How Work Has Changed for Women in Corporate America Over the Last 10 Years
September 17, 2024
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Summary.
Despite progress in the past decade, gender equity still remains uneven in U.S. companies. Coupled with recent political attacks on the very concept of DEI and declines in corporate commitments to racial and gender equity, there’s concern that the next decade may not bring as much progress as the last one — which is why we need to keep our foot on the accelerator when it comes to achieving gender parity at work. According to the latest Women in the Workplace report from Lean In and McKinsey, many of the tactics experts and scholars have been recommending to company leaders for years have been paying off and yielding progress for women in the workplace.Ten years ago, I was feeling burned out after leaving a corporate job in the technology industry, where I had faced and witnessed bias, racism, and sexual harassment. The prevailing narrative around me about gender inequality was that women weren’t driven or confident enough to succeed in the workplace. Given that, seeing such ambitious, brilliant women colleagues — particularly women of color — face such inequities felt like cognitive dissonance. And yet the “women need to do better” narrative persisted.