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Writer's pictureHeather Ikin
May 26, 2022

Gender inequality: a multi-faceted, mental health issue

This week has seen a lot of discussion around gender issues, particularly for women, with election outcomes in part attributed to a driving force of women responding to their needs. Perhaps like me, you found yourself in conversations about gender issues and the extent to which discrimination results in lack of opportunity.

I’m not going to get into politics… but this is a good time to consider issues of gender equity and discrimination, the precipitating factors, the mental health impacts, and what we can do about it.


Understanding gender inequality and discrimination


Let’s consider the question: “why don’t we have more women in senior leadership roles?” One could argue that women and men effectively have the same opportunities. I often hear that if people want opportunities, they should just go for them. If there aren’t more women in senior leadership roles, it’s because they don’t want to be there or they just haven’t been willing to work hard enough , or perhaps at the time they just weren’t the right fit… (These are arguments I have heard more than once from leaders when discussing issues of diversity and inclusion.)



What does the evidence say about this? Gender inequality is a multi-faceted issue. One of my favourite resources is a white paper by Shape Consulting in the UK (see further reading below) – I highly recommend this for a more thorough explanation. I’ll start by summarising a few of the issues:

  • Gender role expectations – we are still inclined to see men as bread-winners and women as primary carers, and so see those senior leadership roles as more aligned with men.

  • Unpaid work – HILDA data shows that in Australia, women do almost twice as much unpaid work as men, like household chores – time that could have been spent on career advancing activities.

  • Flexible work – it is often perceived as a demonstration of lower work commitment, and whist it impacts both men and women, women are more likely to request flexibility and work part-time, and thus are often overlooked for opportunities and progression.

  • Political empowerment – the issue we are seeing this week, an under-representation of women - it means the decision-makers for policy that would address structural issues for women are mostly men, possibly leading to biased decision-making.

  • Lack of role models – when people can’t see themselves reflected or represented, it creates a perception that pathways aren’t available.

  • Unequal mentoring and sponsorship – critical for career progression, men tend to experience greater sponsorship and advocacy, where women tend to be helped to understand themselves and how they can adapt to succeed.

  • Implicit bias and gender stereotyping – difficult to see and hard to influence, biases are still problematic. Women often feel to succeed they have to behave more like men, though gender stereotyping means women are more likely to be penalised or face backlash for demonstrating characteristics more typical of men, such as confidence and assertiveness.


What we often fail to realise is the extent to which women experience things like negative stereotyping, such as having their capabilities underestimated. Women are often assigned easier tasks, and not invited to networking events that revolve around traditionally male activities (golf, fishing, watching sports, drinking at bars). Yes, it is true that in some settings men experience gender discrimination, particularly in traditionally female-dominated arenas. For example, men are far more likely to have requests for parental leave denied. But the impacts for men are less pronounced and it happens less often. Nevertheless, every experience of gender discrimination is valid but not ok, regardless of your gender.


It isn’t all bad, whilst we still have a way to go, we have been making positive progress in some areas. We are seeing a much higher rate of women on company boards than we did 10 years ago, a smaller proportion of people that believe men make better leaders and are more capable, and the gender pay gap is decreasing (albeit very slowly).


How does discrimination impact on wellbeing?


Research shows the gender pay gap and discrimination and inequality at work increase the risk of physical and mental ill-health. Although some instances of unfair or unequal treatment may seem very minor, these experiences build up over time, causing stress and frustration, eroding confidence, self-esteem, motivation, and resilience, which can in turn harm performance and productivity. This can be a vicious cycle if these performance outcomes then serve to justify the biased beliefs one had in the first place. Any person that can see themselves caught in this trap is likely to become very distressed. Experiencing set-backs, being overlooked for work opportunities, and over-working to try and enhance likelihood of success are all factors that will impact on mental health. Discrimination should be seen as a psychosocial hazard. When people experience it, there is an increased risk of developing mental health issues like burnout, depression, anxiety, and stress-related conditions.




What do we do about discrimination?


Will things like equal pay, diversity targets and removing barriers to workforce participation for mothers fix these issues? They may help to some extent, but gender discrimination and bias are far more insidious than this. There is little point committing to hiring more women if the work environment is not genuinely inclusive and women won’t have access to equal opportunities. Evidence suggests that gender stereotypes and biases are still harming the working lives and careers of women, especially those that have children. Let’s consider what action we can take.


Top tips for individuals

  1. Listen and be open-minded. If you haven’t experienced discrimination or bias, that does not mean it doesn’t exist. Denial of inequity is much more common amongst those that have never experienced a particular bias. So be open to hearing the experiences of friends, family, and colleagues.

  2. Focus on self-awareness. Consider how your own beliefs and stereotypes influence how you behave and interact with others, how you manage your work life and career, how you respond to discrimination, and how you might also allow your own biases to influence your relationships with others. We all have a role to play in reducing discrimination and building inclusive work environments.

  3. Practice self-compassion. Notice when you are being self-critical. Experiencing discrimination is not your fault and you don’t need to go to great lengths to identify what is wrong with you and try to fix it. Similarly, realising you may have biases is also ok – we ALL have them, it is human. We just want to notice our thoughts and be purposeful in how we respond.


Top tips for organisations

  1. Explore the experiences of gender in your workplace. If you have available data, such as employee surveys, filter the data by gender and look at where there seem to be substantial differences in experience. Have a look at the overall numbers in diverse groups in your organisation and consider if your diverse workforce is represented at senior levels. Provide forums for discussion and listen to feedback.

  2. Review organisational practices to identify gender bias. Consider how you recruit, select, develop and make key organisational decisions. Who are the decision makers? Do you have organisational practices that accidentally favour one gender over another? Consider how you are building your pipeline and creating opportunities for all genders at all levels.

  3. Build an inclusive culture. There are many business benefits to inclusion. Consider how your organisation might implement or improve on diversity, equity and inclusion strategies. If your business doesn’t have a strategy in place, consider what you need to do to start building one, and get the right people involved. There is a lot of great advice out there, but there are also some initiatives that don’t work – make sure you get evidence-based advice on what to do.

Reach out for help


If you would like more information or to discuss how we can support you with these issues in your own life or in your organisation, please get in contact with us.


We have a range of services that can assist - whether working one-on-one in counselling and coaching to work through gender discrimination and related issues, or with organisations to help leaders foster an inclusive workplace.




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