Remaking the Norm
Six actions to achieve gender equity in Australia
There are opportunities to accelerate the path to gender equity by addressing underlying gender norms.
Rigid gender norms restrict individuals’ perceptions and choices. These norms have economic implications: women work fewer hours than men and there is a misallocation of talent across the workforce. According to Deloitte’s 2022 report Breaking the norm, this costs the Australian economy $128 billion each year. So, how can these norms be remade?
Deloitte Access Economics’ recent Remaking the norm report, released in collaboration with Australians Investing In Women and the Minderoo Foundation, argues that actions to address gender equity should be gender transformative – actively challenging gender norms rather than responding to the outcomes of gender gaps.
The report outlines six actions to remake the norm.
Action 1: Engage children and young people in discussions about gender norms.
Childhood and adolescence are foundational periods for internalising gender norms. One study found that 91% of 5-year-old boys thought their father would not approve if they played with stereotypically “girl toys”.
Engaging children and young people is highly effective because it challenges harmful gender stereotypes at the stage they are being internalised.
Action 2: Enable men to play a bigger role at home.
Efforts to promote gender equity in recent years are not sufficiently engaging men and boys. Many Australian men and boys still hold traditional views of gender, which are not becoming more equitable over time.
Incentivising men to participate in domestic life will contribute to the closing of gender gaps in pay, leadership, and labour force engagement. It will also create important intergenerational effects – children whose fathers spend more time on childcare and housework are far more likely to have gender egalitarian attitudes as teenagers.
Action 3: Eliminate stereotypes in language and culture.
Gender bias remains embedded in content. For example, only one female scientist is named in Australia’s Year 11 and 12 science curriculum, compared to over 150 male scientists. This bias limits aspirations and reinforces gender roles. One study found that using masculine language in job ads reduced the number of female applicants by 10%.
Removing gender stereotypes from content is shown to limit belief in stereotypes, reduce sexism, harassment, and violence in men, and increase career ambitions in women.
Action 4: Embed intersectionality across gender initiatives.
Actions to address gender equity rarely consider that norms manifest distinctly for different groups. Only 17% of organisations with a gender equity strategy surveyed indicated that they always closely consider intersectionality as part of their strategy.
Intersectionality can be embedded by representing diversity, celebrating the achievements of diverse groups of women, and applying an intersectional lens to data and decisions.
Action 5: Create accountable and transparent institutions.
When expressions of support for gender equity are not followed by action, organisations risk being performative.
Accountability and transparency incentivise organisations to invest resources in gender equity and achieve outcomes. For example, in late 2018, the ABC publicly committed to achieving equal gender representation of interviewees and contributors. This goal was achieved by March 2021.
Action 6: Create structured processes to reduce embedded bias in decision making.
Gender norms are ingrained in processes and systems. For example, women are 47% more likely to be injured and 17% more likely to die in car accidents because crash test dummies are based off male proportions.
By restructuring key institutions and processes, the norms that underpin gender gaps can be remade. For example, during a trial of a five-day work week in construction, 78% of workers reported an improvement in work-life balance, with no increase in variable costs.
These six actions would better target investment from government, business, philanthropy, and community groups, and help accelerate the path to gender equity in Australia.
This newsletter was distributed on 2nd July 2024. For any questions/comments on this week's newsletter, please contact our authors:
This blog was co-authored by Evie Fox Koob, Manager and Katie McGregor, Economist at Deloitte Access Economics
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