Organizational culture benefits and rewards behavior imitating the prevailing male-dominated leadership. The U.S. Government has implemented several measures to equalize the playing field such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the affirmative action Executive Order, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Systemic discrimination, however, continues to run deep despite legislative and policy measures to eliminate it. Unions and management need to understand that women's career development is different, and recognize that retaining women is a business issue. Thus, it makes social and business sense to promote women into positions to hear customer feedback and make key decisions.
Progressive businesses work to attract and retain women.
Union and management have a responsibility to promote women's career development and must jointly create cultural and structural policies and rewards consistent with promoting diversity in the workplace. Unions can assist to systematically identify barriers and biases in company culture and push to eliminate them. Corporate ranks need to be educated about systemic discrimination and the benefits of diversity. Organizations must develop and unions must promote policies that employ workplace flexibility such as flextime, job sharing, and other family friendly policies. Management should view upward mobility of women as a strategic objective, and build the advancement of a diverse workforce into succession planning.