Gen Y Women At Work - Building Gender Balanced Business

In an article recently published in The Huffington Post, Business and Professional Women’s Foundation CEO Deborah Frett discusses four important lessons gleaned from the responses to BPW Foundation’s recent Gen Y Women in the Workplace survey, answered by more than 660 American women.

1. Gender discrimination was identified as a moderate or severe problem in today’s workplace by more than 75% of the women who responded.

• Nearly 50% of Gen Y women have experienced or observed gender discrimination at work
• Stereotyping, sexual harassment, lack of opportunity, different standards, and unequal compensation are among the types of discrimination found

2. To help Gen Y women deal with work-life balance, employers need to re-think the way they measure an employee’s commitment.

• The traditional “ideal worker” demonstrates devotion in terms of time (e.g. working late hours, weekends, etc.), but this is not always feasible for women with family and other commitments

3. Gen Y women do not all have the same values, so it isn’t possible to create workplace programs around their specific values. But employers can help Gen Y women by meeting their basic needs and creating an environment for success. Five features that help them to do their best work are:

• having open communication
• understanding expectations
• having their voice heard
• receiving encouragement from supervisors and co-workers
• understanding their role and responsibilities

4. Age bias is a significant issue for many Gen Y women.

• 51% of women who experienced/observed gender discrimination also reported generational discrimination
• Name calling (e.g. “girl,” “kid), being overlooked for promotions, held to different standards, and perceived as incompetent because of age are among the types of generational discrimination reported

Read the complete survey report here