Superwomen get male help in the battle for gender equality
Gender equality will not be achieved by women on their own. When men get involved in challenging the cultures and assumptions that maintain gender inequality, the pace of change picks up for both men and women.
The business case for gender equality is by now well-known. McKinsey released a study in January 2018 called Delivering Through Diversity, which found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on their executive teams were 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability.
Here are some top tips to help towards overcoming gender inequality in the workplace:
■ 1.
Recognising that we all suffer from unconscious bias – which is instinctively categorising people based on easily observed criteria such as gender and automatically assigning presumed traits to them as a result – and putting in place training to overcome this.
■ 2. Building a gender-diverse leadership team with the right role models. Employers should insist on gender diverse lists of candidates from recruiters.
■ 3. Embracing flexible working to include remote working, part-time working, job pauses and job-sharing, including within senior leadership. And celebrating those who work in this way, rather than viewing them as being less committed.
■ 4. Tracking and rewarding progress, making it one of the criteria for managers achieving bonuses that they have strong female candidates in their succession pipeline.
IT’S because men play such a significant part in achieving gender equality that our line-up of speakers at Superwoman has for the past few years included a man.
And this year, for Superwoman 2018, in our biggest line-up of speakers ever, we have two men.
Our speakers champion equality and fairness across business, sport and public service. They are:
■ Cerys Furlong – CEO of equality charity Chwarae Teg, who describes herself as variously a mum, wife, feminist, CEO, foodie, entrepreneur and fierce about fairness.
■ Lowri Roberts – golfer who earlier this year campaigned at her golf club Cottrell Park about access to the same course as men on a Saturday morning, and in so doing opened a wider debate about equality in golf.
■ Gemma Hallett – previously a rugby union player, earning 35 caps for Wales, and a PE teacher, Gemma identified a growing need for supporting young adults into suitable employment routes after school. She founded MiFuture in 2015 to meet that need.
■ Richard Theo – CEO of Wealthify and founder of Activequote, Richard has recently been appointed Fintech Envoy for Wales and believes in everyone becoming canny investors.
■ Hari James – Top British crossfitter Hari took her break from her career with South Wales Police to appear as an Amazonian in the DC superhero blockbusters Wonder Woman and Justice League.
■ Liam Burgess – founder of NomNom chocolate when he was just 19. NomNom now produces chocolate in Llanboidy in a wide variety of flavours including Hot Cross Bun and Halen Mon, sold mostly through independent stores. NomNom works closely with its Madagascan suppliers to ensure more value is retained in the country of origin.
■ Jennifer Carroll – centre director at Bobath Children’s Therapy Centre Wales, Jennifer has led the team at Bobath for 20 years and is renowned as a practitioner of the highly specialist Bobath therapy. ■ Superwoman 2018 is on October 18, 2018, with registration and networking from 5pm to 6pm and speakers from 6pm to 7.30pm. There is more time to network after the speakers, over wine and canapés. The event is in support of Bobath Wales and is being hosted by ACT Training, Wales’ largest training provider, which is celebrating its 30th year. All Superwomen and Supermen welcome.
■ For more details on the event and how to book, go to www. superwoman.org.uk