Tag Archives: inclusion

The first time I noticed men and women were treated differently in the world of work was when I was enrolled in a competitive journalism program in college.  Male students in my class were frequently given coveted, hard news assignments while the females were given soft news stories with limited visibility.  Additionally, my fellow female students and I soon learned the instructor would invite our male peers to after hour networking events and guide them to work opportunities not afforded his female students.

As I continued down my career path, more examples of this kind of behavior emerged.  Women were not given the same voice, representation, or visibility as our male counterparts.  Early in my career, I vividly remember one instance. I was participating in a large group meeting with our CEO and other leaders to discuss an important company initiative.  At one point, I asked the CEO a question to clarify my team’s role in the project.  My boss, who was sitting next to me, shot me a glaring look and slapped my hand to keep me from speaking.  Fortunately, the CEO, who was male, encouraged me to continue with my question and made note of my boss’s gesture.

Suffice it to say, I learned very early on that it’s not enough to just question why women are not appropriately represented or included in the workplace, but to behave proactively in taking action to help them get there.

On this, International Women’s Day, it’s critical that both female and male leaders champion ACTION to inspire inclusion and gender equality in the workplace. Women bring to the table more education and experience than ever before. Yet, they still don’t enjoy the same representation, visibility and pay equity as their male counterparts.

As a mentor and leader of teams in my career, one of my key goals in this area has been to help my female colleagues and direct reports to build confidence and leadership skills. This includes everything from mastering presentation skills to understanding how to effectively communicate ideas to company leadership to selling one’s strengths in ways that benefits the organization and serves its values.

Over the course of my career, I’ve witnessed how effective my male counterparts are in promoting themselves and their male peers to take advantage of opportunities.  Whether that means recommending a male colleague for a job or networking opportunity, calling attention to one of their achievements or just talking them up to a key decision maker, they successfully advocate for their own.

As female leaders, one way we can do the same for our female colleagues is to understand and clearly articulate their strengths and how those strengths translate to organizational success.

For example, consider that today up to 81% of all caregivers, formal and informal, are female, and they spend as much as 50% more time giving care than males.  Even in relationships where both partners work full-time, women still spend a whopping 40% more time caregiving than their male partners.

Women’s role as key caregivers translates to increased empathy, problem solving and time management skills—-all critical and valuable strengths for today’s organizations.  Female workers are used to juggling multiple priorities, making critical decisions and getting things done. 

Identifying and articulating women’s strengths in ways that translate to bottom line success for an organization is critical if progress is to be made in gender equity and female inclusion.

Action leads to traction when it comes to female representation and inclusion in the workplace.  Here are 10 ways I’ve championed action to accelerate progress.

1. Provide opportunities for female team members to present ideas to key company decision makers.
2. Make time to guide female colleagues in improving key soft skills (public speaking, presentation skills, idea generation, pitching skills)
3. Foster career improvement plans for female team members focusing on strengths that map to organizational goals
4. Initiate female networking events and opportunities and include female colleagues at all levels in the workplace
5. Actively celebrate and promote the achievements of female peers to company leaders and others within the organization
6. Introduce female colleagues to others in your network who might serve as a valuable connection
7. Create and provide “stretch assignments” to female team members giving them an opportunity to excel in new areas
8. Invite female team member(s) to join you at an industry meeting or conference
9. At performance evaluation time, advocate for female high performers in terms of pay increases, title changes or promotions
10. Recommend female colleagues for roles on task forces, committees and other decision-making bodies.

It is important to continuously question workplace practices and behaviors that limit women’s roles as well as loudly voice concerns, suggestions and ideas.  But it is even more important to take action every day to accelerate process.  Building progress one action at a time will lead to a more inclusive and equitable workforce for women which will only better serve the organization and the constituencies they serve.

Take action today to gain traction for women in the workplace.

#InternationalWomensDay #InspireInclusion

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