One big advantage women offer the business world and management, in particular, is that they have different sets of life and work experiences than men do and thus different perspectives. Their skills are unique as well. This leads to different opinions, different preferences, and different strategies.

In many ways, women in society are seen as natural caregivers or nurturers. Beyond the ability to carry during the gestational period, give birth, and raise that child throughout its adolescence, research shows that women excel in a variety of skills that are necessary for the workplace. Skills and qualities like task management, communication, patience, and empathy are vital to succeed in a work environment, and women tend to excel in encouraging others to talk through problems, stay organized, remain patient, and be understanding.

By bringing more women into the workplace, there’s an opportunity to prioritize diversity and encourage male and female collaboration. In turn, this diversity allows decision-making to become more multidimensional and thus more comprehensive. Boards with at least one female member tend to take longer to green-light acquisitions than all-male boards. This is because women tend to be more risk-averse and strategic than men. While this tendency may lead to smaller and/or fewer acquisitions, it also allows for more careful and more informed decisions.

Women bring four critical skills to the workplace:

Communication

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, more teams have been forced to work remotely. Technology is fast replacing traditional face-to-face meetings which means effective communication is now more critical for organisations. Men and women listen differently. According to a hearing aids company, Starkey, the difference in men and women's grey and white matter in the brain, contributes to men’s efficiency with localised tasks while enabling women to excel at integrating and assimilating, a skill thought to aid language skills. This highlights the massive role women play in workplace communication.

Task management

We've all heard that guys cannot multitask, but recent research disproved this stereotype. However it is believed that women are more organised, which is valuable when tasks need to be allocated to large teams like those found in a hotel. When companies find themselves short-staffed, women can generally take on many roles at once and complete them successfully due to their ability to organise.

Patience

This can easily be attributed to science. Men have more testosterone, which makes them more aggressive, and women have more oestrogen, which makes them more patient. Patience is a necessary skill to have in the hospitality as well as in service and retail industries as it enables the individual to suppress frustration and be in a better position to deal with upset clients.

Empathy

There is ample research on women’s empathetic nature. Their ability to understand someone else’s feelings makes them better at establishing rapport. This is highly beneficial for any industry dealing with people who have different communication requirements. Empathy allows women to accommodate these differences, leading to fewer misunderstandings with clients and team members.