According to the latest report of the High Council for Equality between Women and Men chaired by Brigitte Grésy (editor's note : speaker at EVE), 80% of 18-30 year olds believe that their generation is less sexist than previous ones.
The editorial staff of EVE wemagazine investigated whether young people are indeed more egalitarian than their elders...
Gender equality in the workplace : a turning point in mentalities
Equal pay, an employer brand issue
The 2016 Glassdoor Employer Attractiveness Study found that more than 80% of recent graduates don't want to join a company that doesn't guarantee equal pay.
This reluctance is confirmed by the ADP report, The Workforce view in Europe 2019 , which states that 75% of Millennials would be willing to leave their job if their employer did not pay men and women equally.
The issue of pay gaps nevertheless comes up against the persistence of a form of self-censorship by women in the expression of " salary expectations" : young female graduates ask for 15% less than their male classmates who have completed the same courses... And only one in eight of them negotiates the conditions of employment against one in two young people recruited.
The denial of the glass ceiling?
While the principle of equal pay is a value for the younger generations, the glass ceiling does not seem to be a cause for concern. 51% of Gen women say they are confident that they will be able to reach the highest positions in the organization where they work.
However, the recent Cereq study on young managers highlights that with the same diploma and equivalent sector, fewer women are hired as managers (36%) than men (40%) and above all that after 7 years of professional activity, they have fewer responsibilities (48% to coordinate a team of at least ten people compared to 55% of men).
Despite these indicators, which reveal a persistence of the glass ceiling, only 10% of Generation Y consider that gender equality remains a fight to be fought, according to the results of a Mazars/Women'Up study. Will the flame be revived when the babies arrive in the homes ? Let's move on to the next paragraph to find out...
Reconciling life times, yes... But the sharing of domestic and family responsibilities?
Flexibility or porosity?
It's now a truism: work/life balance is a major concern for the younger generations. The 2019 Domplus/BVA barometer on the employment concerns of the under-35s confirms that 60% of this age group expects companies to propose measures to balance their working hours. However, this same study highlights a possible trap : the growing porosity of the space-times of existence : 47% of young employees perform professional tasks outside of time and the workplace.
Significant flexibility for individuals... But this trend must be taken into account when assessing the sharing of domestic and family responsibilities. The recent DARES study on teleworking practices shows that women and men, with equivalent professional situations, use it in the same proportions overall, but that gaps set in when the first child arrives: Women are then twice as likely as men to be " intensive teleworkers". Is teleworking for young mothers on the way to becoming the new " part-time " ?
With all that this represents in terms of progress (at least, they are paid 100% of their salary, which is not the case for those who are 4/5th or 3/5th) but also risks for career progression, when the employer more or less unconsciously looks at the teleworking of women with children as a sign of less commitment.
More flexibility at work, more work from home
The Ada network (named after the first programmer in the history of computing : Ada Lovelace), which compiles data on the effects of digital transformation on the status of women, dispels the latent suspicion that teleworkers with young children are less engaged or less productive than men in the same situation.
On the other hand, it warns that the time spent on domestic tasks is higher among regular teleworkers than among women who only occasionally telework.
This is confirmed by the study "Mothers & work-life balance: exploring the contradictions & complexities involved in work-family negotiation". Policies for the articulation of life times have a " washing machine break" effect (rather than a coffee break with colleagues) that is significantly stronger for women than for men. In the same way, the measures to restrict meetings to early or late hours do not solve the problem of women's reduced availability for networking times and moments of informal professional life during which part of the information on access to opportunities is disseminated.
Young mothers, even today, go home belly down to free the babysitter at the end of the day, while young fathers on average allow themselves more time to network and build relationships that could prove useful in the pursuit of their careers.
Will Generation Z bury the " double day " ?
As the truth comes out of the mouths of children, a 2019 Ipsos-Ariel poll summarises the statements of 8-16 year olds on the sharing of tasks at home : 60% notice that mum does more than dad and one in two boys born after 2003 would see things organised in the same way when he starts cleaning ! The study also shows that little girls help their parents at home more often than their brothers. The early habituation of girls to the role of housewife remains a sad reality.
It is therefore not yet won, even if one positive point is to be noted : almost no girl today sees herself in the profession of " housewife ". The trivialization of women's work is bearing fruit in terms of the generalization of the aspiration to financial autonomy. All that remains is to (so to speak) demonstrate by example to the children of today, who are the adults and parents of tomorrow, that the " double day " of women is not inevitable. What if tonight, ladies, you put your feet under the table ? It's for the good of the children !
