Building our own tables

This week I had the privilege to host yet another great panel of speakers as part of the monthly Queensland Migrant Women in Business Virtual Summit. This event brings together amazing women who share their professional, business and life experiences to lead, inspire and mentor other migrant women. This event's goal and the work I do in this space is to have an economy that is more inclusive of women from different ethnicities. A question that audience members always ask is how to minimise inequities in the allocation of tenders; and how to leverage workplace opportunities for women of colour and different ethnic minority backgrounds. This is not a new question or topic as it comes up over and over again. 

The question got me thinking, should we be changing our focus and having a different conversation in the inclusion and diversity space, at least for this group of women? The American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, Tyler Perry, said something that resonated so profoundly with me. At the opening of his Atlanta studio, he was asked why he moved far away from Hollywood. His response was, (I am paraphrasing), I stopped asking for a seat at the table, moved elsewhere, and built my table. While people are over here arguing whether or not to give me a seat at your table, I am going over there to build my table. When you finish arguing, you can come and ask for a seat at my table.  

As migrants and especially migrant women and women of colour, the statistics show we have limited seats at the table of commerce and industry. We are not in positions that can radically drive and influence change from within corporate Australia. Our efforts to get recognition for the work we do in an advocacy capacity is treated as a charitable endeavour rooted solely in a social justice framework. Rarely is the economic argument about how inclusion leads to innovation, transformation, and change tracked by companies in a way that will impact decision-making and change the face of corporate Australia. We can have as many conversations as we like about how the world is changing and how companies recruit for talent and skills, but the numbers do not lie. The Australian statistics are abysmal when it comes to cultural diversity in the workplace, business and leadership positions considering the rate of skilled migration as a category in this country.  The Australian Human Rights Commission report - Leading for Change - A blueprint for cultural diversity and inclusive leadership (April 2018) examines the cultural backgrounds of CEOs and executive management of ASX 200 companies, federal ministers, heads of federal and state government departments, and vice-chancellors of universities. The report shows that less than 5% of those senior leaders in Australia have non Anglo-Celtic or European background.  

When you look at the numbers, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in 2019, over 7.5 million migrants were living in Australia (29.7% of the population. The majority of countries worldwide are represented in the Australian population). International education contributes nearly $38 billion to the Australian economy. More people immigrate to, than emigrate from, Australia, thereby adding to the national population's growth. Net overseas migration increased by 5.94 times between 1992. and 2016.  

According to a report by Deloitte Access Economics, the challenge is not one of skills. The Queensland government stands to lose over $250 million over the next ten years if they fail to tap into the existing potential of migrants living in Queensland who are qualified. Contrary to the stereotyping, the average skilled migrant person is a 30 something-year-old female, highly literate with a business or commerce degree.

The migrant community, with its high levels of literacy, business acumen, professionalism and work ethic, is building different tables.  

The business case for inclusion and diversity starts to gain traction when those impacted start to have a stronger collective voice at the decision-making table. Think about how many tables as a collective community we can build to start to have an impact. Communities are already doing this, nothing new or revolutionary here; the issue is how do we scale the countless micro opportunities. For example, the online platform Made by Many Hands, an online market place specifically designed to sell products and services made by migrant women in Australia https://madebymanyhands.com.au/ was recently launched by Migrant Women in Business www.mwib.com.au. Procurement is a powerful tool to change the power dynamic. How do we influence our buying power and invest our money in places like this that begin to change the narrative? How do these platforms get into organisational supply chains? These are more the questions we need to ask and focus on for this group of women. There are many examples of such initiatives like the one illustrated, some small, others more established. The challenge is one of scale and impact and how we can harness the collective power to create new tables that change the face of commerce in Australia. 

References:

1. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/migration-australia/latest-release

2. Leading for Change: A Blueprint for Cultural Diversity and Inclusive Leadership Revisited (2018) https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/Leading%20for%20Change_Blueprint2018_FINAL_Web.pdf

3. Seizing the opportunity: Making the most of the skills and experience of migrants and refugees. A research report for Multicultural Affairs Queensland November 2018.

4. https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/making-most-skills-experience-migrants-refugees.html