Few would deny the benefits of balance. Yet, as we enter a new decade, gender equal boardrooms are still a thing of the future, so too a gender equal government, gender equal workplaces and more gender equality in health and wealth.
Examining some of the problems encountered at work, author and executive coach Hira Ali asked 300 women about the challenges they faced. Ali found that many women cited two or more from a group of eight commonly occurring issues regarding self-perception. In noticing which of these might often be associated with another, she was able to map an array of interrelated problems. The most common was the fear of missing out, (FOMO) which affected more than half of those who responded.
Ali suggests women can learn to effectively squeeze out negative self-perceptions by re-framing them, taming them by ‘owning the moment’. For many people, reframing perceptions is easier said than done. In response to this, Ali wrote Her Way to the Top, a book on inequality in which she sets out some of the problems and offers a range of solutions.
Taking personal responsibility for yourself at work is one thing but this is a lonely path when prejudice bars the way. This year, the IWD Community organisers are keen to stress that it’s not just individuals who are responsible for bringing equality to business. In practice, this means organisations actively looking for imbalance and seeking to resolve it. What the IWD Community organisers are hoping to emphasise is that we are all part of the answer. They ask individuals to promote the collective search for equality by supporting their year-long #EachforEqual campaign, which will be running throughout 2020. Their point is clear. Since business finds itself at the heart of the debate on equality, companies must accept ownership of solutions.
