Break the bias; break the bystanding

Egalitarianism was the cornerstone of our early societies. During the hunter/gatherer period – who developed mathematics, pharmacology, and trade – those out hunting or those at home weaving, caring, and making? A new?history of humanity?puts in stark contrast the world we came from versus the world we find ourselves in – as eloquently described by?Caroline Criado Perez.

As I reflect on the conversations this week around International Women’s Day, I do so while deeply conscious of the situation in Ukraine, the impacts of which are felt across the world. Our shared values of fostering inclusion, taking care of each other, and collaborating for measurable impact are brought to the forefront as we continue to discuss and drive unity and allyship.

When I think about allyship, I am constantly trying to clearly define the role men play in the drive towards gender equity. What this role is can be debated, but I’m certain that as a man and as a business leader, I have a part to play in achieving that goal.

The theme of International Women’s Day, ‘break the bias’, rings true to me, and while I feel I am making progress to break the bias through my work and my actions, sometimes I can’t help but think I fall short – am I truly doing enough to accelerate the journey towards gender equity or am I a bystander in disguise?

The bystander effect

The bystander effect is a social psychological theory that originated in the 60s referring to the phenomenon in which the greater the number of people present, the less likely anyone is to help a person in distress. As part of a crowd, no single person must act or take responsibility. As a business leader, I take on responsibilities every day, for myself, for my people and for our clients.

When it comes to gender equity, I turn up at and actively participate in events to show my support as an ally. But what do I do when I am in a group and I overhear people making derogatory comments about women, or if I observe women in meetings not being heard?

Although hard to admit, I am sure I have been a bystander and I have witnessed others bystanding. Now I must challenge that norm and elevate the role I can play in supporting women across our business, in my life, and across society. We all encounter gender bias in micro moments throughout our days and it’s time for us to make the active choice to move from bystander to participant.

Break the bias; break the bystanding

Businesses have a significant role to play in social responsibilities. As the conversation on allyship comes to the forefront, we need to drive ‘active’ allyship to dispel bystanding. This means showing allyship through participation, actively calling out inappropriate behaviour towards women, be it on the office floor or on the street. While we’re often cognisant of the big biases, the microaggressions are just as harmful. Although comments or crude jokes may not be intended as offensive, as an active ally it’s my role to challenge them. It’s not always easy to call out these behaviours but simple actions like diffusing a situation, highlighting what was inappropriate or even calmly disagreeing with comments made are steps in the right direction. We need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

In business we have become accustomed to the normalised state of a male dominated configuration that we must challenge and disrupt. At Deloitte, we’re on a journey to achieve gender equity at a leadership level and have published our gender equity strategy and our gender pay gap report. Being deliberate, transparent, and holding ourselves accountable as business leaders is critical as we strive to break the bias. We know we’re not there yet, but we remain focused on our inclusion ambitions. While we have set big goals, there is also an important role for me to play to encourage men across the business to take smaller actions to break the bystanding and become active allies.

We need to get comfortable with the fact egalitarianism isn’t weak, it’s strong. As I noted at the outset, egalitarianism was the cornerstone of our early societies. Our natural states are more egalitarian than the state we generally operate in today. Now is the time for action to champion egalitarianism and we can start to do that by breaking the bystanding; breaking the bias.?