P&G Gender Equality partner, The Female Lead, launches all-new research study, Women at Work

The Female Lead, a campaign that celebrates women’s stories and successes, has this week launched all-new research into the challenges facing women in the workplace today. As one of P&G’s newest gender equality partners, P&G and our brands will work closely with The Female Lead in the UK and beyond in order to continue to advance the conversation on gender equality.

The research, entitled Women at Work, performs a deep dive into the context and complex processes by which women make career-shaping decisions, focusing on mid-stages – where female progression typically plateaus whilst male progression continues to ascend. Women at Work aims to sharpen the focus on the most persistent problems and tracks the progress being made by comparing these findings to an aligned study conducted more than two decades ago.

It goes on to unpick existing dynamics and reveals how biases continue to impede the efficient progress of women in the workplace; even when most businesses want to increase economic activity, workforce diversity and the proportion of women in senior positions. Women at Work highlights areas of significant progress, identifies persistent sticking points, and recommends better paths towards gender parity.

At P&G, we strive to build a world free from bias – a world where everyone sees equal. We drive this forward as employees, with our partners, in our communities and through our business and brands – and the need to do so has been further exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. We know that during national or global crises, women are often the hardest hit – be that as a result of working in particular industries or sectors, or as a result of manging their careers alongside caring responsibilities that continue to fall disproportionately on women. By working with organisations like The Female Lead, we are helping to further reveal the challenges facing women in the workplace, and to implement multiple solutions for a more gender-equal world.

Commenting on the research, Vice President for Global Equality & Inclusion, Deanna Bass, said: “If 2020 taught us anything, it is that we can lead, influence and progress work virtually – busting one of the biggest myths disproportionately impacting women in the workforce. The Female Lead’s Women at Work Research takes a big step forward in addressing this and other outdated biases and false narratives about women and work. Importantly, the study highlights real systemic and social barriers that persist in the public and private sectors that continue to hold women back, and offers meaningful steps we can all take to retain and advance women. Addressing these barriers is critical if we are to continue to make bold progress in advancing gender equality”.

To find out more about Women at Work, click here.