62. The Issues with International Women's Day hosted by Prina Shah

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Hello and welcome to this episode of Ways to Change the Workplace with myself, Prino Shah. I love what I do. I'm a global leadership coach, a consultant, a trainer, a keynote speaker, a podcaster. I help you to develop your leaders, your teams, and I help you to optimize your organizational cultures. I'm here to help you find ways to change your workplace. Why? Because we spend more time in our waking day at work than we do with our loved ones. It has to be a good place to be. So in this podcast, you can expect a mix of interviews with amazing thought leaders and then some solo episodes from myself as well. Get ready!

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Hello and welcome to this solo episode of Ways to Change the Workplace with myself Prina Cha. And today I want to talk to you about the many, many, many issues I have with International Women's Day. So if you're listening to me, I will date this podcast is 2023, and International Women's Day this year has a theme of embrace equity. Now, one of my biggest issues with International Women's Day is the fact that it's turned primarily into a day or a week where there's lovely events that happen, and women take cutesy photos of themselves. Allies, men and other people also take cutesy photos in order to raise awareness. Now, yes, it's wonderful to raise awareness, but honestly, this year the theme being embrace equity is to take a selfie of yourself giving yourself a self-hug. No, no frigging way. I want to get deeper, I want to work with you at a more holistic level. So I have many issues with International Women's Day, which I'm going to talk to you about, but I'm also going to pose you with some solutions. So let's get into it. Issue number one that I have with International Women's Day is on the topic of intersectionality. Now, intersectionality is the idea that different social identities, such as race, gender, class, intersect and influence each other in complex ways. Women who belong to multiple marginalized groups may face additional barriers and discrimination. So let me give you an example about that. If I'm talking about myself, yes, I am a woman. Yes, I'm from the Indian culture, a culture that you may not have too much knowledge about. It's a culture that has definite stereotypical expectations of women within the household, within the workplace, within society. And there's information that a workplace would not know about me from that perspective. So when I'm talking about intersectionality, here I'm really talking about the fact that we cannot paint everybody with the same equity brush because what's equitable for you may not be equitable for me. So the other big problem that I have with, you know, diversity programs overall is that they have the best of intentions, absolutely so. However, I still don't think that we're in a workplace that's mature enough to take into account the intersectionality of the people who are impacted. The true work that needs to be done is not being done just yet. So, what can we do about it? So, from an International Women's Day perspective, going back to International Women's Day and my issue with it, the solution in relation to not addressing intersectionality is to listen to a podcast like this, first and foremost. So, yes, give yourself a clap on the back, a pat on the back for tuning in, and to open your mind about the fact that there is an intersectional feminist perspective and that we need to recognize the unique experiences of women from different backgrounds. So organizations need to support and focus on the needs of women from marginalized groups and create opportunities for these women to lead and make decisions. Now, how can you do that from a workplace perspective? I've worked with lots of workplaces to really drill down into their workforce demographics and really try to break down the intersectionality aspects of their workplace demographics. We can work together by doing things like empathy mapping, really truly looking at your people data and seeing so much more in relation to the kind of cultures that people come from. I'm gonna digress a little bit here, and for people who really want to go down to the data level or the sociological aspect of understanding different cultures and the intersectionality within them, check out Hofstedt's work. Now, Hofstead, I'm not gonna go into detail about it in this uh podcast episode, has got so much information about cross-cultural work uh that can be applied to the workplace, but is not yet. So that's a bit of a digression, but one that you will thank me for. Issue number two about International Women's Day and the things that really get me annoyed about it. So, like I said, this year it's a cutesy photo of us embracing ourselves with the you know uh tagline of or hashtag of uh embrace equity. Yeah, great. I'm not gonna do that. So the other issue that I have with International Women's Day is the fact that we're not actually addressing one of the biggest problems in the workforce and in the world, in society, and that issue is of toxic masculinity. So, toxic masculinity refers to harmful societal expectations of what it means to be a man, which can lead to violence, aggression, and an unwillingness to seek help or to show vulnerability. This can have negative effects on women's experiences and safety within the workplace. So, the workplace definitely does not get into this aspect often of toxic masculinity. Where I live in Perth, I have spoken at length about the Perth Boys Club. Now, this is career suicide for many people who work in an organization to talk about the Perth Boys Club and the exclusive rights that often only men have within this Perth Boys Club and the doors that they open for each other as well. That is absolutely one example of toxic masculinity, which is not allowing any form of equity, fairness, parity to women because all of those doors are closed. Now, if you look at your workplace, do you have a boys club of sorts? Is there toxic masculinity happening within your workplace? Are there behaviors which are, I guess, promoted more so than others, which lean more towards the toxic masculinity behavioral profile, let's say? So that's a question for you to consider there. So, what can we do to address toxic masculinity within the workplace? So, one of the things I'm doing heavily with the people that I'm working with is to challenge toxic masculinity by promoting healthy alternative models of masculinity that prioritize empathy, emotional intelligence, and respect for women or respect for all people within the workplace. Here, the intention is to encourage men to be allies to women and to all people and to speak out against harmful behaviors. So the issue here is that workplaces often don't provide enough education and resources to help men to unlearn harmful behaviors and attitudes. So if we're talking about culture change, we really need to look at societal change within the workplace as well. Otherwise, our work is half done, and that's not right. Okay, I hope you're with me with my list of issues. Issue number three is the issue of care work. So women are often carers within society, especially as women get older. So when it comes to International Women's Day, this is one area that's often not even considered or talked about. So care work such as childcare, elder care, is often undervalued and performed by women. This can limit women's economic opportunities and therefore perpetuate gender roles. So let's look at your workplace, for example. In your workplace is the traditional kind of role, a typical still nine to five worker. How on earth is a woman who has caring duties either for children or for, let's say, her parents, elderly parents, or her in-laws? Very nice of her to look after her in-laws. Um does she have opportunities within the workplace? Does your culture actually afford and lend itself equitable options for women who are in such a position? So another one I'm gonna digress, but digress with detail here. If you don't know about it, then look up, Google it, the sandwich generation. So this is a generation who are not only looking after their kids from a childcare perspective, but they're of a certain age where their parents are now aging. And now they're also looking after their parents. And the majority of people in this childcare, in this sandwich generation, guess who? They're the carers. Guess who they are? Often the women. So consider how your workplace is supporting people who are in this sandwich generation who are carers for children as well as carers for elderly parents. So this is me talking from a societal perspective again. As a solution, what you could do at your workplace if you truly value your workforce and what they are bringing to you know society itself is to promote the value of care work and recognize that it truly is a vital part not only of our economy but also of our society. Encourage men to share in care work responsibilities. Hello, there's a different thought there, and promote policies that support work-life balance for caregivers. Advocate for fair work wages and benefits for care workers. This is an area that is still very untouched. Now, with issue number four, I'm taking more of a global perspective. And my issue in relation to International Women's Day or, you know, women's rights and all of the wonderful stuff that we try to do on International Women's Day and International Women's Week, we don't actually talk about the fact that there's a huge barrier for many women from a global perspective in relation to access to technology. Now, access to technology, including the internet, can be a significant barrier for women, especially in developing countries and in remote and rural parts of Australia. So this can limit people's ability to access information, to access education, and to access economic opportunities. That is an awful, awful barrier. So a solution for that from a workplace perspective or a corporate social responsibility perspective of your workplace? Can your workplace consider increasing access to technology, especially for women in developing countries? What can your workplace contribute? Can your workplace support initiatives that provide affordable or free access to internet and technology devices for women or people in need? Can your workplace promote digital literacy programs for women and girls to help them to use technology effectively and safely? Safety being a big operative word there because we know of the perils of the internet and all of the yucky stuff that's out there as well. The predators. So can your workplace offer digital literacy programs for women and girls to help them to use technology effectively and safely? That's another consideration, and that's going beyond looking at your workplace and their own employees. We're giving back to the world now, more so from this perspective. And issue number five, I will drop drop it at this issue in relation to International Women's Day, all of these wonderful days that we have, there's not enough representation in the media still. So women are still often underrepresented or portrayed in stereotypical ways in the media, which again reinforce harmful gender roles and limit women's opportunities. So when we're looking at it from your perspective of the workplace, you know, from a marketing and branding perspective, how are women from your workforce portrayed out there externally to your customers, to your clients, to your stakeholders? What's happening? So a solution to this, especially from a media perspective, is to promote diverse and accurate representations of women in the media, including in advertising, in news, and in entertainment. Encourage women to pursue careers in the media and to support organizations that provide media training and mentorship for women. Hold media outlets accountable for promoting harmful stereotypes or engaging in sexist behavior. Because let's be honest, this shit still keeps on going on and on and on. Every year when it comes to International Women's Day, I dread going to any events because I know for a fact that we're gonna hear some awful, awful stories in the media about how women have been treated, how they've been abused, or whatever else happens in the world. So whilst it's all good and well to celebrate International Women's Day and to have your high tea or your long lunch and whatever, and clap for all of the wonderful speakers that are out there, I ask you to consider what you're tolerating. Because I'm gonna leave you with this one line. You are what you tolerate. So, and I'm gonna say it again, you are what you tolerate. So if you leave with anything, I would ask you to consider what you are tolerating as you have your high tea or your lovely long lunch to celebrate International Women's Day. Over on Matt out for me for this episode, and I'll see you in the next episode. If you like this episode, check out the show notes and sign up for my newsletter. That will help your workplace to be less shitty. It's full of novel ideas, good food for thought. And if you like this episode, pass it on to at least two people who will benefit. That's your good deed done for the day. Also, remember to subscribe to the Ways to Change Your Workplace Podcast via your podcast provider. And I will see you in the next episode.