This year‘s theme for International Women’s Day on March 8th is all about embracing equity. Make sure you wear your purple and share pics of you and your team doing the embrace equity pose. Give yourself a big hug. And give yourself a head start. Here’s how you can be Fearless in 5:
1. Nix the non-promotable work: If you’re an ally, make sure that you are pitching in to plan the parties, clean up the conference room, and take and share the notes afterward from the meeting. If you identify as a woman, don’t be the first to volunteer for these kinds of activities that won’t set you up to be seen as a leader and get the promotion. Ask your male colleagues to step up.
2. Hear all voices. Women are interrupted three times more than men. If you are frequently interrupted, it’s time to advocate for yourself and say "Hey Josh, hold that thought I’m not done just yet. I’ll turn it over to you as soon as I wrap up." If you’re an ally and you see this in action, stop Josh, and say "Hey, let’s let Yuko finish her thought." And if you’re a manager, make sure that you’re approaching these serial offenders
3. Use inclusive language. Stop saying terms like "hey guys;" "We have a Bromance;" and "Let’s go girls." Don’t call women "bossy," "crazy" or use the B word. And for all the women out there, let’s stop calling ourselves "boss babes," and "girl boss." You’re just a boss.
4. Value talent based on talent. Research shows men are considered for promotions based on their potential and women based on their proven experience for what is needed in the role. Let’s start making this a level playing field. Evaluate everyone on both their relevant skills and potential. And if you’re a woman, proactively address both demonstrated performance and potential with the hiring manager.
5. Be an ally. It doesn’t mean that you were sticking up for everyone else before you have a chance to advocate for yourself but first learn about the experiences of others, and how and where they may want your help. When you see bad colleague behavior, that's when it’s time to pull them aside and let them know that what they’ve done is not OK. And we can all be allies to create equitable environments--certainly, men can be better allies for their female colleagues, women, we need to be stronger allies for other women with intersectionality: black women, Latino women, LGBTQ, women, women with disabilities, and veterans.
So start planning to Embrace Equity for IWD 2023. And if you need outside expertise, Wet Cement is here to help with key notes, workshops, coaching and advisory services to help your women’s employee resource group plan out their best year ever.