How can we #breakthebias?

Since starting @yellowhatconsulting around a year ago and becoming a female founder, I have become increasingly aware of why we need to take steps to #breakthebias.

As I considered what to post on International Women’s Day, I wanted to understand the progress made in recent years. In all honesty, I was shocked by the findings. How many Australian Stock Exchange companies have female CEOs? Just 6%. As I researched more, the findings didn’t get better. Inherent biases stretch beyond gender, as we all know, there are biases based on age and race too.

So, what can we do to #breakthebias?

If you’re a female founder, connect with other female founders and CEOs. Making significant decisions that can decide the future of your company can be challenging and, at times, make you feel lonely.?My advice is to reach out and connect with others. Canberra Innovation Network has Female Founder events and it’s been wonderful to meet people facing similar challenges.

If you’re male, make women feel welcome, comfortable and value their input. It can be intimidating being one of the few females in the room. I am so grateful to the many men who have welcomed me into the room and made me feel comfortable. Having women in the room is a great start and making them feel comfortable to contribute is the next step, but appreciating their value is critical. Research has shown the numerous benefits of having a female on Boards, as CEOs and in leadership teams. We will only increase the number of female leaders if, throughout their career, women are listened to and their contributions are valued.

If you’re a senior leader, help your teams understand the impact of unconscious bias and reinforce your commitment to #breakthebias by demonstrating your actions to remove barriers for women and cut out potential prejudice.

If you support panel tenders, please allow easier access to panels. I am so excited by the number of people, particularly females, having a go at starting their own company in Canberra.?There are so many benefits to Government when working with a small start-up business. However, our ability to be directly sourced by Government through panels remains limited. ?If anyone is involved in establishing or tendering for panels and would like a small business’ perspective, I would be more than happy share my insights and help to make the panels more inclusive, easier to meet requirements and available to join from the start of a company’s journey.

If you’re a woman, be part of the discussions and promote and support each other. Recognise the value you and other women bring, especially if you are the only woman in the room. Be courageous and speak up. When other women speak up, show your support and promote each other.

For anyone reading this, continue the discussion.?#IWD is a great opportunity to start, but the discussion must stretch beyond. To make a real change we need to keep the conversation going.

To the women at Yellow Hat who have shared their perspectives….

Thank you for telling us what #IWD means to you. And thank you to those who have already reached out to chat following the posts you read on our Yellow Hat LinkedIn account. We will continue to play our part to #breakthebias.