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Why Men Under 40 May Be Women's Best Allies

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As the holiday season approaches, so does a collision of year-end project deadlines and personal obligations — and maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be particularly difficult. However, women who work with a high proportion of men under the age of 40 — particularly if those men are in middle or senior-management positions — may find life to be less stressful than women who work among and for older men.

A new study by BCG (full disclosure: BCG is a client of Fairygodboss) suggests that younger men may speak up and behave in ways that are more aligned with the concerns of women. In other words, younger men may be more in tune with what women actually want . So,  while both older and younger men can be male advocates and allies, younger men may be more likely to advocate for the things that women actually need, making their advocacy especially important.

One striking conclusion of the survey, which involved 17,500 employee respondents in over 21 countries, is that the attitudes of younger men (those under the age of 40) are much more closely aligned with those views and attitudes of women employees surveyed.

For example, men under 40 were more inclined to cite the same high-priority gender diversity initiatives as women when asked what policies and programs their employers should implement, i.e. work-life balance measures such as flexible working. In contrast,  older men ranked leadership transparency and commitment as top priorities. In addition, regardless of whether younger men were fathers themselves, men under the age of 40 were much more likely to to cite the importance of parental leave and on-site childcare than men over the age of 40.

Perhaps most significantly, BCG found that a higher percentage of younger men said they were willing to change their own behavior than men over the age of 40. Survey respondents under 40 said they would “take steps to support flexible work, such as changing the schedule for routine meetings, redistributing work across a team, and tracking performance on the basis of outcomes rather than hours worked.” Moreover, men under 40 were more willing to hire candidates with a greater focus on diversity in mind during the process.

There is a substantial body of research published by the National Center for Women in Information Technology, Forte Foundation and other organizations showing the importance of having male advocates and allies and recommending how they can best support gender equality at work.

Male allies can come in many forms, but as Bentley University’s Center for Women and Business research puts it, “Perhaps it is best not to put the focus on what male allies are but instead on what they can do.” It is, after all, the actions of male allies that can do a lot of the necessary work in making the workplace better for women — and considering the prevalence of sexual harassment in America alone, these kind of allies are needed more than ever.

Fairygodboss has found in our own survey of men in the workplace that a majority of men say they have privately advocated for equality, diversity and inclusion. The fact that so many men have spoken up on behalf of women is encouraging.

If these behaviors and attitudes do not change as these young men age and increasingly are promoted into positions of greater influence and management authority, we could see greater gender equality and more female-friendly workplaces within the coming years from simply closer alignment in values and preferences between women and men.

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