Published
Thoughts about International Women’s Day #IWD from our Development Director, Manon Bradley
Like many women, I woke this morning with mixed emotions. Happy to celebrate the many achievements of amazing women around the world but depressed at the lack of progress towards equality between the sexes. I was bombarded by news stories about how women are held back in many aspects of our lives. The secretary general of the United Nations reported on Monday that the world is going backwards with regard to women’s rights and global sex equality is 300 years away. Progress that has been made over recent decades “is vanishing before our eyes.” The roll back of women’s rights in Afghanistan and Iran are particular low points but elsewhere in the world women are facing limitations to their freedoms.
The UK can’t exactly pat itself on the back. The Gender Pay Gap for higher educated women has got worse since the 1970s. Two thirds of women say that caring responsibilities have affected their career progression and many of them are priced out of work by lack of affordable childcare. Men do not report such barriers. In fact, men receive the “fatherhood bonus” compared to women’s “motherhood penalty”.
At the Major Projects Association, we have been championing change for a decade. Typically large employers, major project organisations have the opportunity to make radical changes which can shift the dial on women’s earnings and careers. And we know that by doing so we will also bring about performance improvements in the delivery of our projects, not because of women’s “special skills” per se but because diverse teams deliver better results.
And whilst diversity and inclusion work isn’t just about working towards equality of the sexes, just for today, I challenge all of our major project professionals to ask yourself if you are doing enough to create an equal and equitable working environment for your female employees and potential employees. Instead of posting “inspirational” photos ops on social media saying how much you value your female colleagues perhaps post your gender pay gap and state how you intend to close it in the next 5 years. Make sure you’re not outed by @PayGapApp!
If you are having an event today ask yourself if you are paying your female speakers the same as your male speakers. Have you arranged it at time that women can easily attend, or have you provided childcare?
This isn’t just a “nice to have” or something for you to consider for today and then ignore. The World Bank estimates that “closing the sex employment gap could raise long-term GDP per capita by nearly 20%”. Equality of the sexes benefits everyone.