'Male allies’ can play key role in helping to achieve greater gender equality in tax

I am proud to chair Women in Tax. It was formed in London, in 2015, with the aim of raising the voice of women working in all spheres of tax, making visible their knowledge and experience through a supportive network that connects people, facilitates skills development and promotes the sharing of ideas.

Research on the wider world of work shows that in the absence of male support, women must shoulder the burden of battling what to them sometimes feels like routine workplace sexism such as misogynist humour and microaggressions on their own. This can lead to a sense of isolation, stress and exhaustion. Such a state of affairs is unfair and unproductive when we should empower, support and develop our whole workforce.

Working towards a more equal world has never been so important. This is an overall society issue and to achieve true gender parity we need both men and women to be on this journey.

I strongly believe that the only way to get to true gender parity in the tax profession is for more men to stand up as ‘male allies’ and is one of my focus points as Chair for Women in Tax. We already know that there are so many obstacles in the way of women overall with how society brings up and views boys and girls differently. In addition, there are so many instances in society where men have privilege.

So what is a male ally?

Harvard Business Review defines male allies as members of an advantaged group committed to building relationships with women, expressing as little sexism in their own behaviour as possible, understanding the social privilege conferred by their gender, and demonstrating active efforts to address gender inequities at work and in society.

Why does this matter for the tax profession?

We still do not have proportionate representation of women at Partner and Director level in the tax profession. While most men say that they want to support gender equality, some are still not necessarily taking steps to reduce gender discrimination and harassment. What can men in the tax profession do to help achieve gender parity?

Below is a list of some actions men can take to help:

• Speak up when a woman is ignored in a meeting
• Sponsor women with potential
• Mentoring
• Use your privilege to help women
• Ensure women get credit for their accomplishments and ideas
• Tackle inequity
• Push for more equitable norms and policies in the workplace
• Advocate more equal hiring and interviewing
• Ensuring equal candidate pool between men and women when jobs are applied for
• Show empathy to life events
• Provide coaching
• Help women to see their full potential if they can’t
• Give women stretch roles
• Help overcome imposter syndrome
• Share your networks
• Help raise women’s profile

On this special day I call on men in tax to make today the day you decide to be a male ally.

And my general message to women working in tax on this International Women’s Day is to continue to develop a growth mindset. This is about not letting setbacks dishearten you, but rather think about what would you do differently if you were faced with the same issues/challenges again? Have clear goals and visions about where you want to go. You would not drive a car without knowing your final destination so why do it with your career? I hope this will help you to grow and succeed in what is a fascinating and rewarding profession to work in.

I will chair what I imagine will prove a thought-provoking event today (8 March) at 12pm to mark International Women’s Day. I will host the Male Allies event with Toyin Oyeneyin, Chair of the ATT New Tax Professionals Committee. We will explore the concept of ‘Allyship’ with a panel of male allies from UN Women UK and the tax profession. J

Join us at the event today by following this link: Women in Tax and New Tax Professionals Committee - International Women's Day Male Allies Event.

Guest blog by Tasneem Kadiri, who is the UK and Ireland Tax Director at L’Oréal where she is responsible for both direct and indirect taxes. Tasneem is winner of Tolley’s Taxation Awards 2020 for best In -House Tax Leader. She has almost 20 years’ experience in tax, audit and accountancy, having worked in both practice and industry. She is on the committee for ICAEW Large Business and International Tax Committee, the Committee for Women in Tax, the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for Chartered Institute of Taxation and has led the BAME best practice group for the Multicultural Professional Network Forum (House of Lords). Tasneem is also on the Gender Equality