So, I’m going to ignore the guidance I usually issue to everyone else writing for our newsletter and pen something that has nothing to do with brand and comms (other than it is a good example of why, at Strat House, we work so hard to clarify and align definitions and language: it is hard to embrace something if we all have a different view of what it is).

This is by no means to defend the ‘but it’s all so confusing’ brigade (hi Dad 🙄). However, the advancement of women’s rights has been both piecemeal and unevenly distributed. (I am acutely aware that I have far more freedom than many other women globally).  To make things foggier, an interesting consequence of progress is that we’ve mostly moved on from undisguised dislike and disdain (in many countries) and so what we battle instead is more often a sea of unconscious bias that is far harder to identify… let alone unpick.

In our job, we often find we have to give guidance on a general direction of travel, while our clients continue to evaluate what will and will not work in terms of delivering the strategy. In our VUCA world little is set in stone: adaptation as we learn is now an essential. For this we create principles – a starting point for explaining where we’re headed, with illustrative examples.

When Nick told me he wanted an article for IWD I thought that principles might be a pragmatic approach. Because things are in flux. And that can sometimes make us feel like the whole strategy is in doubt.

(Before I start, let’s be clear that, whatever your definition or dreams, women categorically are not equal. As recently as 2020 a, really quite depressing, study commissioned by the UN, across 75 countries, showed that 90% of people held a ‘deeply ingrained bias’ against women).

So what do I hope we’ll be embracing one day? Here are my starting principles for equality on IWD (for my Dad and perhaps others 😊):

1. Your views and requests are heard (and acknowledged)

The definition of mansplaining has changed over the years. Originally it was used to describe a situation (office based) where a woman made a point and received no acknowledgement, but when a man made the same point, in the same meeting, it was heard and acted upon. The definition may have changed but we still have an unconscious tendency to focus more on a male voice.

• In healthcare, multiple studies show women are not listened to by HCPs, and that they are more likely to be offered a solution that does not acknowledge the issue they have raised (e.g. women are significantly more likely to be prescribed antidepressants rather than pain relief, when complaining of chronic pain).
• In film, women don’t have the same share of voice. Women have fewer speaking roles in films and films are 52% more likely to tell a male story.

2. You are expected to do your fair share at work and in life. No less, but no more

This is a biggie.

It was a truism in publishing and advertising that women had to work twice as hard to be considered half as good. That was certainly my reality. To this day, I find it hard to shake the consequent work ethic, or the feeling that I must do more.

It’s arguably better than it was in our industry. But we all, in societies across the world, expect too much of women. Women do more housework and more of the ‘emotional labour’ that keeps our lives running:

• 91% of women with children spend at least an hour per day on housework, compared with 30 % of men with children.
• More worryingly, employed women spend about 2.3 hours daily on housework (I’ve never seen an explanation for this, but it does feel as if working women have to ‘compensate’ for their employed status).

And those learned behaviours at home then transfer to work:

• Senior leaders who identify as women were 60% more likely to provide emotional support to their teams, 24% more likely to ensure their teams’ workload is manageable and 26% more likely to help team members navigate work/life challenges, according to the report
• In addition, about one in five women senior leaders spend a substantial amount of time on DEI work that is not central to their job, compared to less than one in 10 male senior leaders.

It’s a positive in many ways. Women end up being better leaders (and employees get better bosses).

“Women are showing up as stronger leaders. They’re getting into the trenches, managing workloads, checking in, navigating the pandemic. We know that women often do invisible labor that doesn’t get credited. That’s what I think is so interesting, the constellation of areas where women are showing up as better leaders now.” Rachel Thomas, LeanIn.org

But it’s exhausting.

3. You can speak your mind

We are so very far away from this aren’t we? A woman with a point of view is still ‘bossy’, ‘too direct’, ‘aggressive’ in comparison to men who simply ‘know their own mind’. We all (remember the UN study) walk into conversations with women expecting them to be more subdued and to defer.

In our work world it can be demoralising:

• Women are far more likely to be interrupted in meetings, and their ideas are taken less seriously.
• Troublingly, 45% of women leaders have noted that it’s difficult for women to get ‘space’ in virtual meetings to speak.

And in the outside world, choosing to speak up can be terrifying. I don’t have anything to add to this:

4. You are not judged by your appearance

Women have always been valued, and simultaneously controlled, by their looks. I know beauty is a pleasure and a source of enjoyment for many women, but appearance is still used against us.

I am proud to have been working with, and for, Dove on and off for many years. One of the projects I am most inspired by is the brand’s co-founding of the CROWN Coalition to advance anti-hair discrimination legislation via The CROWN Act.

The CROWN Act (which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) is a US law that prohibits racial discrimination based on natural textures and protective hairstyles. This law is needed because:

• Black women are 80% more likely to change their natural hair to meet social norms or expectations at work.
• Black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home or know of a Black woman sent home from the workplace because of her hair.
• 1 in 2 Black children have experienced hair discrimination as early as five years old – and the impact can last a lifetime.

It’s shocking isn’t it? Shocking and disgusting (to me) that a brand seriously has to fund the pursuit of an anti-discrimination Act that should simply be common sense. But here we are, and this is why judgement of appearance is still an issue we need to fix for women.

So that’s it from me.

Of course, it’s not only these things. But I would argue the above four are certain requirements. Putting aside clear legal rights. I know that for me, the difference would be, at its simplest, an easier existence. 

I think we can all contribute to the creation of that easier existence, regardless of sex. I think we all massively underestimate the power we have to bring about change by reflecting on what drives our behaviour. It doesn’t have to be in extreme situations. The adjustment of small daily interactions is key, and these can be day-to-day at work. Every time we correct our own behaviour, or model better behaviour to a colleague, we shift the world a little bit (which is a nice thought).  

“Changing the day-to-day experiences of people in the workplace means you have to change the culture. If you’re going to change the culture, that means you need all employees at every level to activate and to be part of the solution,” says Rachel Thomas, co-founder & CEO of LeanIn.Org and OptionB.Org.

NB. I use the term ‘women’ throughout because this is an article prompted by International Women’s Day. The points also apply to all others who are disadvantaged on a daily basis by conscious and unconscious bias.

Sources; European Institute for Gender Equality, McKinsey, LeanIn.org, Barnard College and Emory University, Catalyst, HBR, York University, Dove, MarieClaire.