MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Assignments Are Critical Tools to Achieve Workplace Gender Equity

  • 7m
  • Caroline Simard, Erin Macke, Gabriela Gall Rosa, Shannon Gilmartin
  • MIT Sloan Management Review
  • 2022

Facing unprecedented levels of employee burnout and historic quit rates, how can companies lead with a model that attracts and retains talent? This period of transition, and the lessons learned from the pandemic, offer organizations a unique opportunity to improve and refine their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies.1 It is imperative that leaders consider the landscape of work assignments at their companies as a foundation for greater workforce equity.

“Assignments” can comprise work tasks, activities, or projects. Scholars have long identified a gender gap in access to the kinds of assignments — large in scope, highly visible, and strategically important — that are seen as essential to career advancement. An estimated 70% of leadership development occurs through experiential learning, especially the kind offered by these challenging stretch assignments.

About the Author

Erin Macke is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Stanford University and a graduate research assistant at Stanford’s VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab. Gabriela Gall Rosa is a research data analyst at the VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab. Shannon Gilmartin is a senior research scholar at the VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab. Caroline Simard is managing director of the VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab.

In this Book

  • MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Assignments Are Critical Tools to Achieve Workplace Gender Equity