The research on the economic benefits of gender equality in the workplace is clear: it can boost profits and enhance reputation. There’s also the fact that it’s more fair. Still, the progress of women in the workplace is so far inadequate: Women are woefully underrepresented in executive and information technology positions, the pay gap persists, and the motherhood penalty is very real.

With the #MeToo movement, Women’s Marches and Time’s Up, cultural norms appear to be shifting.

UW–Madison and the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) actively strive for fairness, especially when it comes to advancing women in the field of information technology. Addressing gender workplace inequality isn’t an issue for women to solve alone, but should engage and include men at every level of an organization. One way that’s been identified for men to help achieve gender equality is to become a successful ally.

DoIT Information Security Specialist Jesse La Grew recently participated in an EDUCAUSE forum to address the topic of being a male ally. Brenda Spychalla, Co-CIO of the UW-Madison School of Education and co-lead for both the UW–Madison and EDUCAUSE Women in IT groups co-facilitated the panel discussion. The following are highlights from their conversation.

What does it mean to you to be a male ally? What do you look for in a male ally?

Jesse La Grew – “Being a male ally means helping support any individual and taking an active role, which is more than just sitting behind a desk. Self-awareness is a huge part of this effort. I start with myself, I work to understand what I am thinking, what I am feeling and how I am being perceived and getting that feedback. If I am not being a good example, I am not helping to forward this effort.”

What are some initial steps individuals and campuses are taking to engage men in becoming allies?

Jesse La Grew – “The seeds were planted at a Big Ten Leadership group after having a conversation with other men. We asked each other:

How do we get women more invested in IT programs?

How can we get something moving?

How can we get men involved?

What would it take?

Who would be interested?

I was motivated to take some action. I sought out and received some great feedback and perspective from [my] wife. Then, I went to our local Women in IT program coordinator Brenda Spychalla, and learned about this thing called “a Male Ally” and asked myself:

What does this look like?

How can we build a community and candidly discuss, “What is a Male Ally”?

Since then, we have been reaching out on campus to get support and generate interest. We are hoping early next year to create a space to talk about this. We have people who are interested in starting this conversation.”

Listen to the full interview

Hear the full interview from the 2017 Women Advance IT Leadership Conference, held in October of 2017 in at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

More resources

While there is no standard definition for “male ally”, here are resources to help spark thought and discussion.

Sources: The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Harvard Business Review 7/7/2012, Harvard Business Review 9/2013, US Department of Labor, Harvard.edu