Gender equality in the workplace: How to build a fair, thriving business

Published Wednesday 5 November 2025

Table of contents

• What is gender equality in the workplace?
• Why gender equality matters for your business
• An everyday problem
• Know your legal obligations
• Don't waste your resources
• Offer equal pay for equal work
• Challenge your own beliefs
• Encourage the use of mentors
• Know your role models
• Ability isn't defined by gender
• Measuring your progress
• Help promote gender equality beyond your workplace
• Building an equitable business for long-term success
• FAQs on gender equality in the workplace

Key takeaways

• Conduct regular pay audits and implement standardized salary bands to identify and eliminate gender pay gaps, as women currently earn an estimated 78 cents for every dollar men earn in similar roles.

• Implement structured hiring processes with diverse panels and skills-based evaluations to reduce unconscious bias that prevents the best candidates from advancing based on gender assumptions.

• Establish formal mentorship programs that pair employees based on career goals and expertise to improve retention rates and help all employees develop leadership skills regardless of gender.

• Track key metrics including promotion rates, hiring data, and employee feedback to measure your progress and ensure your gender equality efforts produce measurable results.

What is gender equality in the workplace?

Gender equality in the workplace means everyone has the same rights and opportunities, regardless of their gender. It's about creating a fair environment. Pay, promotions, and responsibilities should be based on skill and merit, not stereotypes.

For your business, this means valuing the diverse perspectives of all employees. It's not just a women's issue – it affects and benefits everyone, including men, women, and non-binary people. This helps your whole team do their best work.

Why gender equality matters for your business

Promoting gender equality is the right thing to do and a smart business strategy. When you create an equitable workplace, you can attract and retain top talent from a wider pool of candidates.

Diverse teams find new solutions and solve problems faster. This can help your business grow and build trust with customers. It shows your customers and employees that you're committed to fairness and modern values, which builds trust and loyalty.

An everyday problem

Workplace gender inequality creates measurable problems for your business:

• Pay gaps: Women earn less than men in similar roles across most industries. In private, for-profit companies, women earned an estimated 78 cents for every dollar men earned in 2021.
• Limited advancement: Gender bias affects promotion decisions and career progression, with research showing that women's representation in management increased by less than 2 percentage points between 2018 and 2021.
• Talent waste: Stereotypes stop you from using all your employees' skills
• Legal exposure: Discrimination violations can result in costly penalties and lawsuits

These issues don't just harm employees—they directly impact your bottom line through reduced productivity and increased turnover costs.

This guide shows you how to improve gender equality in your workplace. You'll also see how your business can benefit.

Know your legal obligations

You need to understand your legal obligations under anti-discrimination laws. In the US, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits gender-based discrimination in:

• Hiring and firing decisions
• Compensation and benefits
• Promotion opportunities
• Work assignments and conditions

If you break these laws, you could face financial penalties, legal fees, and damage to your business reputation. Consult with employment law attorneys to ensure your policies meet current requirements.

Don't waste your resources

Make hiring and promotion decisions based on skills, not gender assumptions. Gender bias wastes your most valuable resource—talent—by preventing the best candidates from advancing.

Use evidence to guide your hiring decisions and protect your competitive advantage:

• never assume one person is better than another based on their gender
• always evaluate, interview and observe each candidate
• only make your decisions based on facts

Offer equal pay for equal work

Start by understanding current pay gaps in your industry to offer equal pay. Research shows women earn less than men in most occupations, with gaps persisting across experience levels. In fact, one report found the pay gap was greater for managers than for non-managers, with female managers earning an estimated 71 cents for every dollar earned by male managers.

Here are steps you can take to achieve pay equity:

• Conduct pay audits: Review compensation data by gender for similar roles
• Standardize salary bands: Create transparent pay scales based on experience and performance
• Document decisions: Keep records of all compensation choices to demonstrate fairness

In the UK, women in information technology and telecommunications occupations earned 8.6 percent less than men in the same field, up from 4.3 percent less in 2019.

Pay gaps exist in many areas of business. You can help close these gaps by offering equal pay for equal jobs – including roles often seen as 'male' jobs.

Challenge your own beliefs

Unconscious bias can influence your hiring and promotion decisions. These automatic assumptions about gender roles can stop you from finding top talent.

Self-assessment questions:

• Do you associate certain roles with specific genders?
• Do you make different assumptions about work-life balance by gender?
• Do you evaluate leadership qualities differently in men and women?

Bias reduction strategies:

• Structured interviews: Use identical questions for all candidates
• Diverse hiring panels: Include multiple perspectives in decision-making
• Skills-based evaluation: Focus on measurable competencies, not assumptions

Encourage the use of mentors

Mentoring helps employees develop and improves retention rates. It also helps people move into leadership roles, no matter their gender.

Program implementation steps:

1. Identify mentor candidates: Look for employees with strong coaching and communication skills
2. Match participants: Pair mentors and mentees based on career goals and expertise areas
3. Set clear expectations: Define meeting frequency, goals, and success metrics
4. Track progress: Monitor advancement and satisfaction rates to measure program effectiveness

External mentorship resources:

• Industry associations and professional organizations
• Local chambers of commerce and business groups
• Online mentorship platforms and networking communities

Know your role models

Statistics show there are fewer women in leadership positions than men. For example, a 2022 government report found that in 2021, just 42% of managers were women, even though women made up 47% of the total workforce. When faced with this information in conversation, it helps to be armed with the names of some role models.

Let's look at the technology industry, which is often male-dominated. Until 2019, Forbes magazine published a list of the most powerful women in tech. These leaders have worked to improve gender equality and reached the top. The 2019 list included the CEOs of IBM, YouTube, and Oracle, as well as the CFO of Microsoft, the COO of Facebook, and the president of SpaceX.

Ability isn't defined by gender

When you hire or promote staff, focus on skills and experience. Gender does not affect business success.

Promote and hire people based on their skills and confidence. Choose those who can do the job well.

This approach helps you build a fair and creative workplace. A diverse team can also make your business more successful.

Measuring your progress

Track your progress to see if your efforts are working. Use key metrics to see where your business stands.

Here are a few areas to monitor:

• conduct regular pay audits to identify and close any gender pay gaps
• track promotion rates to see if men and women are advancing at similar rates
• review hiring data to ensure your recruitment process is unbiased
• gather anonymous employee feedback to understand their experiences and concerns

Checking these numbers helps you see what's working and where you need to focus more attention. It turns good intentions into measurable results.

Help promote gender equality beyond your workplace

After you address gender equality in your business, you can help others. As a business owner, you can help break down gender bias in your community.

This is especially true if you are a female entrepreneur. Data shows that women who are self-employed in their own incorporated business earned an estimated 69 cents for every dollar men earned.

Demonstrate that if you can be a success, so can others. Here are some ideas:

• Go into a local school and tell the pupils what a successful businesswoman does
• Support local schemes designed to encourage girls' interest in business – this might be by writing for their websites or sponsoring events
• Invite girls to your workplace where they can meet women at work
• Help out at after-school clubs, or even take on some teaching work
• Speak at a careers seminar
• Make yourself known to local business organizations
• Be available to champion women in business at local seminars and other events

Building an equitable business for long-term success

Building a workplace free from gender bias takes ongoing effort, but it pays off. Fairness helps you build a stronger, more creative business and attract top talent.

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FAQs on gender equality in the workplace

Here are common questions small business owners may have about gender equality in the workplace.

What are some examples of gender equality in the workplace?

Examples include: offering equal pay for equal work, providing parental leave for all genders, balancing gender representation in leadership, and using inclusive language in job descriptions and company communications.

How can you show gender equality at work?

You can show your commitment by: using fair hiring and promotion processes, creating clear anti-discrimination policies, offering flexible work arrangements, and listening to and addressing your team's concerns.

What is the main goal of gender equality in business?

The main goal is to give every employee an equal chance to succeed based on their skills, not their gender. This helps you get the most from your whole team.