Positive action versus positive discrimination

Does it feel like a confusing minefield?

Continuing our autumn programme, we're looking at more of the barriers we see to organisations giving more focus to gender-balance.

‘When’s international men’s day?’….‘when do we focus on white, middle-aged men?’… ‘everyone should have equal opportunity, regardless of background’…

These are some of the comments we hear when undertaking our diagnostic work out and about in organisations.

People (mostly men) can be resistant to the focus that some companies put on supporting women in the workplace…seeing this as discrimination, with white, middle-aged men being the group that’s being discriminated against.

At balancetogether, our concern is that this feedback prevents businesses from putting their collective feet firmly on the accelerator, so we want to debunk some myths and clarify the difference between positive action and positive discrimination.

When promoting gender equality, two strategies take centre stage: positive action and positive discrimination. To better grasp these concepts, let's have a look at some examples.

Positive Action:
➕ Launching mentorship programmes aimed at female employees to foster their career growth. By offering guidance, training, and opportunities, these programmes aim to remove gender-based obstacles within the organisation.
➕ Setting up networking groups creating opportunities for women, and their allies, to come together and share experiences and learning.
➕ Offering flexible working opportunities to encourage women to stay in the workplace, while being able to support their families.

Positive Discrimination:
➕ Boardroom Gender Quotas, requiring a minimum percentage of women to serve on corporate boards. While this approach has garnered mixed reactions, it has achieved significant progress in increasing female representation in business leadership roles. Some people see it as tokenistic, as it does not address the root causes of gender-inequality.
➕ Promotion quotas, which require a percentage of women to be promoted into leadership positions.
➕ Supplier diversity programmes, which give preference to women-owned businesses when awarding contracts.

At balancetogether, we strongly believe in measuring progress and impact of everything you do, but we don’t believe in quotas; this approach can lead to token female board members, without driving any change at grass-roots level.

In summary, positive action is about dismantling gender-based obstacles by offering support, guidance, and resources, while positive discrimination involves setting specific targets or quotas to directly address disparities. Most organisations in the UK engage with positive action, addressing decades of inequality. If people in your business see this as discrimination, then you have a responsibility to explain the difference….but don’t take your foot off the gas…positive action is still very much needed.