For anyone still trying to claim gender equality has actually been achieved (and please continue reading to see proof that you’re probably a man if you do), here’s some fun new stats for you.
The Global Institute for Women’s Leadership combined with Policy Institute and Ipsos out of London’s King’s College surveyed about 20 000 people spread out over 28 countries in order to discover what current public perceptions are either helping or hindering gender equality. In unsurprising news, there’s still a fair bit of hindrance.
Let’s start with our own country, shall we?
Apparently, all men need to succeed are the right connections. Almost twice as many Australians believe connections are very important for a man to succeed in business, than those who say the same thing about women.
So what do we think women need? Good looks combined with a high IQ. Now, intelligence isn’t a bad thing per se, it’s just interesting that while 27% of respondents thought men needed good connections, only 15% think men need intelligence. Meanwhile, only 14% place importance on the connections a woman can make but 25% believe it’s intelligence that helps her succeed.
When you take that to the global results, 28% of people agree women need intelligence to get ahead, whereas only 20% think men so.
“Our research shows that the adage ‘It’s not what you know but who you know’ still holds true – at least for men,” states Director of Public Affairs at Ipsos Australia, Jessica Elgood. “For women to get ahead, it’s less about having connections and more about hard work, being intelligent, having the right qualifications and never giving up.”
So basically what I’m getting is that women who succeed do so because they work hard and apply their intelligence, whereas men get there because they’re good at schmoozing – yet, women are paid $241.50 less per week in the same role? Yep, cool, seems fair.
Of course, the most troubling part of these findings is that STILL, in this day and age, over one in 10 people (12%) in Australia think “woman’s looks are a key factor in helping them get ahead”, where only 5% say the same thing about men.
That’s pretty on par with the global results with 15% saying good looks are a factor in a woman’s success while only 7% say it’s important for men.
I gotta tell you mates, while not turning up to work looking and smelling like you haven’t showered for 10 years is always a plus, beyond that your face has absolutely nothing to do with your output. I really shouldn’t still have to put this in writing.
Still, at least we’re not in Russia where, at a full 35% feeling women need good looks to succeed, they had the highest rates of all participating countries.
It’s mostly employers getting the blame for these sad assumptions in Australia, with 23% of respondents saying they aren’t doing enough to close the gender pay gap, 20% believing they aren’t promoting enough women to senior positions and 19% who feel employers don’t provide enough support for women trying to balance work and care responsibilities.
Around the world it seems to be governments who get a lot of blame for the issue, with countries including Turkey, Brazil, Hungary, Peru, South Africa and Spain most likely to feel this way.
Another perceived roadblock to gender equality? A lack of male support for the cause. In fact, 16% of Aussies say that men and boys aren’t educated about the importance of gender equality and 14% say that men don’t want gender equality to happen.
Around the world, 38% of Mexicans, 34% of Argentinians, 34% of Chileans and 39% of Peruvians also believe it’s a lack of male education on gender equality that’s doing the most harm.
In more positive news though, 31% of Aussie respondents think the most progress has been made in government, politics and in senior positions in business. So at least there is very slow improvement.
The real kicker for me, though, is that around the world men are TWICE as likely to claim gender equality has already been achieved than women. INTERESTING.
I guess they’re right in Australia though ladies, you CAN still get all the same roles as men. You just need to accept a 14% pay cut, be incredibly smart AND a total babe all at the same time.
