This coming Sunday is Father’s Day, an opportunity to not only thank and celebrate our dads but to also have dads reflect on what kind of future they want for their children.
That’s particularly true for dads who have ambitious daughters and high hopes for what those daughters can achieve.
As things currently stand in Australia, there’s a lot more those daughters will have to overcome compared to their brothers. On average, daughters who’re working full-time are earning 18.2% less than sons, according to the latest ABS stats, the largest gender pay gap in 20 years.
And daughters currently have a very slim chance of reaching leadership positions. Just 6% of ASX 200 CEOs are female, while barely 10% of senior executive and director positions across the country’s largest 500 listed organisations are held by women.
This week at the 50/50 Future Leaders Forum Origin Energy chairman Gordon Cairns made the point that, “I don’t want my daughter to face the same discriminincations my wife did.”
This is a common statement heard by a dad at events discussing gender equality at work. Leaders, like Cairns, can use their aspirations for their daughters in order to inspire change within their own organisations and industries.
But any father, whether he’s a leader or not, has an opportunity to inspire a more equitable, more sustainable and ultimately better world for their children.
So this father’s days, we’re calling on fathers of daughters to do the following:
- Continually highlight the importance of education. Explain the opportunities that subjects like maths and science can offer later on.
- Expose your daughters to female role models, especially in what might be considered male dominated industries. Book appointments with female doctors. Ask female engineers, scientists, technologists, business owners, miners and those in other professions to talk about their work with your daughters.
- Encourage your daughters interests and talents, even if they don’t seem particularly ‘feminine’. If she demonstrates leadership tendencies, don’t call her ‘bossy’ but rather allow her to explore her potential.
- Explain the gender pay and leadership gaps to your daughter. Tell her how we’ve gotten to this point and why, and what’s being done to try and change it in the future
- Give your daughter an understanding of the potential that exists in businesses and governments opening more opportunities for girls and women all over the world.
- Demonstrate that men participate in domestic duties, particularly if both parents in the household are working full-time. Share the cooking and cleaning. Actively show that there are no ‘jobs for men’ and ‘jobs for women’.
- Avoid assumptions regarding what she should and should not be interested in. Let her pick the colours, toys and activities she wants to be surrounded by, rather than imposing these on her
- Empower her to choose the kind of life she wants to live and to be person she hopes to become.