100 years of (almost) equality
The past, present and future are full of strong, intelligent and brave women who work relentlessly and passionately on key issues. Today marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America – this short, 39-word text granted women the right to vote (well, women who had the right color, citizenship status and spoke the right language among other things; more on that later) – and has been lauded in the past as a monumental milestone in the women’s fight for equality and equity in the United States. Certainly it was a big step for this country (other countries, and even other Nations within the territorial United States had already granted such rights to women), and yet despite this monumental step, the journey to equality and equity in the United States (and many other countries) continues through this day:
Non-white women had continued fighting for the right to vote well into the 20th century (and arguably continue to do so today), and it wasn’t really until the 1970’s – when voting material had to be translated into languages other than English – that women could finally exercise their right to vote (somewhat) fully.
Despite being able to vote for 100 years today, the United States has never had female representation at its highest level of government – President and Vice President. There has been a lot of progress made across all other levels of government – in fact, the last five years had seen a great deal of movement toward greater representation of all women in politics (including diversity across age, race, religion, and LGBTQIA) – and yet the highest summit has not yet been scaled (you got this, Kamala!).
Despite being able to vote for 100 years today, women are still not equally compensated in comparison to their male colleagues. Even accounting for factors such as work experience and education, some industries still underpay women as a result of outdated compensation and parental leave policies, and unconscious and conscious bias, among other factors.
There are so many other egregious gaps that need to be addressed, it’s exhausting keeping track of it all but since we’re here, here are a few more gaps for you to consider and research:
- Equitable access to professional opportunities (leadership, careers in STEM)
- Access to healthcare, including the ability to make decisions related to your body
- Harassment-free workplace
- Harassment-free homes
As we celebrate the 19th amendment and all that came after, we must not get complacent and think that this is good enough. It’s not – there is still so much more work ahead! Stay calm and carry forward with all your passion, courage, beauty and strength:
1. Educate yourself. There are many resources that can go into much more detail about the various issues I’ve discussed – I certainly admit that I could never do the issues proper justice in such as short write-up. That’s why it’s up to you to educate yourself – below are a few resources to get you started, but they are not exhaustive. The more you know, the more you realize how much you don’t know and you begin to ask questions and to open-up your mind to the possibility of a tomorrow you may not have realized was possible.
2. Uplift each other. There are too many obstacles already on our path to the summit – let’s not trip each other over. As Queen Latifah sings in the film musical Chicago – “So boost me up my ladder, kid/And I’ll boost you up yours”.
3. Negotiate! Do your research, ask companies about their compensation policies, and do talk to your colleagues about your salary. It’s not illegal, and it is worth your time (and the tiny bit of awkwardness). I don’t ever want to hear the words “if only you had negotiated…” ever again.
4. Lobby your company and your legislators for parental/childcare policies that work for families and companies, not solely for companies.
5. Speak up and vote! What you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Resources:
Fair pay –
https://www.payscale.com/data/gender-pay-gap
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/03/24/482141/quick-facts-gender-wage-gap/
https://nwlc.org/issue/equal-pay-and-the-wage-gap/
https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/equal-pay
Access to healthcare –
https://www.aclu.org/news/womens-rights/permission-required-to-change-your-tampon/
19th amendment –
Parental policies –
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2674611/
https://hbr.org/2017/07/a-winning-parental-leave-policy-can-be-surprisingly-simple
https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/insights-from-international-parental-family-leave-policies
Bain & Company | INSEAD MBA | Schlumberger | IIT Kanpur
4 年Wonderful article Renata Bakousseva ! Very well articulated To add to it, I would emphasise that even the metrics and perception of success are biased and have always been from men’s point of view. True equality would mean both men and women meet at a mid point where in both share the responsibilities that have been historically rather compartmentalised based on gender. Conclusively the equality that is to come must be based on a common vision rather than one that is defined from a man’s point of view over centuries.
Founder at Spark Collection
4 年Great article, Renata Bakousseva! I look forward to reading your future ones! Another important point is a man's role in acting as a Manbassador! One of my favorite TED talks speaks to how gender equality benefits everyone, men included. Often times, men are left out of the conversation, but their support and actions are incredibly crucial to achieving gender equality. https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_kimmel_why_gender_equality_is_good_for_everyone_men_included?language=en
Award Winning EX | Digital Transformation | Workplace Culture | EX Strategy & Insights | AI/ML | VoE
4 年Well done Renata Bakousseva !