Researchers at the University of South Australia have found women specifically face challenges when trying to drive corporate social responsibility initiatives.
This is despite previous studies suggesting having more women on boards leads to stronger social outcomes for companies.
Corporate social responsibility is defined as a business making a conscious effort to make the world a better place, such as through a charity donation from a small business or a large corporation giving a portion of its profits to a social cause.
Having more women on boards leads to stronger social outcomes for companies, studies suggest. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)
Women are often put in charge of initiating such programs as they are perceived as more emotional, sensitive, caring and empathetic towards others.
Associate Professor Wei Qian said this stereotype contributes to gender inequality in the highest levels of the workplace.
"The first challenge is navigating the power dynamics, because men still predominantly hold powerful positions like executive directors and chairs while women are more often in non-executive senior positions," she told AAP.
"There are persistent gender perceptions about what women are good at and not good at and most of the time women are seen as only good at 'soft' tasks like CSR, community engagement while men do the 'hard' business issues.
"This perception can marginalise women in the power dynamics of boardroom decisions."
The study included interviews with women from a variety of industries including banking, metal and mining, health care, finance, telecommunication, real estate and insurance.
Some women detailed how they took a 'gentler' approach to advocacy, choosing their words carefully and sometimes adjusting their ideas to make them more receptive to their male colleagues.
This could be by reframing the initiative as a chance for the business to gain competitive or financial advantage.
"The best example was talking about the climate change program," one research participant explained.
"You have to build a good story, sort of start at the economics … and work your way up to (it), and then (say) 'by the way, this would be a good and responsible thing to do'."
Many women surveyed expressed biases and difficulties in promoting corporate social responsibility to their boardroom colleagues.
"When speaking with these women, we heard several examples of women finding it hard to navigate power imbalances when it comes to driving social initiatives," Assoc Prof Qian said.
"One participant said she was told she 'wears her heart on her sleeve' when she was expressing concerns about a social initiative and wanting the company to go in a certain direction."
The perception of gender needs to be reframed by corporate Australia, researcher Wei Qian says. (HANDOUT/ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR WEI QIAN)
Companies also failed to implement corporate social responsibility projects because ultimately the final decision was made by men, despite a woman's advocacy.
"If we continue to have a business-centric perception of CSR projects, it's difficult for companies to make the impact in the long term," Assoc Prof Qian said.
"We need to go beyond gender quotas - this perception of gender and framing of the CSR need to be changed.
"It's about empowering women in the boardroom to make contributions, enable them to make real change and become the agent of change in the boardroom."
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