??Friday Food For Thought: Our gender equality ‘progress’ needs to move quicker - It’s time we face the reality

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the IMAA - Independent Media Agencies Australia and Mamamia International Women’s Day event.

I have never felt more supported, fulfilled, driven and valued in my career as I do currently, yet as I sat looking around a room of inspiring and confident women, I couldn’t help but feel something niggling at me. Where were all the men? Don’t tell me fixing gender equality has to go on the to-do lists of women this week, too?!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE going to events like this - hearing insightful conversations about the power of women, the challenges we face and how hard we all fight everyday to get to where we are. This is something I could discuss all day, every day.

However, as women, we already know all this. We know what it’s like to be in a meeting and have your idea ignored, only for the man next to you to say the same thing 5 minutes later and be called a genius. We know what it’s like to have worked your butt off to be seen as an equal at work and also being expected to take notes in every meeting, organise the office social activities and bake cupcakes for IWD (something Mia, Holly and Jessie very eloquently discussed).

We know what it’s like when our normal day comes with a side platter of catcalling, being told we’d look better if we ‘smiled more, and inappropriate comments about our looks, with 89% of women experiencing sexual harassment in their lifetime.

We aren’t the ones that should be listening to these discussions though. Why is the onus on us to lighten the mental load when didn’t create it in the first place? It sounds counterintuitive to me, when we’re already dealing with these experiences everyday.

This isn’t something I want to celebrate.

And when UN Women anticipate it will take us 286 years to achieve equality at the current rate of progress, that’s one more blow to the IWD celebration, isn’t it?

We shouldn’t be celebrating the fact that women retire with less super, or that women over 45 are the fastest growing demographic experiencing homelessness.

We shouldn’t be celebrating that women go through two significant seasons that men don’t, where having children and going through menopause can have detrimental impacts on a woman’s career progression, not to mention the financial disadvantage that comes with this.

We shouldn’t be celebrating that we walk home alone with one eye looking over our shoulder because we are starkly aware that there were 64 deaths of Aussie women at the hands of men last year.

We shouldn’t be celebrating that the gender pay gap is still so prominent, with several ‘female focussed’ companies we all love being some of the worst offenders, all highlighted in the recent WGEA Gender Pay Gaps report.

With this year’s IWD theme being ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’, its relevance cannot be ignored. However, when we look at the reality of how slow our current progress is, is that really something to honour? Change is happening too slowly, and in some cases, we are taking steps backwards. And that’s without going into the current oppression we are seeing in other countries around the world…

Just last week, I was speaking with a friend who works in a very male dominated industry and found out that one of her new male counterparts (who has lower targets and less responsibility than her) is getting paid $90k more than her. $90,000. More. ?? Isn’t that mind blowing?

I have never felt so enraged for someone. Yet, sadly, this reality is not surprising seeing the stats. (Check out the great work Meggie Palmer and her company PepTalkHer are doing in this space to take some action). Meanwhile, my friend is fighting tooth and nail just to get a pay increase that matches CPI…

Along with the gender pay gap report, the WGEA also recently released their equality scorecard , and the stats on representation from women in leadership were pretty grim (only 30% of department heads and 22% of CEOs are women). The scorecard showed we still have a long way to go to get equal seating at the table. And even when we do get a seat, do we have a voice? And is that voice considered? In meeting rooms across the country and the world, my guess is there is a man interrupting that voice…

What would happen if we had more women at the top? Research shows us that organisations with higher gender diversity outperform competitors financially, improve employee engagement, foster innovation and create greater social impact - all pretty great things ?

So, what’s the solution to turning the dial faster? ?

I don’t know that I have the answer for this (although I’m sure there are women much smarter than me that do), but here are some of my thoughts:

• Our government needs to put women’s rights, health and safety at the forefront of decision making, and improve policies that impact this. We do make up half the voting population, after all. (The new Gender Equality Strategy is a good start).
• Let’s champion the companies and the people killing it in the space, as well as those advocating for greater diversity at the intersectionality of gender, race, sexuality, culture and socioeconomic status.
• Create spaces for women to connect and thrive, even if it’s a male dominated industry (this could be as simple as giving the time and opportunity to create internal or external network groups).
• As women, let’s continue to help those around us to feel more confident to set boundaries, speak up and build their confidence. Share the lessons we’ve all learnt and make sure the next generation have it easier and don’t need to compete with each other. There’s enough space for us all. Coach, mentor and guide, because if we are going to increase our leadership presence soon, we are sure as hell going to be ready. ?? And let's start to invite men to listen to these conversation.
• For all the men out there - listen, learn and seek to understand the impacts the patriarchy still plays in the lives of women every day. Go to these IWD events and be part of these discussions. The time is now. You might not be the problem personally, but you can be part of the solution. We can’t fix it without you. Fight hard and fight loudly, because until we have equal space to have our voice heard, we know from experience that those that matter will listen to you first. ??

Having spent the majority of my career working for and alongside men, it has been such a welcome change to now have such a strong female team around me (and also some great men, but this post isn’t about them ??). One of my favourite things about working with other women is the camaraderie, support and uplifting encouragement constantly around me. I completely think we should be celebrating women and the amazing work they do, but let’s do it every other day of the year, because IWD this year felt like a harsh reality check that even the most delicious cupcake couldn't change (although I wouldn’t say no to cupcakes the every other day ??).

Finally, to paraphrase from our fearless leader (??Taylor Swift), I find myself wondering if we would get there quicker if we were men? Cos the women are pretty sick of running as fast as we can.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency #womeninleadership #iwd2024 #genderequality #InternationalWomensDay