What do you want to get out of this?

I wonder how often I have asked myself this question and I honestly can’t say. What I can say with absolute certainty, is that I haven’t done it every time I started something, agreed to something, considered something, not even for all the important ones. So, I wonder how many organizations have asked this question when designing and implementing a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) policy. And then I wonder how many of the people that make up an organization have paused to consider this, really consider it – what would such a policy mean for me, specifically and what would take to make it meaningful? For now, I will mostly talk about gender diversity, because it is something I know something about because this is what I am currently researching and trying to build – content and community for women in shipping. 

So, let’s look into it this time.

For women, perhaps, it is an easier feat. For the most part, we can relate to the issue directly because, well, we are women and we form a big part of Diversity and Inclusion. It gets trickier when it stops being personal, when either the negative impact of biases and discrimination is not as flagrant, or it’s subsided, which means the issue stops being an issue … for me. And that’s great! That is what we should be aiming for. D&I should be more akin to a medical experience, rather than a spiritual one. The object of doctors is to identify the problem, treat it and discharge the patient. The object of a guru is to collect an ever-growing number of followers, kneed them into a community that is ever tighter and more intransigent, with no finality, at least on this very observable plane.

But what about those who still are suffering from this, be they other women or other categories of people who form the less prominent, but perhaps more problematic part of D&I? A doctor does not simply treat a particularly strange or severe affliction with success and walks away. No, they document the process and share the notes, in hopes other doctors might also be successful. So, if you don’t want something for yourself, you should at least want it for others. And if you’re not sure if others need it, simply ask them – you may be surprised by the answer.

For men, this may be a little more difficult. Not because they are mean, insensitive, dismissive or disinterested, but mainly because they are not women. The way in which we experience life with everything that comes with it is different, which brings us back to the complexities of D&I, the reality that no other man or woman can fully understand experiences of other categories of men or women. Nonetheless, we have to try. And men have try, especially if they are leading teams with female members and are responsible for their career progression. It seems to me it all relies on empathy here. All men have mothers, some men have sisters, wives, daughters and female friends. Some men have women colleagues or reports. Draw from the insight of your family and friends to find the interest and then learn more about what women need in order to succeed.

Personally, I want the D&I policy in my organisation to achieve a few things:

1. Make me feel secure, both physically - a robust, reasonable policy around harassment, financially – flexible working arrangements and a decent maternity policy designed with empathy first and foremost and emotionally, or intellectually – not a culture that over glorifies aggressiveness and promotes a dog-eat-dog ethos
2. To feel valued – meaning that my work is assessed in a fair and equitable way, both financially and in terms of recognition, that I am assigned project of relevance, irrespective of the “benevolent bias”
3. To see diversity – to look around the office and see different people there, so that I may learn things about them and their culture, to share our differences and the similarities and to have fun with.

What do you want?

A good way to start is to ask yourself this question, then to seek out those people and that information you need to crystallise how to get it.

We have started this group to give you and opportunity to do so. We will be talking about a lot of D&I things and we hope you will join us. We want to be a useful, meaningful platform so please think of us as equals – we will curate the content, but we do encourage you to contribute with your questions, ideas or thoughts on these issues. Just reach out to me with any content you would like a second opinion on or to suggest topics at [email protected] otherwise, post it to the group and we will do our best to get you the answers or insight.

Also, join us on 16-17 September in London at the second edition of the Women in Shipping Summit, explicitly, not exclusively for women in shipping.