Women are still an underrepresented group in the workplace especially in senior roles. How can you change this in your workplace?

1. When bias is to blame, kill it at the root – have a zero-tolerance policy for sexism, even when thinly veiled as snark or sarcasm. Knowing that you can always squash those jokes or comments empowers our female employees to do the same and make it clear to everyone that that sort of humor isn’t funny. No one — male or female — feels supported when they’re constantly undercut or belittled. Empowerment stems from feeling fully-supported in every way.

2. Hiring women in upper management – How many women are in your C-Suite? Are all your vice presidents male? It is absolutely crucial to have women in leadership positions. And it’s not enough for women to just shape business results or just shape company culture — they should have a hand in both. This isn’t just important for showing female employees they matter — it also has a direct benefit on the bottom line as CNBC reports companies with high-level, female execs make more money. While close to 52 percent of professional jobs are held by women, we’re substantially underrepresented in leadership roles. Only 14.6 percent of executive officers, 8.1 percent of top earners, and 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. At this rate, it’s estimated that women won’t achieve leadership parity until 2085.

3. Provide public speaking opportunities – we all have stories to tell e have all experienced life and view it in different way let’s share that experience with each other and help others avoid pitfalls we have been through. Public Speaking is a great platform to turn events that have hurt and humiliated into platforms to empower other women.

4. Teach them – On that same vein mentor everyone around you whenever you can. Take women and help them to be the best they can be instill confidence in them by instilling skills in them so they feel smart and in turn confident in their roles.

5. And again, it comes back to pay – Women have faced an uphill battle in the pay equality arena since time immemorial it seems. Now more than ever it’s important for organizations to do what they can to bridge this gap. If you are in charge of salary decisions make sure you check this annually and pay equally.

6. Practice psychological safety if you are a manager or supervisor – In today’s world we still see a lot of workplace bullying and women being told they are too aggressive when trying to be assertive or too emotional if they are passionate on any issue. Passion is a positive quality it means they care and given all the bias a woman has to fight to rise up on corporate america, praise her for her assertiveness don’t put her down for being aggressive.

7. Embrace Diversity – Women need to feel safe to perform and to share their ideas embrace a workplace that allows for safe innovation where no idea is too dumb to consider – after all the pet rock did make a lot of money!

8. Involve Men in the process – not every man is a chauvinist, or even biased, many agree with the empowerment of women so get them involved in the change. Teach them why and share the stories with them, they could be your best advocates.

9. Drive women towards roles in the tech industry, it provides great work life balance while providing a great income. STEM careers can really help women to rise through their organizations.

10. Stop being your own worst enemy – A fear of failure. While men know their personal worth isn’t determined by professional failures, young women often fear that workplace missteps will cost them their job, reputation, and success. Women be yourselves, and trust your instincts, your intuition can take you places let it. Family – Some women fear that employers will view them as vulnerable, inefficient, or unmotivated if they decide to start a family. If you want a family discuss a plan with your HR department and speak to other women who are balancing work and family life. An inferiority complex. Some women still believe that men are stronger leaders, have better ideas, and are more equipped to achieve success.Women can only break through these barriers by helping themselves. Embrace your mistakes and learn from them, everyone has some and failure makes you innovate.

Human Trafficking can be stopped if we empower women to believe in themselves and find worth in themselves.