Celebrating Women!

As we approach International Women’s Day (IWD) 2020 on Sunday 8 March, we’re presented with another opportunity to mark the occasion and consider the ever-important role of women in society and within our organisation as a place of work.

IWD 2020 focuses on a number of missions to help forge a ‘gender equal world’. Celebrating women's achievements and increasing visibility, while calling out inequality, are key aspects of their plight. The global event this year takes as its theme #EachForEqual and seeks to draw attention to the idea that gender inequality isn’t just a women’s issue, but an economic one – as gender equality is an essential component for economies and communities to thrive. 

The campaign focuses on six key elements: championing women forging tech innovation; applauding equality for women athletes; forging inclusive workplaces so women can thrive; supporting women to earn on their own terms; empowering women through health education, and, increasing visibility for female creatives.

Boardrooms, government departments and media coverage are just some of the key areas of focus highlighted by the campaign. And through celebrating women’s achievement, raising awareness of bias and calling out inequality, organisations can all help to bring about change.

Gender parity is highly regarded as a benchmark of progress and has a direct bearing on whether economies and societies thrive. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020, Western Europe has taken the largest strides toward parity, currently at 76.7%, followed by North America at 72.9%. South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa are following closely behind and sit between 60.5% and 66.1%.

This year, Canon is once again fully on board with the objectives of IWD.  In addition to a host of activities being rolled out internally, we decided to conduct some external research in partnership with YouGov to try to better understand attitudes and opinions related to female empowerment and women in the workplace and how they are evolving.

With responses garnered from more than 2500 participants – a mix of male and female professionals from the GCC and Levant – one of the most encouraging and positive findings was that there is an overall sentiment that, in general, organisations are doing enough to create gender balance in the workplace with 65% saying that their organisation is doing enough.

It’s good to know that overall, organisations today are meeting expectations when it comes to creating parity and balance, addressing the needs of females in a variety of ways including training, mentoring and flexible working options amongst others.  

A further, overwhelmingly positive response was that the majority (or 83%) of respondents said that they had noticed an improvement in diversity and gender balance at work in the last five to ten years. This is hugely encouraging to know that the efforts being made on the part of organisations are being noticed, and more importantly, having an impact.

To coincide with International Women’s Day this year, we launched our She RISE campaign to help women perform in their roles and feel confident to pursue their career objectives. The programme features inspirational talks from female leaders in Canon as well mentoring, training and feedback sessions.

As part of our corporate culture, Canon has long been committed to female empowerment. We look forward to continuing to celebrate the ongoing importance of women in shaping our economy and society in the Middle East region. As the #EachforEqual campaign highlights, forging equality is crucial to a “healthier, wealthier and more harmonious” world.

There’s still a long way to go, but ambitious campaigns such as International Women’s Day play a pivotal role in keeping the debate alive and the issues front of mind within progressive organisations around the world.