What sexist workplaces say about the competence of our leaders

Image: Grace Tame & Brittany Higgins at the National Press Club of Australia on 9 February 2022.

Like most of Australia, I found myself abandoning my ever growing to do list to watch Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame speak at the National Press Club yesterday afternoon.

The address they gave had clear implications for the actions required to address issues of sexual abuse and assault. But there are also lessons for workplaces and those who lead them.

In the questions that followed, the pair were asked what advice they would give to women looking to pursue a career in politics. And while many difficult and saddening issues were discussed that day, my heart broke when Ms Higgins spoke about her work in politics as being the most fulfilling job she’d ever had.

As a career coach and People & Culture consultant, I speak a lot to coaching clients who are trying to find ways to make themselves and their lives jigsaw into the rigid opportunities that workplaces offer.

I also work with lots of businesses who invest significant time, effort, and money in attracting and retaining talent (and even more money recruiting more talent when the talent they have leave).

The fact is that this nation is filled with people, particularly women, like Brittany Higgins who have found their workplaces incompatible with and unsupportive of the core tenants of their identify.

There’s a range of ways that those in positions of power and leadership signal to women that they don’t belong. Some are obvious – memberships to all male clubs, inappropriate touching, or lewd remarks. But a lot is simply mindless - personal chatter only reserved for those who play golf, cricket, football, or cycle; comments about appearances, pregnancies, and school pick-ups; or limiting access to the most interesting or profile building types of work. No attempt to connect, understand or cater to anyone who is not like them.  

In particular, the way that workplaces that are established for the purpose of facilitating law and order in this country allow their staff to be treated, demonstrates an incompetence in the area of expertise they hold themselves out to have.

A parliament that legislates the rules for how employers operate are unable to demonstrate a capability to meet the basic standard that it has set. Lawyers and barristers who advise clients on sexual harassment and bullying but let it run rife in their own practices. Judges (of the High Court no less) who engage in sexual assault do not appear to be demonstrating the exercise of sound judgment.

In a time when talent is scarce, maintaining the people that currently work for you is a key competency of leadership. Make space for women to participate, contribute and truly belong in your workplace is now a baseline and commercial expectation of leadership. Boards, shareholders, and executives should judge leaders who don’t demonstrate those basic performance requirements harshly.