When International Women’s Day rolls out each year, some groups are quick to label conversations about gender inequality as ‘wokeism’. This can lead both parties in the conversation to become defensive and prevent constructive discussion from taking place.

Conversations about International Women’s Day (IWD) have felt different in recent years. People are calling out companies attempting to mark the occasion with a cupcake fest or a one-off social media post celebrating the women in their organisations. As many are rightly questioning, what is being done for the other 364 days of the year?

Similar discussions were had around Pride Month, with companies donning a rainbow logo for the month, only to switch the colourful lights off at the month’s end. Again, some people might ask how these companies are actively supporting their LGBTQIA+ employees in a big-picture sense.

Many companies would be able to comprehensively answer that question and provide examples of their efforts, but many others wouldn’t. These tokenistic acts are worth calling out, but what about the companies that are consistently taking action year round and facing claims of ‘wokeism’ as a result?

This is why we need IWD

This week, academic Dr Susan Carland toured Australian capital cities in conversation with various hosts for AHRI’s International Women’s Day breakfast series. HRM attended the Sydney breakfast, where Carland spoke alongside SBS World News host Janice Petersen.

Petersen posed an interesting question to Carland: why do so many people get defensive when conversations about supporting women, or other minority groups, are given air time?

These can be difficult conversations to navigate, as each side tends to be unwavering in their opinions. But these are the exact people who need to be in conversation with each other. Instead of preaching to the converted at diversity events like IWD, employers need to consider how to bridge the gap between divided parties to have impactful, constructive discussions.

“One of the areas of research I do is around how we can effectively counter discrimination,” says Carland. “We know that very, very rarely is anyone convinced to change their mind because they are sneered at, humiliated or mocked… I want to try and respectfully engage with where those people are coming from.”

“All of the important conversations about your career will be made in a room that you’re not in – decisions about a promotion, being given a great client or project, a raise.” – Dr Susan Carland

Everyone deserves to be listened to, she adds, “but that doesn’t mean we have to indulge things that are unfair”.

“Let’s not pretend discrimination against women isn’t real,” she says. “This isn’t something we’re making up. This has been objectively measured for a very long time in many facets of life, the workplace is but one place [where we’ve measured it]. The first International Women’s Day was in 1909. Was that the beginning of wokeism? Of course not.

“People asking, ‘Why do we need International Women’s Day?’ is [in itself] the explanation for why we need [it]. There is still a fundamental misunderstanding… of the very real inequality that women experience. It’s not about attacking individuals. For example, I don’t feel uncomfortable when we have NAIDOC Week here in Australia. I’m not Indigenous, but I can see there are very legitimate reasons for us to have those conversations.”

Another important message to include in conversations about gender equality is the fact that it’s there to benefit both men and women, she adds.

“If we look at things like putting policies in place so men can be at home more to help raise their kids, with things like paternity leave or more flexible working arrangements, that’s something feminists have been pushing for over the years. So to see it as something that’s being taken away from you, as opposed to lifting all boats with the one tide, is why we need to have International Women’s Day.”

It’s important that we canvas all experiences and opinions, says Petersen. 

“We’re lucky enough to live in a country with free speech,” she says. 

She stresses that we need to collect everyone’s perspectives in order to be “true and authentic” to our diversity goals. Petersen is in favour of IWD events because she believes in having a dedicated time to dissect these issues in detail.

“When you’re in the burn and churn of everyday life, you don’t get to sit in a room like this and interrogate these sorts of issues.”

The challenge is continuing those conversations and converting them into long-term action.

Move away from the business case

Carland thinks we need to stop making the business case for having a diverse leadership team and a diverse workforce. We’ve been beating this drum for years. Study after study shows that a diverse board is more effective, a diverse team is more innovative and a diverse business is more profitable.

“It doesn’t seem to convince a company to become more diverse. And we think that’s because if you go to a CEO or board and say, ‘These are all the business reasons for us to become more diverse,’ they can then say, ‘It’s a good business case, but there are a lot of good business cases I can make.’ 

“Very rarely is anyone convinced to change their mind because they are sneered at, humiliated or mocked… I want to try and respectfully engage with where those people are coming from.” – Dr Susan Carland

“What we need to do to encourage companies to take diversity seriously is make the moral argument. [We need to say,] ‘It’s the right thing to have more women on the board, a more multicultural workforce, people from the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities etc’. When we make a moral argument, it’s much harder for the CEO to say, ‘I know that’s right, but I’m going to do this other thing anyway.'”

There’s an important caveat though, she says. The moral argument only works if being a diverse and inclusive company is part of your company’s existing ethos.

What comes after IWD?

For organisations looking to practice more sustainable diversity efforts, Carland says it’s worth reassessing your current processes for stamping out biases at work. 

“Hundreds of studies have shown us that anti-bias training doesn’t work,” she says. “Not only do these platforms not work, they can make things worse. One study out of the US found that after people did one of those modules, Black African American women and Asian Americans were less likely to be promoted for five years. 

“Companies are genuinely trying to do the right thing, but unfortunately [these programs] just don’t work. People can get defensive. We feel it’s implying that we’re bad people, so we dig our heels in and say, ‘Are you telling me I’m racist or sexist?’ People can then become more prejudiced against minority groups.”

Another reason these programs can fail is because people get stuck in inertia due to feelings of hopelessness.

“They think, ‘Prejudice is everywhere. It’s terrible. Nothing can be done, so what’s even the point?’ We need to invest in anti-bias training that actually works, because there is stuff that works, but we need to stop with those short computer modules.”

The other critical thing companies need to do if they want to be more diverse is track their efforts, she says.

“Track it in the same way you’d track bottom-line [metrics] or retention of staff. We need to say, ‘We’re going to set targets for diversity in our workplace. We’re going to be completely transparent about it. We’re going to be accountable for it… and there will be consequences for when we don’t fulfill these targets.”

Watch HRM’s video on whether diversity targets help or hinder.

“People can feel very uneasy about the idea of quotas. They think it means that people who don’t have the requisite skills or experience will be given the job,” says Carland. “But what I find kind of funny about that is that it assumes that every leadership position is currently [based on] meritocracy and that no one is there because of who they know or who they went to school with.

“Quotas have never been about giving unqualified people positions on boards or leadership positions. What quotas say is that you’re making a decision in advance to give a certain number of positions to qualified people from under-represented backgrounds.”

Building stronger cultures

Carland and Petersen spoke about many other ways to create safer and more productive workplaces for minority groups, including:

• Build sponsorship cultures – Carland believes it’s important to have a mentor and a sponsor, but stresses that those are different things. 

  “A mentor is the person you go to for advice; they’re someone higher up than you. 

  “A sponsor is a different role. [They’re] a person who has committed that they’re going to do everything they can to help you in your career. Again, they need to be higher up than you because all of the important conversations about your career will be made in a room that you’re not in – decisions about a promotion, being given a great client or project, or a raise. Hopefully, your sponsor will be in that room and they’ll be the one to advocate for you.”

• Collective allyship – While leaders should never abdicate their responsibility to role model inclusive behaviours from the top, allyship is something everyone can take responsibility for, says Carland.
  
  “I don’t think we can ever underestimate just how much change allies can bring.”
  
  Referring to an anecdote of a gay male friend of hers, Carland says Australia’s plebiscite for same-sex marriage was a great example of allyship in action.
  
  “[My friend] was worried because… only 10 per cent of Australia belong to the LGBTQIA+ community. So if only the people who are directly impacted by the rule would vote ‘yes’, there’s no way it would have passed. But, as we know, the majority of people in Australia voted ‘yes’.” That’s allyship. 
• Take an individual approach – If one person needs Friday afternoons off to pick up a child from school, don’t make the assumption that every woman needs the same thing, says Carland. HR professionals should take the time to learn about the individual needs of employees of all genders and offer accommodations accordingly.

  “We all want the same outcome: a successful, flourishing workplace. So think about the different things we need to do to get people there.”

Are you a female HR professional looking to step into a leadership position? AHRI’s Women in Leadership course helps to prepare you for the next step.