Fair Share: How Men and Women Can Create a More Equitable Workplace Together
About this ebook
The organization is broken. Decades of research show how women struggle to grow in their careers and move up into leadership positions, in part due to demands outside of work.
But it's not working for men either. Men want to be equal partners, present parents, and active community members outside of their careers. The "ideal worker" norms of the traditional workplace, though, expect men to be present and available 24/7. This disconnect means that even when men try to take part in flexible work arrangements, they're often stigmatized, leaving women to take up the slack and, again, miss out on professional opportunities.
If companies want to reach their full potential and achieve true fairness at work, the workplace must change—and it starts at the top. In this book, gender-in-the-workplace experts W. Brad Johnson and David G. Smith offer a blueprint for how leaders can break down systemic barriers across the organization, from culture to policies, so that men can do more outside of paid work—and women can take their place in leadership. They suggest three key areas to focus on:
- Rethinking company culture and the structure of work
- Going all-in on caregiving options and benefits for employees
- Operationalizing gender fairness through organizational process and policies
Filled with examples and interviews with both men and women, Fair Share offers a look at what organizations can become when leaders finally break down the obstacles holding everyone back. By working together, men and women can create a better workplace, one where every individual can achieve what they want—at work and at home.
About the author
W. Brad Johnson is a clinical psychologist and gender-in-the-workplace expert. A former commissioned officer in the Navy, Johnson served as a psychologist at Bethesda Naval Hospital and at the Medical Clinic at Pearl Harbor, and as a professor of leadership and psychology at the US Naval Academy. He is the author of fourteen books.
David G. Smith is a professor in the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. As a sociologist trained in military sociology and social psychology, he focuses his research in gender, work, and family issues, including bias in performance evaluations, retention of women, dual-career families, mental load, and allyship. Johnson and Smith are the cofounders of workplaceallies.com and speak around the globe on the topics of mentorship and cross-gender workplace relationships. They are the coauthors of Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace and Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women.
