by Matthew J. Geiger

Created on: May 05, 2010

Diversity is important in many fields, because people with different perspectives can sometimes see problems that would otherwise go unnoticed.  During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, Republicans focused on a remark she made about a wise, old Latina being able to deliver a better ruling.  Although it is true judges and justices must remain as objective as possible, their personal bias can influence how they view cases.  Having a culturally diverse panel of justices helps the Supreme Court remain transparent and objective, because those with different perspectives can call attention to incidences where others are unknowingly allowing their bias to influence their judgment.  As such, businesses have much to gain from gender diversity in the workplace.

It is important to remember diversity matters in the workplace, because the experiences and talents of employees help a business succeed.  Experiences matter as those individuals with broad and extensive experiences in both their professional and personal lives are most likely to offer unknown, applicable solutions or improvements that are useful in increasing productivity and solving problems.  As such, a lack of gender diversity can undermine productivity or lead to less creative thinking and creative problem solving.  Of course, it is also important to recognize sexism is a double-edged sword.  For women, emasculating men can be a form of retaliation while women often buy into sexist views against women as well.

Women are socialized differently than men, because they are treated differently due to their gender.  While history has a lot to do with this discrepancy, partial segregation of boys and girls during their youth, couple with the effects of developmental and biological differences, creates two subcultures within all communities.  The result is two groups that focus on diverging priorities, engage in diverse hobbies, and often learn different skills.  As such, where a male would fail to recognize the need to consider a specific factor in a design or business plan, a female may immediately recognize a fundamental flaw, thus an all male work culture would simply overlook the mistake.  Just as an all female work culture might miss key opportunities to profit.

At the same time, gender diversity is not simply about having men and women in the work environment.  There are likely plenty of organizations where women are

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