Employee Surveys as a Lever for Women’s Rights - lessons learned from an international context

Employee surveys have emerged as a powerful tool to shed light on gendered inequalities that are often invisible to leadership channels. Ramona Litzenberger and Saima Khanam Puspo shared their research and on-the-ground experiences from an international context - especially across developing and emerging economies. Drawing on real-world examples from various countries, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Mexico, they showed how surveys can reveal divergences not just in pay or promotion, but in ways that women and men perceive opportunity, support, and respect.

Hidden biases in workplace culture - such as differential access to mentorship, flexibility, or safety - surface when employees are asked, allowing organizations to identify inequity and begin to address it in a targeted way. Furthermore, women and men tend to value different features of what makes a fulfilling workplace. The research presented shows that while compensation and growth are important universally, women in many contexts placed greater emphasis on inclusion, voice, work‐life balance, and emotional safety, whereas men more often prioritized autonomy, recognition, and measurable achievement. Together, these insights remind us that one size does not fit all when it comes to creating workplaces where everyone can thrive and that leveraging survey data with a gender lens is not just good for women, but for organizational health as a whole.