Apparently I can quit blogging, stop selling my book (which hasn’t even come out yet), and cease doing seminars on gender dynamics. Well, at least according to most men. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal “The Hidden Battle of the Sexes at Work” indicates that most men think that gender parity has already been reached. Not surprisingly, women think it is a work in progress.

A recent joint report by McKinsey & CO. and LeanIn.Org. “Women in the Workplace 2017”, reflecting input from 222 companies employing 12 million people, shows that significantly more men than women say their companies are level playing fields despite evidence to the contrary – such as only 1 in 10 top executives being women. Is it possible that gender inequality is so pervasive, we no longer see it? Has it also become another gender blind spot?

Despite perceptions to the contrary, the gender leadership gap still exists as demonstrated by these percentages of women indicated in the report: 47% at the entry level; 37% at the manager level; 33% at the director level; 29% at the VP level; 21% at the SVP level; 20% at the C-suite level; and 24% at the board level.  These differences are not due to women dropping out, or women not asking for promotions. In reality, women seek promotions at the same rate as men, but are promoted less often. Consequently, many women along the way come to see the playing field as not level.

These statistics show that women’s participation lessens as you move up levels of senior leadership, confirming recent findings that the methods used by corporations over the past decades to increase diversity don’t work. And, more importantly given this new data, what has been shown to work is engaging men. Something that won’t happen if the vast majority of them believe that the issue has been resolved when in fact, it is far from having been achieved.

Another reason why this gender gap in perception is so important is that the majority of middle and senior managers are men, as shown by the percentages above. This means that the people who can best influence change and ensure that gender equality is achieved in organizations don’t see it as an issue.

Research shows that supportive middle managers can make a huge positive difference in women’s careers with actions such as: suggesting women employees take stretch assignments; promoting a woman’s achievements to her colleagues and higher-ups; stepping-in to stop behavior that alienates women such as verbal boasting; and praising other men for promoting women. Teams follow the lead of their managers, so subtle efforts by mid-level managers can have important ramifications on the career advancement of their women employees.

If the majority of men in corporations currently think gender parity has been achieved, the actual achievement of gender parity might never occur. So before we can close the leadership gender gap, we need to close this perception gender gap. Or else we will continue to not only stall but move backwards. And we know that the world without gender equality is a poorer place – economically, socially, and psychologically.