In Case of Emergency, Break Glass Ceiling—but Only in the Case of an Emergency — Pacific Standard
As Ammerman’s perspective makes clear, this question — why does it take a crisis to make change when it comes to hiring women? — isn’t new, or even limited to the aviation industry. As far back World War I and earlier, catastrophic labor shortages prompted women to move into new spheres of the working world, such as office jobs and government bureaucracy. For today’s women of Japan, for example, who last year surpassed United States women in workforce participation, it took another documented workforce crisis to pave the way for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 2013 push to prioritize gender equality in the workplace.
Why, historically, does it seem to take a crisis to make visible the promise and potential of female workers?
We know that gender bias stymies economic growth and that having more workforce participation by women is crucial to economic security and stability. Perhaps what’s most revealing about this latest crisis-driven change in the aviation industry is that it underscores the limitations and the potential for the business case for gender parity. This is especially evident in light of research findings recently released by the McKinsey Global Institute. Following up on their seminal report, “The Power of Parity,” which estimates that advancing women’s equality around the world could add $12 trillion to global gross domestic product, their latest findings address gender parity and economic growth in the U.S. The conclusion: “Societal gender gaps,” which include both structural inequalities like unpaid care work and social bias about gender roles, “are barriers to women’s workforce participation.”
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