This article is written by Lyndsay Gavin, Behavioral Researcher at The Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University. This article is one of the finalists in Apolitical’s 2020 women in government writing competition.

The landscape for women in public office leadership positions has shifted dramatically in the last 20 years, yet there is still a way to go before diversity, equity and inclusion are more than just nominal values organisations espouse.

There are so many ways to strive for a rewarding career in public service, but for women, much of what propels them or holds them back is ingrained in workplace culture.

“Workplace culture” is a phrase often used and rarely defined.  For many organisations, the effort spent creating a positive culture is aimed at attracting and retaining talent.  But for most women, a workplace that aims simply to “retain” isn’t enough; they need to feel empowered to grow. Public organisations must work to transform traditional workplace culture into an environment that supports and encourages women to take on advanced roles.

Public organisations should:

Encourage risk-taking

An organisation and team whose culture encourages women to be entrepreneurial and to take risks demonstrates faith in her abilities and decision-making. Women who feel supported to take bold action drive innovation. Allow women to self-direct their professional development (rather than requiring her to attend an annual conference on a topic she is already immersed in) encourage her to apply to a coding bootcamp, earn lean certification, or explore new areas of learning that foster diverse skill sets. Create a supportive environment that enables women to feel comfortable raising new ideas about how to approach a problem.

It is essential to recognise and value the varied characteristics, skills and experiences women bring to the workplace

Many women who begin their careers in technical fields cite being heavily charged with administrative and routine secretarial tasks on projects as a major factor in their decisions to leave such fields. It is important that managers distribute task types evenly across team members. If men are consistently assigned analytical duties, women team members begin to doubt their own skills in that area and lose the chance to grow.  Work to ensure women are allowed to challenge themselves and that they are represented in conversations at all levels, even quick, decision-point discussions.

Recognise and reframe traditionally undervalued skills and experience

It is essential, too, to recognise and value the varied characteristics, skills and experiences women bring to the workplace. Nurturing, empathy and emotional intelligence, considered stereotypically feminine traits, can foster strong team dynamics and allow for free-flowing ideas, essential to public sector innovation that is equitable.

Studies have shown that women are often more successful at coalition building, especially across political party lines than men. Public sector organisations specifically should place an extraordinary value on empathy as they strive to serve citizens of the community from across political and demographic lines.

Many women spend portions of their early careers in volunteer positions – 65% of Peace Corps and 69% of Americorps volunteers are women. Though the average age of mothers at their first birth has increased significantly in the US and other developed countries in the last 50 years, this pattern does not hold true across demographic lines.

Women who dedicate years in their early 20s to volunteering or motherhood may enter a traditional workforce without strong evidence of having “climbed the ladder” or been promoted, but may have honed skills that lay the grounding for success in public service careers afterwards.

Develop a mentorship program

Mentorship is hugely important to advancing women in public service. Leaders should work to connect early-career women with experienced professionals who share their goals and ambitions both within the organisation and from outside agencies. Studies have shown that mentoring has immense benefits, not only for the mentee but for the mentor as well, thus women should also be tapped to serve as mentors themselves.

Unconscious bias, developed through deeply ingrained structural systems, has led to many more women than men doubting their own leadership style and problem-solving abilities, even as behavioural measures of success are nearly identical.  Encouraging women to serve as mentors to others can help rebuff this bias and build personal confidence.

Organisations that don’t adapt to the needs of women risk losing their female leadership, which could lead to a devastating withdrawal of women for years to come. Without supportive elements of workplace culture, public sector organisations will struggle to retain talented and capable women and with that, lose the diversity needed to maintain strong teams and to solve the most complex global challenges that lie ahead. — Lyndsay Gavin

(Picture credit: Unsplash)

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