How can organisations accelerate gender parity at work?
Achieving gender parity across the world will likely take nearly two centuries as gaps in employment remain large, according to the latest report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The ILO's report said that the gender employment gap has narrowed by only four percentage points in over 30 years, shrinking from 27.1 percentage points in 1991 to 23.1 percentage points in 2024.
"At this pace of progress, achieving gender parity in employment rates globally will take over 190 years," the report read.
It further noted that this reduction has been driven primarily by a six-percentage-point decline in the male employment rate, instead of meaningful gains for women.
By 2024, only 46.4% of working-age women across the world are employed in 2024, according to the report, slightly lower than the 69.5% of men.
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"While progress has been made, millions of women still face persistent barriers to entering, remaining and advancing in decent work," said Sukti Dasgupta, Director of the ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department, in a statement.
"Urgent reforms are needed to address unequal care responsibilities, wage gaps between women and men, and violence and harassment in the world of work, factors which continue to make workplaces more unequal and less safe for women."
With gender parity remaining a major problem in employment worldwide, the International Workplace Group (IWG) noted that hybrid work can accelerate women's career progression and parity.
Its findings revealed that 74% of women who work in a hybrid role in the United States experienced a positive impact in their career trajectory. The majority of the respondents also said hybrid work helped in:
Levelling the playing field for women's career progression (73%)
Allowing women to be promoted to a more senior role (63%)
Advancing women's careers (57%)
Mark Dixon, CEO of IWG, said companies that prioritise flexible and hybrid work will gain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top female talent.
"But the benefits don't end there," Dixon said in a statement. "Hybrid work has also been proven to enhance productivity and reduce overheads, making it essential for business success, driving both talent retention and a healthier bottom line."
The findings come as the world marked International Women's Day on March 8. ILO Director-General Gilbert Houngbo said the world should reaffirm its commitment to where women's work is "seen and valued."
"For economies and societies to thrive, women must have equal rights and opportunities to participate in the social, economic, and political life of their countries," Houngbo said in a statement.
"Social justice demands nothing less. Women's rights are human rights, and all women are working women. Paid or unpaid, women's work is essential and must be duly recognized and valued."
To foster gender equality in the workplace, a blog by HR specialist Zuri Baker offered various actions that employers can take. Among these actions are:
Set clear promotion pathways
Diversify hiring practices
Train leadership
Celebrate achievements equally
Encourage diverse pairing
Provide training and resources
Create leadership programmes for women
Set leadership diversity goals
Conduct regular pay audits
Be transparent about pay
Equalise benefits
Consider part-time roles
Provide anonymous reporting tools
Set measurable equality goals
Offer ongoing gender sensitivity workshops
Host diversity events
Encourage employee involvement
Baker said gender equality at work is "essential for business success."
"Companies that prioritize equality in the workplace create healthy environments where all employees can thrive, innovate, and contribute to the organization's growth," he said in a blog post for Edstellar.
