International Women’s Day - Hype or Hope?

When you think of the word “genius”, who do you picture?

Albert Einstein?

Did you know that only 2 people in history have ever won 2 Nobel prizes?

Albert Einstein wasn’t one of them.

 In fact, only one person has EVER won a Nobel in 2 different sciences.

And that person is Marie Curie.

Marie Curie won her first Nobel one year after establishment of prize and yet today, more than a century later, only about 6% of the nearly 1,000 nobel laureates are women. (Catch the movie “Radioactive” about this extraordinary woman. A true genius.)

This matters because the Nobel for all its limitations is still how we value genius, how we value ideas that shape our world. So while women are half the planet, only 6% of women have had an acknowledged role in shaping the ideas of the world. 

We also control less than a third of the economic and political power seats in the world and even on TV and in the movies, we appear less often and when we do, we say less and rarely have starring roles.

 In the last 3 years, we have had women step into a number of firsts including Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States. She has said that she will work to ensure that she will not be the last. This is significant.

When women pioneers clear a pathway to the top, often they are so weighed down by the weight of their role as pioneers that they are unable to ensure that the pathway they clear is paved behind them and developed into a highway for all women.

 We are at a critical juncture. For the first time in history, there is a critical mass of women in the middle and at the top. Women pioneers are less lonely at the top and they are better able to ensure that they will not be the last.

 In all this, it is crucial to remember that the inclusion of women in science, politics and economics is not charity. There is indeed an issue of fairness and equity to be addressed but even more fundamentally, this is an issue of opportunity and innovation.

 We are in what is being called an ideas economy. An economy that thrives on creativity and innovation. There can be no real creativity or innovation if all the voices at the table are those of the same people. Different ideas can only come to the table when we have diversity at the table.

 It is crucial for women that we are not left behind as this knowledge economy takes shape. Today women occupy less than a third of the AI positions in the economy. This is the technology that is shaping machine learning and that is deciding with its exponential growth the architecture of the future.

Women were left playing catch up with the economy created by the industrial revolution and we cannot afford to allow this new economy to be created without our participation.

All businesses are now technology businesses. The covid economy saw to the rapid acceleration of this. All industries have been forced into embracing the virtual world. At the same time, the inequalities of unpaid labour became increasingly apparent as women bore the brunt of job losses and of managing entire families trying to live their lives from home in 2020.

 So where do we go from here?

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is choose to challenge. We are all being asked to challenge the status quo and play an active role in bringing down the barriers to equality.

I started the month moderating a panel of Ambassadors discussing global perspectives and the eve of IWD moderating a room on Clubhouse, the new social media app. I’ve read and written articles. In all of this, three things have become clear to me.

First, tone from the top matters. Leaders powerfully shape the diversity landscape. From Salesforce eliminating gender pay disparity overnight to Norway and New Zealand’s government-led policies to close the gender gap. The biggest predictor of success in creating greater equality is the leader. Leaders can embed DEI into the organisation’s strategy and empower the business to prioritise it alongside other KPIs and objectives. They can also role-model purposeful, authentic and inclusive leadership for others. This is why the topic of women on boards as well as the political participation of women continues to be important.

Second, diversity is everyone’s business. It isn’t just on one day or even one month of the year that we need to challenge the inequities that exist in our communities and countries. This is not another burden to be added to women’s work. It is also time that we stopped trying to “fix” women to fit into systems that are designed for a male default. There is fascinating reading in “Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men” by Caroline Criado Perez. From drug testing to building design, it is time that we stopped hiding behind gender blindness and move towards gender awareness and inclusion.

Third, diversity is not charity, it is opportunity. There is money to made in creating greater equality. Study after study shows this. Women are half the population on earth. Not providing the opportunities for women to function at their full potential is akin to having a secret weapon and not using it. It isn’t about taking anything away from men. It’s about growing the pie so everyone can be free to be who they want to be. Both for men and women.

This International Women’s Day, there is less hope and a lot more exhaustion among women. The burdens of the pandemic have undoubtedly fallen more heavily on women. We are tired of having to justify our seat at the table. We are tired of the same old conversations. We are tired of the lip service paid to the urgency of closing the gender wage gap and yet we still stand a century away from parity.

International Women’s Day provides a lightning rod of attention to the issues around gender disparity. It allows us to celebrate the achievements of women who have escaped the attention of our history books for so long. We hear the voices of women leaders from companies, communities and countries sharing their stories. But honestly, I nurture the fervent hope is that in my lifetime, we will no longer need it.

Whatever it is that you choose to challenge this year. Make it a sustained effort. Pave the path behind every woman who is breaking through so others can follow.

Marie Curie won her first Nobel Prize in 1903. Less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women today, 118 years later. The women codebreakers at Bletchley during World War 2 were the world’s first computer programmers in 1945. Today, about 8% of the world’s programmers are women, some 75 years later. Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka was the first woman to be elected as head of government in the world in 1960. At the last count by UN Women, only 22 countries have a woman as head of state or head of government (119 countries have NEVER had a woman leader).

Breaking through is clearly not enough. Sustained effort and a deliberate effort to create a critical mass of women in these crucial roles is necessary if we are to truly create #generationequal.

 Women should not and cannot be expected to do this alone. This is everybody’s work.

 Lavinia Thanapathy

8 March 2021

www.laviniathanapathy.com

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Lavinia Thanapathy is a motivational speaker on the people aspects of change. Her signature keynote “Embrace the Crazy” helps corporations and individuals to identify and strengthen their mental fortitude for change.

She was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices 2020 for her thought leadership on change during the Covid19 Pandemic.

Lavinia is also an active advocate for gender equity and is a former Vice President of the Singapore Council for Women’s Organisations (SCWO) where she is the Founding Chair for the Inspiring Girls Singapore programme. Lavinia is also a Past President of PrimeTime Business & Professional Women’s Association and a former ExCo and Board Member of the charity HCA Hospice Care.

Lavinia co-wrote and co-edited the Amazon bestseller “Unleash Your Voice – Powerful Public Speaking for Every Woman” and regularly helps women to overcome their fear of public speaking with workshops and private coaching.

She found refuge from her education as a lawyer in branding and communications and has over 20 years of experience in protecting and promoting the reputation of organisations.

Lavinia manages her large unwieldy diplomatic family mostly via WhatsApp & Zoom. Her 4 adult stepchildren and 1 minor child occasionally consult her on their upbringing & well-being. Her husband, a former German Ambassador, has the patience of a diplomat and saint. She is from Singapore and currently lives in Berlin, Germany, where she works virtually around the world.

You can find Lavinia on her website www.laviniathanapathy.com

She hosts The Change Conversation on Clubhouse every Sunday at 9am CET / 4pm SGT.

Follow her Clubhouse group “Embrace the Crazy” to get notifications about her rooms.

 You can view Lavinia’s TEDx Talk on YouTube at https://youtu.be/cb8GQlbQcrU

 You can also follow Lavinia on her social channels at:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsV3e5FdI-nuzHWnnyjdJtw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/laviniathanapathypublic/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laviniathanapathy

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/lavinialenat

 Buy the book "Unleash Your Voice" at: www.amazon.com/Unleash-Your-Voice-Powerful-Speaking/dp/1543749968 or https://www.bookdepository.com/Unleash-Your-Voice-Lavinia-Thanapathy/9781543749960

 Lavinia’s Amazon Author Page: https://amazon.com/author/laviniathanapathy