Tipping the scales on women’s equality

New research highlights the gaps between perception and reality; plus how your company can shape what's next to support women

Hillary Wilson

August 24, 2022 | 6 min read

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There have been many watershed moments for women’s rights over time; from the 19th amendment to Title IX. Despite the impact of these events, women still find themselves fighting not only for new rights, but to protect what they’ve already been granted.

It might surprise many that recently the U.S. didn’t make the top ten list for gender equality. Recent actions, such as the Supreme Court Decision to strike down Roe have made it clear that the path to women’s equality isn’t a one-time event; it’s an ongoing journey that will require diligence and perseverance.

At Momentive we believe we must flex our influence to help drive change and shape what’s next. We take a stand on public policy issues that impact our communities and support nonprofits that align with our values. And we offer ways for communities to use our tools for free to support diversity, equity and inclusion for all. In this blog post you will find the following:

Current gender equality research
Free survey templates for you to use to make change
Momentive social impact and core values

Current Momentive research

Using our audience panel, we have conducted several research studies this year about gender equality. Below are the studies, links, and a few top data points.

CNBC|Momentive Poll: International Women’s Day 2022

In partnership with CNBC, we developed a research report that looked at female equality and equity in the workplace. A few data points include:

Women who quit their jobs in the last year were more likely to be looking for better work/life balance than a higher salary
Women are still feeling burned out from work: 54% of women experienced burnout because of their job, roughly unchanged from last year
Ambition rebounds from last year, and remains highest for women of color

Equality by gender and race

This research shares how people overall feel about gender equality and focuses more on the differences in the workplace and between races. A few data points include:

Just 42% of women say that women are well respected in the U.S.—far less than the number of men who say the same (65%)
75% of Republicans agree that women are well respected in the U.S.—nearly double the 37% of Democrats who say the same

Leanin.Org|Momentive Research - Abortion rights are a critical workplace issue

In Partnership with LeanIn.Org, research showed that a majority of women and men think companies should take action to protect abortion rights. Companies that don’t act risk losing future leaders. A few data points include:

76% of women are concerned that the overturn of Roe will negatively impact women’s ability to advance in the workforce.
Women and men of color are about twice as likely as white women and men to be considering switching jobs—indicating that a failure to protect abortion access could put companies’ DE&I efforts in serious jeopardy.
82% of women say that having control over whether and when they have a child is critical to pursuing their career goals.

Shape what’s next with our free survey templates

We want to amplify all voices and advance gender equality, so we created free survey templates that anyone can use. Here’s how you can use these templates to support female and non-binary people at your work, at your school, or within your community.

Take action at work

Women are still fighting for equality, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. This template is designed to help companies assess gender inclusivity at work. Use it to easily capture employee attitudes toward the opportunities they’re given to succeed. You can even compare your results against the Women in the Workplace study to see how you measure up against peers. The template might help you discover the following:

Do women feel included in important decisions at work?
Have senior staff members actively assisted women in advancing their career?
Do women feel that they are paid equally compared to men at work?
How do women of color feel about inclusion, equity, and equal pay?

Use the survey, get started here.

Take action at school

How is your school performing when it comes to gender diversity? This school template has ten starter questions, all adjustable, so you can easily send, learn, and share the insights to drive impact at your school. The template might help you discover the following:

Do people feel that there is gender equality at your school among students?
Do people feel that there is gender equality at your school among faculty?
Do people feel that your school should publicly make announcements about social issues like gender equality?

Use the survey, get started here.

Take action in your community

How does your local community or network feel about gender equality issues in politics? This template has ten customizable starter questions that are designed to help shed light on public sentiment in the political space. The template might help you discover the following:

What issues are most important when deciding between elected officials?
Does your community feel that there is gender equality?
How does your community feel about recent Supreme Court actions?

Use the survey, get started here.

Momentive core values and social impact

Core values

At Momentive, we’ve built equality into our core values for all employees. We believe that DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is a business imperative for all companies and strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging and is treated fairly. We believe companies must take a stand—and that DEI goals are as important as financial goals.

To that end, Momentive has established representation goals that reflect our belief that diverse representation positively impacts our business. In 2020, women made up 44% of our workforce, and women in technical positions reached 28%. Our goal for 2024 is to have an equal representation of women and men in our workforce at 48% each, and have new goals for Trans and nonbinary employees.

Our board of directors consists of a 50/50 split of men to women, and we have grown women in our leadership roles to 36% women and 64% men. We will continue to strive for gender equity in these roles in the future.

More here.

Contributions

Momentive also supports a wide variety with its Contribute program, which allows people to sign up as a panelist and donate to charity for every survey they take. Respondents can take surveys and direct the money to women nonprofits to help make a difference.

To date, we’ve donated over $15 million to dozens of world-class nonprofits. Sign up to be a Contribute partner, or learn more.

Employee culture

Parity.org publishes the Best Companies for Women to Advance™ list, an annual award that recognizes organizations that create the culture and conditions to support women and people of color. The organization evaluates companies on a variety of factors including recruiting, promotion, compensation, and representation at the leadership level.

Momentive is proud to be named to this in 2022. If your company is interested, Parity.org offers a simple first step to getting started with equity. The ParityPLEDGE asks companies to agree to interview and consider at least one qualified woman and one qualified person of color for every open VP, C-Suite, and Board position.

WIN Employee Resource Group

WIN’s (Women In Momentive) goal is to support women in the workplace through educational programs, partnerships, and events that provide information, connections, resources, and opportunities.

If you are interested in working at Momentive, check out our careers page!

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