Catching up with CIC: Breaking down the barriers to workplace gender equality
When the CIC project was launched in 2017, it set out to investigate the constraints affecting women’s choices in terms of their ambition, work-life balance and the risks they were willing to take to further their careers. About 8 years later, the increased understanding gained during the project has led to further research and influenced actions to promote gender equality in Europe and beyond. Lead CIC researcher Michelle Ryan is currently making good use of the project’s key learnings as director of Australian National University’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership (GIWL), at the other end of the globe. In fact, she moved to Australia to establish the GIWL. The GIWL works closely with Australian organisations and policymakers to further gender equality in the workplace. Collaborations include the federal Office for Women, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, the eSafety Commission, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. “The impact of EU funding has been immeasurable – both in establishing a significant programme of research and in terms of career development for myself and for the team members,” comments Ryan. “All of the postdocs on the project have moved into ongoing academic positions and have established influential programmes of research,” she goes on to explain. In the course of the project, the CIC researchers published around 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and embarked on many innovative lines of research. These included examining how risk-taking is gendered and context-dependent, the impact of role models on career decisions and social change, the role of distinctive treatment in career choices and the impact of workplace quotas. The team also gave over 100 talks and established collaborations with various government bodies, commercial organisations and scholars from around the world.
Looking at women’s choices and beyond
Investigating women’s career choices, CIC demonstrated that perceptions of work-life balance are determined not just by time constraints but also by the degree to which one’s work identity is compatible with his or her identity outside of work. It also showed how women’s risk-taking is shaped by gender norms and the perceived likelihood of success. Furthermore, it found that ambition, confidence and feelings of being an impostor are shaped by everyday treatment by one’s work colleagues. CIC researchers also looked at women’s choices indirectly, providing better insight into contextual and identity factors that have the power to shape these choices. This included an understanding of how people perceive and empathise with perpetrators and victims of sexual harassment, the changing nature of gender and leadership stereotypes, and how perceptions of gender equality shape decisions about men and women’s progress in the workplace. The CIC (Context, Identity and Choice: Understanding the constraints on women’s career decisions) project’s achievements have the potential to shape organisational policy and promote legislative change. Three years on, the project’s participants are making great strides in this direction.