Building Inclusive Cultures: Advancing Gender Equity in the Workplace

Date Posted:Wed, 26th Feb 2025

Building Inclusive Cultures: Advancing Gender Equity in the Workplace

In the run up to International Women’s Day (IWD), we hosted a forward-looking masterclass with member Sarah Christensen, CEO of Christensen Consultancy on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D,E&I) in the workplace.

 

Inspired by this year's IWD theme #AccelerateAction, this session was designed to help participants gain insights into a series of impactful initiatives and campaigns that can advance gender equity in their organisation while embracing broader inclusion strategies that benefit everyone. 

The Building Inclusive Cultures masterclass provided insights, tools, and strategies for inclusiveness. Creating work environments where everyone feels valued, respected, and able to contribute to business success. The masterclass emphasized the importance of delegating tasks effectively and ensuring all voices were heard, allowing for a sense of belonging among team members.

Participants learned about the differences between equality and equity in the workplace. Equality referred to providing equal opportunities for everyone in areas such as policies, annual leave, and healthcare. Equity, on the other hand, involved allocating resources based on the specific needs of individuals, enabling them to perform and deliver their best work.

The masterclass highlighted the ethical case for change rather than business case for change, highlighting the UAE's Safe Guard Gender Law as an example. It is important that business are doing enough to take responsible steps for incrementing behaviour.

It also addressed the "Motherhood Penalty," which could negatively impact women's lifelong earnings due to a lack of promotions. Motherhood penalty can cost women 20-30% of lifelong earnings due to lack of promotion.

While the UAE's female labour force surpassed the global average( UAE 55% female labour surpassing the global average of 47.5%), more could be done to promote inclusivity.

Another focus was the importance of sponsorship for women, who are often "over-mentored and under-sponsored." Building employee plans based on women's actual needs and desires could help create a more inclusive work environment.

Promoting allyship in the workplace was another key aspect. Allies advocated for marginalized individuals and utilized their positions of power to create positive change. Need to be mindful of how we encourage work with each other. Not all women share the same priorities.

 Finally, the masterclass included an exercise on privilege to encourage participants to acknowledge their privilege and use it to support others. By understanding the experiences of others, participants learned how to be effective allies and create inclusive cultures that benefited everyone. ‘privilege is invisible to those who have it. Be an ally for others: understand their experiences to know what action to take’

Summary

  • Understand the importance of gender equity
  • Focus the message on fairness, inclusion and ethical responsibility
  • Build an employee value proposition based on what women want
  • Focus on external relationships too
  • Understand the key biases in your workplace and regularly discuss
  • Be an ally for other: understand their experiences to know what action to take