Extract from Why Men Win At Work by Gill Whitty-Collins

preface
I am livid and I have decided to talk about it, even though I
know how unwelcome and resisted this subject can be by both
men and women. I am talking about it because if we don’t
keep raising the issue and fighting it, the unconscious system
will keep on running in its unconscious way and we will still
be here, in the same place, in 100 years. Brilliant women will
still be under-leveraged and will not attain the positions in
business and in society that should be theirs. We simply cannot
let this happen.
A few points before we get stuck in.
While I spent 25 years of my career at Procter & Gamble,
my fight is against gender inequality, not against them. I believe
they are one of the better companies in their intentions and
efforts to drive gender diversity. The gender inequality issues I
talk about are ones that are seen and experienced in companies
and organisations everywhere.
In order to talk about this issue, I am sometimes going
to need to make generalisations about ‘men vs women’. I
am very aware that we all sit on a spectrum of gendered
behaviours, and on a spectrum of gender for that matter.
There are men out there who will relate more to the ‘female’
characteristics I discuss and women who will relate more to
the ‘male’ characteristics and people who will relate to other
combinations of ‘male’ and ‘female’ characteristics. However,
I need to make some generalisations about the way women are
and the way men are, otherwise it isn’t possible to talk about
why women face inequality in business and society. And it is
very important that we do talk about it.
I am also very aware that the gender diversity issue is only
a subsection of the much broader equality and diversity issues
that we face in our society. I will focus on gender inequality
from the perspective of a cis white woman, because that is
what I have experienced and understand, and will leave others
who have the right knowledge and expertise to represent
their experiences. I will say, however, that I believe that the
interventions that will address the gender diversity issues I am
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