Achieving gender diversity in the workplace is typically a matter of integrating women into a male-dominated environment. However, in certain cases, the opposite is true: the workplace is predominately female, and the organisation hopes to increase the percentage of male employees.
In both instances, the quest for gender diversity will only succeed with backup from the whole company. In the best-case scenario, the CEO and senior management will prompt the initiative and there will be a bottom-line-driven business case behind their reasoning.
The responsibility for gender diversity cannot rest solely on the shoulders of recruiters: it must be reinforced by a serious, company-wide effort to integrate the workplace. But recruiters must still make a special effort to bring in members of the minority gender. Career marketing materials should appeal to both sexes. The recruiting process itself must be structured to overcome entrenched biases, staying fair to men and women alike.
“Diversity as a goal has to be tied to the business case,” said Nancy DiTomaso, professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School in Newark, New Jersey. “What that means is that people are more likely to change the decisions they make when they create a business purpose for those decisions.” Companies that have had success in gender diversity have been cited for factors like affinity networks, annual pay-equity audits and clear accountability for hiring and workplace practices.

Case study: bwin

In 1999, bwin, a European gaming company, was founded by men, but in the years since, it has taken action to hire women, especially in IT functions. For at least the past five years, women in the company’s Swedish branch have made up roughly 25 per cent of the workforce – a far cry from the firm’s fraternal beginnings. “We present ourselves as more of an IT company than a gaming company,” said Clara Scattergood, recruitment specialist and HR business partner at bwin.
The company sponsors events at universities across Sweden, specifically targeted at women in computer science programmes. It also fosters relationships with women’s IT groups at other companies.  bwin also uses the Scrum project-management method, which not only promotes agile problem-solving, but Scattergood said, has become an EB selling point. It helps bwin Games present the face of a serious, goal-orientated workplace worthy of ambitious people – not a “frat-boy hangout”. “Women may have thought that because of the gaming aspect it was a company for men,” Scattergood said. “Today they understand that it’s not just fun and games – it’s as serious as working at a bank or stock exchange.”

Case study: L’Oréal

Even though L’Oréal, the international cosmetics company, has a significant male presence in many of its departments – for instance, in finance, where men outnumber women – its key marketing division remains female-dominated. This is small surprise, considering that the company is most famous for its many lines of women’s products.
However, L’Oréal is now taking special pains to attract men to marketing. This is partly an outgrowth of an overall commitment to diversity. “It comes down to the consumers,” said Malin Crona, HR manager of L’Oréal Sweden. “Our aim is to have a product for every individual for every need, and we need to have people from these different backgrounds.” Whether or not you label it as part of the ‘metrosexual’ trend of recent years, there’s no question that men are increasingly interested in grooming and appearance. L’Oréal has responded with comprehensive lines of men’s hair and skincare products. These offerings make the male perspective in marketing more valuable than ever.
In an attempt to capture male attention, L’Oréal sponsors recruiting events planned in tandem with sports tournaments – one such event was held at HEC University in Paris, France. In Germany, it collaborated with Audi on a university event: the auto company generally attracts more men to its recruiting functions, whilst L’Oréal generally attracts more women; by banding together both companies could engage in ‘opposite gender’ recruiting. L’Oréal also takes pains to make its careerorientated communications materials appeal to men. Colours tend to be neutral and black, rather than the pastel shades long favoured in the marketing of women’s beauty products. On the company’s corporate Web site, a click on the “Student & Job Seeker” tab reveals an image of a twenty-something man, pumped up with enthusiasm, illustrating the tag line “I want more!” And, this year’s Brandstorm, L’Oréal’s annual case-study competition for undergraduates, asked contestants to come up with new men’s products for the Diesel brand – all of it conveyed in bold, masculine colours, with the dominant image being that of a fist with the word “DARE” spelled out on it. “L’Oréal has a business culture built on entrepreneurship, opportunity and responsibility,” Crona said. “And that’s as attractive to men as to women.”

Building Gender Diversity:
• Make a business case
A bottom-line rationale for gender diversity will trump any appeal to good will. The impetus for a diversity initiative has to come from the company’s senior management and make hard-nosed business sense.
• Look at the workplace
Fostering gender diversity cannot be the sole responsibility of recruiters. It has to be backed up by real changes in the work environment itself so that it’s hospitable to men and women alike.
• Get the word out
Make sure that any recruiting materials
– especially the corporate Web site
– contains images of both sexes. Stage recruiting events specifically aimed at the ‘opposite sex.’
• Circumvent biases
Be aware that recruiting personnel may have entrenched attitudes, possibly unconscious. Institute objective hiring criteria so men and women have an equal shot at a job.

By Fred Cohn out of “The opposite sex(es)” in Universum Quarterly #2 2010