Attention, Femwashing!

Lately, I very often get the request to do ‘a small guest lecture’ at a female business network of a company. Ideally for free, because they do not have a budget for it, and in the evenings, because it should be after work hours, and no, men will unfortunately not be interested in the topic, so there will be only women.?

There are a few things wrong with those requests. I usually spend a minimum of half an hour explaining why their idea is problematic and what should be done instead. In order to save time, I decided to write an article about it, so the next time I receive such a request, I can send this article as a pre-lecture before discussing what impactful measures should be taken instead.?

So, let’s start with what’s problematic with these requests.

1. Doing a ‘small’ lecture is not minimizing the effort a speaker has to put into it, it actually increases the effort. Because one has to squeeze yearlong knowledge on Gender & Diversity, inequalities, social business structures and funding and condense it to the essence. This is the biggest challenge and will take a long time.
2. External servicer providers should be valued and paid by for-profit companies. Of course I make exceptions or offer a different pricing for NGOs and non-profit organizations. But if you hire an external (female) consultant as a company, it’s a first step showing that you value female expertise by paying for their work and expertise.
3. Having such events in the evening hours means that this is not defined as ‘actual work’ for the company and its employees. Because it’s social? Because it’s people's work? Because it’s not directly billable? This attitude reveals a big problem, namely that this company does not have Gender & Diversity and inclusion in their core or in their strategy. And this means they have understood very little so far.
4. There will only be women at the event. This one is hurting me most, admittedly. Womentor.at is a social business driven by the primary mission to create an impact on Gender Equality. But this does not mean that we target exclusively women*. If men in your organization are not interested in this topic, they are not interested in granting equal chances and work conditions for everyone. And since in Austria, 92% of CEOs and most leaders are male, this also means that you do not have management buy-in and commitment, you don’t have the most powerful allies supporting your cause. If your CEO happens to be one of the 8% female CEOs and is supporting your cause, you of course have the highest management buy-in you can have and the impact of your (female) network is likely to increase.

Now, you ask yourself, I am working for a company that really wants to create an impact on Gender Equality, what should we do instead!??

• The good news: There are a lot of impactful measures you can take.?
• The bad news: The ones creating the most impact are not the ones you can tick off with a one-day workshop. Creating actual impact requires time and resources, this is not any different for Gender & Diversity measures.

A few examples of measures creating impact

• Knowing your numbers regarding the company structure by Gender and other dimension
• Having a diversity strategy
• Including top management in that strategy
• Including Gender & Diversity in your company OKRs
• Setting quotas and / or KPIs for those OKRs?

Have you heard of Femwahsing? Greenwashing is what’s happening at the moment with companies promoting sustainability. And Femwashing is the same for Feminism: Companies that have no action-backed up intention to create a more inclusive company culture promoting Gender Equality and Diversity and Inclusion. For instance on International Women’s Day, or coloring their logo in the LGBTIQ+ flag colors during pride month.

Femwashing measures that will create little to no impact:

• Using ‘girl boss’ and ‘power woman’ in the marketing language and hashtags
• Offering female masterclasses (why.would.women.need.this?)
• Female-only networks
• Focusing on female empowerment instead of changing organizational structures and fighting systemic inequality

If you find yourself or your organisation on the 2nd list: I hope I did not offend you. I am already used to being the only one in the room and saying what the others, not with me in the room, think. And if I don't say it out loud, who else will do??

Of course my list is pretty provocative, I am aware of that. I am also aware that it’s not only 1 or 0. Let’s think of it as a scale: You have started a female network in your company, great, now you’re at 0.1. What could you do next to increase the impact of your initiative in your organisation? Maybe getting a budget for speakers? Inviting top management and making sure they commit to showing up - you’re at 0,2. Setting follow-up measures and inviting responsible departments and leaders to a first meeting to discuss where you’re at, what measures have been taken so far, and where the pain points are… Defining next steps… Committing to a diversity strategy… Follow it through together with experts… Great, you’re coming much closer to the 100%! I guess I don’t need to explain further how business strategy implementation works.

Your organization knows this process by heart when it comes to the EBIT and other financial KPIs, why not using the same strategy processes to create a gender-equal and inclusive workplace? You’ll see, it pays off.

If you want to discuss your options and next steps, please reach out via [email protected]?

Leave me a comment if you agree or disagree with my points! Happy to discuss.?