEO David Kenny doubled down on Nielsen’s commitment to advancing the careers of women around the world by signing the LEAD (Leading Executives Advancing Diversity) Network CEO Pledge. The pledge lays out specific actions for Nielsen to drive even greater advancement of women in our ranks, including coaching and mentoring women associates, mandating diverse hiring slates, holding leaders accountable, leveraging employee resource groups and more. And these are strategies that all companies could leverage.
公司仅仅解决薪酬和认可方面的不平等问题，以支持女性领导者是不够的。它们还需要考虑支持生活方式挑战的政策和计划，如灵活的工作时间和扩大的育儿假政策。好消息是，此类政策已被证明可以提高生产力和员工福利。例如，我们太平洋地区的灵活工作时间扩大了我们对客户的服务范围，从而缩短了响应时间。同时，这也让所有员工有更多时间陪伴家人，同时节省了通勤、健身、投票等时间。
这不仅仅是一个关于公司应该为女性做些什么的故事。男性在这场游戏中也扮演着举足轻重的角色。这就是为什么在美国，我们将带薪育儿假扩大到 12 周，任何性别的新生儿父母都可以享受。此外，分娩后的母亲还可享受额外 8 周的带薪恢复时间。如果公司不允许男性享有同等的灵活性--无论是育儿假还是灵活的工作时间--并积极支持和认可男性实际利用这些选择，那么日常工作仍然需要完成。虽然有明确的迹象表明男性的角色正在发生变化，但现实情况是，大多数女性仍然承担着这些日常工作的大部分负担。
工作场所之外呢？企业可以通过简化女性仍在处理的日常家务劳动来帮助女性。从提供更健康的膳食解决方案，到使包装和标签更容易阅读，以便她可以快速扫描产品，确保产品与她所关心的内容一致，企业可以为女性提供便利，节省时间，从而帮助她们减轻负担。
In our global study of female consumers, we found that when brands connect with women—see them for who they are, understand their struggles, what they want and what they care about—they are trusted and welcomed into their homes. Our research also found that women around the world are more likely to look for healthy options, to support sustainability and social causes and to use technology to simplify their lives.
When companies focus on meeting women’s needs, both internally and in the products and services they offer, they’ll see this investment returned manifold in engagement, trust, effort, creativity and even productivity. Helping women stop thinking “It’s just not worth it,” makes it all worth it for all of us.
