Happy International Women’s Day!
This year’s theme is “Inspire Inclusion”. I’ve spent some time pondering what exactly this means to me, and I would love to share my thoughts and a personal story.
Borrowing from the International Women’s Day publication:
To inspire inclusion means to celebrate diversity and empowerment on International Women’s Day 2024 and beyond.
To celebrate diversity is key. At times, it seems like the well-meaning movement toward “equality” has meant downplaying diversity. The oversimplification of “treating everyone the same” has meant that the wealth of herstories, worldviews, perspectives and experiences of a very diverse population of women have been unintentionally downplayed for the sake of “equality”.
We want to see more women in leadership roles, but many of those leadership roles have yet to fully emerge from their origin story rooted in a historically male-dominated workforce (“designed by men, for men” as it were). This results in what I’ll call an unconscious bias towards the status quo. (Change is hard!)
An unconscious bias towards the status quo means that there’s an expectation of women in leadership roles to carry out their roles the same way their male predecessors have traditionally done. There’s an underlying expectation of similar hours to be kept, similar mannerisms to be used, similar decision-making processes to be exercised, similar perspectives to be had, and so-on.
Sometimes this works out just fine. After all, we’re all just people, and who’s to say a woman can’t share the same perspectives? The problem lies in the expectation. It’s within this dangerous territory that we hear, “Yes, of course we value your opinion! So long as it’s the same as our opinion.“
I suspect that many women in leadership don’t work in precisely the same framework as their male counterparts. We are influenced by history and the societal frameworks that shape our unique perspectives. When those unique perspectives are heard and valued, that’s when we have truly diverse leadership.
This is where empowerment comes in, and why empowerment is also an important part of inclusion. Empowerment means that we aren’t blindly walking into a leadership role just to lead how we’re told to – that defeats the purpose of a leadership role. We need to honour and value our own voices, so that we can project them boldly and authentically, and contribute to diversity in leadership.
We need to support each other in honouring and valuing our own voices. Women are stepping out of a long history of imposed silence, and I theorize that this history contributes to self-doubt and a need to “prove” our worth today. When women are empowered, there’s nothing to prove – we know our worth inherently. This is an incredibly strong position to bring with us into leadership.
When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world.
And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.
I love this quote from the 2024 campaign.
When I was young (say around 7), I left the predominantly female sports of ballet and tap dancing and entered into the predominantly male sport of Taekwondo, which became a big part of my life for many years growing up.
As I recall, there were only a few of us girls that went through to junior black belt together, and we wouldn’t all be together in each class due to scheduling. I only remember there being one female instructor in the studio. Sounds intimidating, doesn’t it? Surely I’d be a sweet little fish out of water.
Nope – it didn’t matter, and I’m only realizing now how important that experience was.
We sparred with the boys, we did the same exercises, we took the same tests, we went through the belts together, and I don’t remember our stature or gender ever being a big deal. This was so important. This was a space where as a “little girl”, I was taken seriously. I was valued. If I was going to get my butt kicked, it wasn’t because I was a girl, it was because I was a terrible sparrer. And I knew this because I got to spar against other girls in competition, and I got my butt kicked there, too.
That inclusion was powerful, and it stuck with me. It instilled that sense of inherent belonging, relevance and empowerment outside the studio, which followed me into leadership today. I don’t question whether I belong or whether my voice is relevant; for better or worse, I expect it – not just for myself, but for everyone.
I was really fortunate to have had this experience of inclusion. It should be apparent that not everyone has that opportunity. Some have to find it in adulthood, and some struggle to find it even then! So while today is a wonderful opportunity for celebration, may it also serve as a reminder that we really do need to collectively Inspire Inclusion in our efforts to forge a better world.
As far as we’ve come in the grand scheme of history, in the great big world of today girls and women are still striving just for the right to education, opportunity, and fair pay. Let’s also remember that our LGBTQ2+ neighbours face a significant and persistent lag in inclusion. Let’s listen, let’s learn, and let’s make sure we’re supporting the global community to ensure that their contributions are valued.
I’m grateful to the women who strived before me, who work with me now, and who will become tomorrow’s leaders, for all of their efforts in ensuring inclusion in leadership. Let’s continue to do that work so that we can continue to move forward, together, empowered.
