In order to advance your organisation’s gender equality efforts, you need to develop strong, impactful cultures of male allyship.

International Women’s Day (IWD) is often characterised by breakfasts, morning teas and lunches that feature inspirational speakers who promote the gender equality cause. Looking around the room, you might wonder whether the speakers are preaching to the choir. Often only a few men dot the audience at these events, so it’s easy to conclude that men don’t care about gender inequality enough to participate.

However, that conclusion overlooks some key reasons for men’s low attendance. There are some men who believe in gender equality and are already acting as allies. But there are many more men who want to champion gender equality and are unsure how to start. These men really want to be in the room and might just need a little help to get there. So let’s think about ways to make that room, and the conversations unfolding within it, more inclusive. 

Male allyship is powerful

Allyship isn’t just about turning up to a once-a-year morning tea. It’s about engaging in supportive micro-behaviours and acting on equality values every single day. If organisations could successfully cultivate male allyship in the workplace, we’d probably see a more gender-balanced audience at IWD events and the like. 

So how can HR support micro-moments of male allyship?

Gender allyship encompasses a broad constellation of behaviours that actively support gender equality in the workplace, such as: calling out sexism, mentoring and sponsoring women who might otherwise be disadvantaged, modifying organisational activities to be more gender inclusive, and publicly advocating for gender equality. Because gender inequality is such a complex and insidious problem, organisations only become gender-inclusive when on-the-ground employees are vigilant about addressing inequalities on an ongoing basis.   

Women are usually responsible for most of the allyship activity that takes place in organisations. In fact, female leaders are twice as likely as male leaders to contribute considerable time to diversity and inclusion efforts. Yet, research shows that male allies can make a huge difference. When men raise concerns about gender inequalities, their concerns are viewed as particularly serious and legitimate, and they are given more credibility because they are not perceived as acting in their own self-interest. Seeing men enact allyship in a workplace generates ripple effects that empower both women and men to confront sexism. 

It’s harder than you think

People routinely underestimate men’s interest in gender equality. But if men want to be allies, what’s stopping them? Men often get caught between a rock and a hard place because they can never be sure that either their female or male coworkers will appreciate their efforts. In anticipating women’s reactions, aspiring male allies may experience low psychological standing (a subjective judgment of legitimacy to perform an action). Thoughts like, “I can never really know what women are experiencing!” or “What right do I have to speak up on gender equality?” can hold them back. Aspiring male allies may also fear backlash. Gender equality efforts and initiatives can evoke strong emotions among people who see them as threats to their own status or prestige. Even the most powerful male allies can experience backlash when they express support for gender equality. 

In an article for the Australian Financial Review (2014), Lance Hockridge, former CEO of Aurizon, described the hostile reception he received from male employees at worksites after launching a gender equality initiative: “It was like I had a target on my back.” Championing gender equality as a solo man often requires a leap of faith.  

Strength in numbers     

If these fears are holding aspiring male allies back, male advocacy groups might give them the psychological safety they need to push past those barriers. Back in 2010, Elizabeth Broderick, in her role as Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner at the time, took the innovative step of establishing a group of male leaders with the goal of promoting gender equality. Since then, male advocacy groups have spread like wildfire, proliferating both in Australia and other countries.  

“Allyship isn’t just about turning up to a once-a-year morning tea. It’s about engaging in supportive micro-behaviours and acting on equality values every single day.”

In our own research, we’ve been interviewing members of male advocacy groups and identified an important paradox. At their best, male advocacy groups attract members who are passionate about gender equality and keen to learn from others. Members tell us how much they relish sharing space with other men who are driven to reduce gender inequality in their own organisations. They treasure the opportunity to discuss, with honesty and transparency, their efforts to be allies to the women they work with.

But as male advocacy groups multiply, they can also attract members who are less committed to the gender equality cause. 

Some members might join male advocacy groups to demonstrate ‘performative allyship’ and enhance their personal brand. They come for the connections and networking, and they coast on other members’ gender equality efforts. That’s a real problem for aspiring male allies. They joined an advocacy group because they felt awkward calling out coworkers’ behaviour, but it’s even harder to call out their advocacy group colleagues as insufficiently committed. Aspiring allies often feel uncomfortable questioning one another’s values and commitment, and they can be reluctant to generate negative interpersonal dynamics that would jeopardise the group’s entire mission.  

Empowering male allies

If male advocacy groups fail to consistently deliver a safe space, we need to find other ways to encourage and support male allyship. One promising strategy is developing mixed-gender coalitions for gender equality. These mixed-gender coalitions are best positioned to simultaneously legitimise gender inequality concerns and affirm members’ psychological standing. 

This IWD, let’s take steps toward mixed-gender coalitions. Rather than sending out a blanket invitation to your organisation’s event and lamenting the few men who accept it, try a more personalised approach: invite individual male colleagues and make them feel warmly welcomed. Help them to recognise gender inequality in its many forms and develop – together – scripts for calling it out. 

Men are more likely to champion gender equality if they know colleagues share their values. Therefore, it’s important to keep communicating evidence of that shared support. 

But actions will always speak louder than words. The first step toward increasing male allyship in your own workplace is to role model allyship behaviour. Look out for allyship in its many forms – especially the small and subtle forms. Sure, allies include the men who publicly advocate for gender equality, but they are also the men who quietly practice allyship in everyday moments: acknowledging women’s contributions in a discussion, watching for opportunities to learn women’s experiences, or questioning the taken-for-granted organisational procedures that disadvantage women.

When you observe male allyship in action, actively affirm it. That affirmation (especially if it comes from leaders) can make all the difference. Even a brief communication from a manager supporting the involvement of men and women in gender equality initiatives has the power to increase men’s volunteer rates to a level equivalent with women’s.  

This article first appeared in the March 2023 edition of HRM Magazine.

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