I actually wrote the bulk of this post a month ago. I didn’t post it because I feared people would just think I was trying to tick a box, score points or was looking for a pat on the back - “a 30-something white guy talking about D&I”...I could see the eye rolls and the imposter syndrome was, and still is, real.

Men, commit to mentor women.
Not harassing women is not enough.
Now more than ever, we need men to support women–not overlook or avoid them. When women have the same opportunities to succeed and lead as men, it makes the workplace safer and fairer for everyone.

There was male/female discord in the workplace well before the #MeToo movement. But, if the #MeToo movement has taught me anything, it's that we need men to be part of this conversation. We cannot isolate ourselves from men and expect to change the status quo.

Women’s conferences and employee resource groups (ERGs) are increasingly inviting men to attend. By creating events aimed at men, they hope to include men in discussions around gender equity in the workplace, and make organizational diversity efforts more successful.

Many senior male managers are reportedly responding to the #MeToo movement with a better-safe-than-sorry attitude and are pulling back from mentoring women. This backlash has little basis in reality. False accusations of sexual harassment are about 2%, the same as any other crime.

How often have you heard that the catalyst for male leaders to become an advocate for greater gender inclusion is because of their daughters unfortunately encountering exclusion, harassment, and/or realizing limited advancement opportunities in the workplace?

Commençons par le « côté obscur » de la réponse : oui, les hommes vont perdre quelque chose si notre monde progresse vers plus de mixité. Ils vont perdre un peu de pouvoir, puisqu’ils vont devoir partager. Et alors ?

In the past few years, American corporations have increased their focus on attracting and retaining talented women to build gender diversity. Companies tout everything from diversity targets to enhanced maternity leave to bias training to flying nannies. Many leadership experts...

“There are people who would say, ‘Just take them (white male executives) out back and give them frontal lobotomies.’ But it’s not that simple.”

Bill Proudman pretty much personifies “white male privilege.” He is not only white – he is big, straight, a native-born American, and he holds an executive position. But that is where the stereotype gives way: Proudman has dedicated the last 17 years to helping white guys dig into diversity & inclusion.

L’égalité professionnelle a longtemps été pensée, à juste titre, comme une action
en faveur de l’accès des femmes aux postes détenus traditionnellement par les
hommes. Les diagnostics et les politiques ne faisaient que mentionner les écarts
de rémunération, de carrière, de pouvoir entre les deux sexes. Les hommes
demeuraient un lointain point de référence, un groupe à ouvrir et diversifier
mais qu’il n’y avait pas besoin d’impliquer spécifiquement

For the academic year 2014/2015 Professor Elisabeth Kelan has led an extensive research project on how men as middle managers can engage in gender inclusive leadership. The project was funded by a British Academy mid-career fellowship (MD130085).

Research suggests steps to help male middle managers become more inclusive

Truly gender inclusive male middle managers are a rarity, according to new research by professor of leadership and director of the International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranfield School of Management, Elisabeth Kelan.

Ariel Ayanna was a beloved attorney at his law firm when he faced a devastating personal crisis. His pregnant wife attempted suicide.

Ayanna took time off to care for her, the baby, and their older child. When he came back to work, his attorneys say, the firm wouldn’t give him back his clients. Co-workers openly derided him for being a caregiver, which broke from the “macho” environment, according to the attorneys. A few months later the firm fired him, citing his alleged low billings. (The case was eventually settled.)

All OECD countries, except the US, offer nationwide paid
maternity leave for at least 12 weeks, and over half grant
fathers paid paternity leave when a baby arrives. More and
more countries now also offer paid parental leave, i.e. a longer
period of job-protected leave that is available to both parents.
Mothers generally use much of their leave entitlements—
almost all take maternity leave and often extend it by taking
at least some parental leave. But the picture is different for
fathers.

Josh Levs (Harper One, 2015)

There is an endless amount of advice given to working mothers about "how to have it all" with 'all' meaning happy kid, successful careers, great hair, healthy diets, immaculate wardrobes, the perfect beach body, good girlfriends, a supportive husband and a pristine house.

But what if we applied the same type of inane language we use when discussing women in the workplace to men?

This parody Twitter account Manwhohasitall is generating some buzz at the moment for its genius lampooning of the expectations placed on working mothers by imagining if men were subject to the same.

“I didn’t really identify with this group or this culture at all,” said a man in a recent leadership development session I was running. He was standing among a group of male colleagues, to discuss what it was like to be a man today. “I really don’t like the jockeying for position, the loud voices, the false cheeriness,” he explained. The executive facing him — ex-military, 6’5” — looked astonished. “That’s all we were ever taught to do,” he said, “Take a position and hold it.”

"Plaidoyer pour une vision nouvelle du rôle de l'homme dans la société"
Depuis quelques années, il est de bon ton pour les hommes de se dire favorables à l'égalité femmes-hommes, alors qu'ils sont les bénéficiaires d'un système toujours très inégalitaire.S'agit-il d'une façade permettant de se donner bonne conscience ou d'un engagement pris avec lucidité et honnêteté ?En perdant leurs privilèges, si les hommes ont peu à gagner immédiatement, ils auront la satisfaction de participer à la construction d'un monde meilleur. Et ce n'est déjà pas si mal!

Vous vous demandez ce que vous avez à gagner à davantage de mixité ? Vous hésitez à vous exprimer sur le sujet ? Vous vous interrogez sur la meilleure manière d'encourager les autres hommes à s'engager pour la mixité ? Vous voulez être acteur d'une transformation majeure ?

On peut aimer les femmes sans perdre sa virilité. Le temps des machos est terminé, il est temps que les hommes se « féministent ».
Didier Van Bruyssel aime les femmes, toutes les femmes. Dans son essai choc, il secoue le cocotier en faisant la différence entre être viril et être macho. Et donne des pistes aux hommes pour devenir ce dont toutes les femmes rêvent : un homme viril sans virilisme !

Dans un monde où nul n’a plus de destin tracé, où chacun doit construire sa vie, sa posture et son bonheur, tout est en mouvement et le masculin n’échappe pas à la tourmente. Salarié, père, époux et amant, l’homme semble avoir perdu ses repères, déstabilisé par l’effondrement de la figure traditionnelle d’une domination tous azimuts.