How millennials perceive women in leadership

Bill McMurray Qualtrics

Australian millennials and their U.K. counterparts had similar views on women in leadership and professional roles, with millennials say men and women make equally-effective leaders.

The business benefits of achieving gender diversity in the workplace are well documented. For example, gender equity can increase the organisation’s problem solving capabilities, and research has found that a diverse workforce can improve a business’s financial performance. As millennials continue to advance in their careers into leadership roles, it’s the perfect time to question how Australian millennials view women in leadership roles.

Qualtrics and venture capital firm, Accel, recently surveyed more than 8000 people across three generations: millennials, Gen Xers and baby boomers across Australia, the U.K. and the US to learn more about their views on gender diversity.

The survey found that 74 per cent of Australian millennials say men and women make equally-effective leaders.

Australian millennials and their U.K. counterparts had similar views on women in leadership and professional roles. In the U.K., 68 per cent of millennials say men and women make equally-effective leaders.

It was interesting to see that men who said both sexes aren’t equally-effective leaders are more than three times more likely than women to say men make the better leaders. Conversely, 11 per cent of millennial women say women make the better leaders.

Some 65 per cent of survey respondents said that workplace opportunities equally favour men and women. However, men are 77 per cent more likely to have felt frequently discriminated against than women.

Interestingly, the survey also found women are twice as likely than men to leave a job because they feel they don’t have a future there.

Workplace diversity and gender equity can help to give companies a competitive advantage by increasing its adaptability, broadening its service range and promoting a variety of perspectives. Therefore, it’s important that organisations have a thorough understanding of how employees view gender diversity so they can implement programs to effect change if necessary.

The best way to gain a good understanding of employee attitudes is to conduct regular surveys with employees, specifically on diversity-related topics. The anonymity provided by survey platforms, such as Qualtrics, often results in truthful answers. From here, it is critical to have the results in real-time so the business can act quickly on data to promote gender equity in the workplace through targeted campaigns, programs and training.

Bill McMurray, APAC and Japan, Managing Director, Qualtrics