Women as Allies for Women

This year International Women’s Day (IWD 2021) celebrates the social, political and economic achievements of women while focusing global attention on areas requiring further action. The call to action is “From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge” #ChooseToChallenge. 

For me, I raise my hand and I choose to challenge more women to be allies for women. Usually seen as an obligation for men, the reality that I have seen is that far too few women actually step up and act as true allies to other women.

 The impact of Covid has been incredibly hard on women, losing jobs in greater numbers than men, bearing the brunt of extra childcare, and when in jobs, failing to receive parity of pay. Indeed, with the UK gender pay reporting suspended for a second year due to the pandemic, depriving us of one of the key intentional focal points helping to address the balance, the need for allyship is even more important.

We’re all equal, but some of us are more equal than others.

 As with any dimension of identity, the way women experience the world depends on much larger context. One of my earliest learnings was that experiences as a woman are not identical to other women’s experiences. Growing up as a girl in Hong Kong with Indian heritage I did not enjoy the same socioeconomic privileges as my male friends, but even worse than that, I also wasn’t afforded the same privileges as my Chinese or Expat female friends. I was left in no doubt from an early age that my experiences in the world would forever be the intersection of being a woman and a woman of colour.

Understanding Intersectionality

It starts with something as simple as the way we think about how we identify ourselves as women, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, age and sexual orientation. Even class, education, geography and personal history can alter how we experience womanhood.

 When Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality 30 years ago, she enlightened us how these overlapping identities and conditions impact the way we experience life’s challenges and opportunities; the privileges we have and the biases we face.

 Intersectionality in the workplace 

Simply focusing on a single dimension of identity without that context is thus not always helpful. When we consider women as a single category, as a monolith, it can be misleading at best, dangerous at worst. Doing so overlooks the variations of circumstances and perspectives within the group and obscures real lived experiences as outliers or exceptions.

 “Women’s workplace issues” is a vague term without enough specificity to drive action. Women of colour, women with disabilities, transgender women, women who are the first of their family to work in corporate or professional jobs, women who are caregivers — all women deal with additional social, cultural, regional or community demands that may not exist for others.

 Although all women navigate varying degrees of conscious and unconscious gender biases, intersections of identity compounded the pressure on a woman to downplay other aspects of her life to conform; a behaviour known as covering, by Kenji Yoshino, leading to even greater workplace stress.

 Diversity within Diversity

 To increase hiring, retention, representation and the development of women in the workplace, companies must be intentional and accountable for being aware of the diversity within the diversity.

 The sad truth is that conventional strategies to increase the representation of women in a workplace have mostly benefited those who do not also experience intersectional challenges.

 By getting curious and exploring the lived experiences of women through the lens of intersectionality, we become more precise about the root cause and about finding ways to generate systemic solutions for all.

 Setting the Stage for Allyship

 Understanding all this can be a powerful catalyst for change, not just for organizations as a whole but also for individuals. At Women in Hospitality & Travel Tech, we are refining how we think about allyship. Part of that exploration is the recognition that each of us has some dimension of privilege. This isn’t meant to minimize or negate the very real ways that communities experience significant, systematic historical bias or oppression, but rather to shine a light on our opportunity to show up for each other.

 As a community of women we have an opportunity to be more thoughtful about the experiences of our peers who face greater challenges due to their intersectional identity. So, although traditionally we might look to men in the workplace to carry the full weight of allyship, women in the workplace also have an opportunity to be thoughtful allies for others in their community.

My Commitment – what’s yours?

Such an awareness opens the door for true allyship — an intentional commitment to use your voice, credibility, knowledge, place or power to support others in the way they want to be supported. I am very aware of my opportunity, due to my personal privilege, to show up for other women in a meaningful way. I embrace my obligation to create space for other voices to be heard, not just on International Women’s Day, but all year round. 

#ChooseToChallenge.