Celebrating International Women’s Day
Can you wait one hundred years?
That’s more than a lifetime for many of us. Yet, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 it will take another 99.5 years to reach gender parity. That will be the year 2120.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme, “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”, spurred me to think about the actions I can do today to make a difference.
While progress is being made to close the gender gap including efforts to have more women in leadership positions and access to STEAM education for emerging high-demand skills and jobs, there are two tangible actions that we can do today to make an impact at work and at home.
We can be more conscious to eliminate bias at work; and
We can be a role model for our children.
Bias is not limited to gender. Yet, women face it too frequently at work. For example, working mothers are sometimes told that they should skip a business travel in order be home with their kids. I personally have experienced this unconscious bias - not once, but a number of times. While it may be an unconscious bias, examples like this show how working mothers may often be held to different standards of performance in the workplace.
A new term that I learnt is a “maternal wall”. University of California professor Joan Williams describes this concept and four patterns of gender bias that shape today's workplaces. Her video “How to Deal With Bias Against Working Moms” is a powerful account of the biases that working women face at different points in their career. What was particularly useful was her advice to not strive to be the perfect mom: “One of the most important gifts you can give to your children is to show them that you need to be gentle with yourself….They need to see that. If they see you holding yourself to unreasonable standards, what message does that give them?”
Continuing with this theme, closing the gender gap all starts with setting a good example for our kids. As a working mother with boys, I am daring them to dream and work hard towards their goals, towards things they enjoy, to be generous to others, and to respect different views in their journey.
Finally, as a parent there are countless times when we learn so much from our kids. They have a way to remind us to step in their shoes and be a kid again, to see the world around us. In the article Corporate values. Lessons from Children the author (my sister Lily), reflects on the insight that she gained from the words of her daughter.
By Mimi Lee, Founder of Meiava
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Photo: By Olga_C | Shutterstock.
