If you weren't aware, equality in the workplace is still an issue 🙃. Recently, Reddit user u/rooks-and-queens decided to highlight some possible solutions to the gender divide by asking people to share the small things that "make a workplace more inclusive to women." Here are the top-rated responses:
1. "The temperature in the office must be suitable for everybody. Very often, women and their health suffer because the temperature in offices is set to accommodate the male body."
2. "I'm in billing for engineering. My office’s stairs are see-through, so folks wearing dresses to go upstairs have to be clever about how they do it. Non-see-through stairs would be nice."
3. "A period-products dispenser in the women's bathroom is always welcome."
4. "Bins for tampons and pads by the toilets...that preferably are also soundproofed and not right next to someone's office."
5. "If there is a dress code, make it universal. Same rules for all."
6. "Ceasing to treat women like informal secretaries would make a difference. No, Cassie doesn’t have to write the protocol to the meeting. Nor should Jenny be responsible for organizing the team building or office party."
7. "Make it easier for women to take sick time for reproductive health issues. I've dealt with fibroids for years now, and it would've been nice if I felt comfortable enough on my worst days to take time off to rest."
8. "If someone is talking down to your coworkers or employees for being women, defend them."
9. "Please, no required heels or makeup."
10. "Fewer women in power putting down the rest of us and acting like snakes. This is not a competition, and we don't want your place — we just want to get our coin without feeling the need to cry over a toxic environment other women create. We are in this together. It's already hard to live in a man's world; why do some women feel the need to make it harder?"
11. "During meetings, have a way of ensuring that people who have something to contribute will be heard when they do so. It happens far too often that a woman or a new team member is cut off partway through expressing something, only for a more senior or male coworker to say the same thing later and get all of the credit for it."
12. "Bigger toilets for women. Normally in workplaces, both toilets occupy an equal area. The thing is — women need more space and time on the toilet, since we often have to deal with periods."
13. "A pumping room with a soft, comfortable chair and easily accessible electrical outlets. Better yet, on-site childcare who will bring your baby to you a few times a day to breastfeed."
14. "Don't assign a woman the social tasks of the office unless she volunteers to. Not every woman wants to keep track of birthdays, bridal showers, and baby showers."
15. "Ask everyone, ideally through an anonymous survey, what they would like to see to make the office more inclusive. Sometimes individual offices have things you wouldn't see on a standard list."
16. "Eliminate sexist jokes from the workplace. Stop saying periods are disgusting and inappropriate when you’re a 35-year-old male supervisor."
17. "The best thing to make a workspace inclusive is openness about and equality in regard to pay."
18. And finally, "Be actively inclusive of women in your space. I work in STEM and am often the only woman on the team. I am by default not included in informal social, team-building things like grabbing lunch together, getting a drink after work, etc. When someone doesn't look like the rest of you, it's important to actively include them."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.