Good Guys
How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace
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- $41.99
Publisher Description
The key to advancing gender equality? Men.
Women are at a disadvantage. At home, they often face an unequal division of household chores and childcare, and in the workplace, they deal with lower pay, lack of credit for their contributions, roadblocks to promotion, sexual harassment, and more. And while organizations are looking to address these issues, too many gender-inclusion initiatives focus on how women themselves should respond, reinforcing the perception that these are "women's issues" and that men—often the most influential stakeholders in an organization—don't need to be involved.
Gender-in-the-workplace experts David G. Smith and W. Brad Johnson counter this perception. In this important book, they show that men have a crucial role to play in promoting gender equality at work. Research shows that when men are deliberately engaged in gender-inclusion programs, 96 percent of women in those organizations perceive real progress in gender equality, compared with only 30 percent of women in organizations without strong male engagement.
Good Guys is the first practical, research-based guide for how to be a male ally to women in the workplace. Filled with firsthand accounts from both men and women, and tips for getting started, the book shows how men can partner with their female colleagues to advance women's leadership and equality by breaking ingrained gender stereotypes, overcoming unconscious biases, developing and supporting the talented women around them, and creating productive and respectful working relationships with women.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As long as gender inequality is a "women's issue," men aren't going to feel any responsibility to fix it and that has to change, write assistant sociology professor Smith and psychology professor Johnson (co-authors, Athena Rising) in this persuasive call to arms. They address "good guys," or male would-be allies who want to help end workplace gender inequities but don't know what to do, and provide simple instructions, including ready responses to sexist jokes ("Not cool" or "We don't do that here," among others) and questions to ask oneself to help gauge a meeting's inclusivity ("Who is getting interrupted?"). The authors provide helpful advice on how to get past one's misgivings and get started as an ally, deploy privilege appropriately by realizing its limitations for other people (such as how women of color might not feel comfortable adopting a white male's brashness), and advocate for women at both the individual and organizational levels. Smith and Johnson also walk the walk almost all their quotes are from women. The direct and useful advice should make this an obvious choice for men who appreciate the book's central message: "You can do more."
