Companies and executives are showing great foresight and will to find viable solutions for reducing gender bias and stereotypes. Just last week, in a letter to Rex Tillerson, more than 40 business leaders of major American companies pressured the Trump administration to fill the vacant Ambassador-at-Large position for Global Women’s Issues. This position has been around for some time, with a mandate to lead the State Department office for women’s rights and empowerment. In the letter, the American business leaders argued that to fill this position was in the nation’s business, security and leadership interests.

These business leaders know that global gender equality will reduce poverty and world hunger, expand labour markets to improve employment opportunities for all, and contribute to higher economic growth. The mechanism is simple – the more people are participating in a country’s economy, the greater its productivity. According to an analysis by McKinsey, the increase to annual global Gross Domestic Product would be a whopping $28 trillion if women participated in the economy to the same capacity same as men. This amount is equal to the combined size of the US and Chinese economies today.

The security interest mentioned by the American business leaders alludes to the fact that countries with the lowest gender parity score are the ones most associated with terrorism and human right violations. When you increase gender equality globally, it results in a higher quality of life for everyone – not only economically but also in terms of physical and psychological safety. Increasing gender equality globally, and therefore women’s participation in the economy, is a simple solution that makes sense for so many reasons.

Although my book Understanding Gender at Work is primarily for women who want to advance and succeed at work, I also include suggestions for organizations, leaders, mentors, and champions of women. Here are some of them:

• Be accountable– hold yourself and your organization accountable for improving gender outcomes.
• Open the door to women– put them in senior roles, and give them the support to succeed.
• Be open to feedback and learning about implicit bias based on gender, race, or age.
• Call out any biased practices, policies, or behaviour. Shine a light on any that penalize or disadvantage women. If you are silent, you are complicit.
• Encourage a culture of courageous conversations and exposing biases.
• Be part of the movement to sign the Women’s Empowerment Principles, an initiative of UN Women, and the UN Global Compact,to guide businesses in promoting gender equality.
• Mind the gap — when gender differences in promotions, salary, performance evaluations, and leadership positions exist, figure out why. Use data.
• Ensure flexible work arrangements for all employees, with a focus on productivity and results. Reduce the importance of face-time and time spent at the desk.
• Support pay transparency for both salary and bonuses. This is now law in Iceland and the UK.
• Ensure everyone involved with salary negotiations is made aware of the gender wage gap.
• Increase transparency about what success is and ensure that it is attainable. Make what is expected measurable so it is clear when it is attained.

It is clear that gender equality will only be achieved with the help of both men and women. In the article, “To get more women on board, companies turn to male staff”, the author, Sreeradha D. Basu, describes a program called “Men as Champions”, which was created by Deloitte India. It makes male employees responsible for actively driving interventions as well as checking to ensure that they align with the company’s gender diversity agenda. Deloitte has realized that unless the largest cohort of employees is involved, gender equity won’t be achieved. We need everyone’s help to achieve gender parity, and it looks like it is coming from business leaders.