Imagine a gender equal world.
A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.
Our efforts to advance women often calls on us to consider the barriers that can hold women back — with unconscious bias being a key part of this consideration.
For the month of March, aligning with International Women’s Day 2022, we turn our attention to exactly how we can supercharge our efforts to #BreakTheBias in our workplaces, relationships, communities to create a more equal world for all.
Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough. As we settle into the swing of a new year, carving out goals and focuses among new ways of working, we encourage you to use your influence, knowledge and energy to actively call out bias, discrimination, stereotyping.
Many tides of change need to be brought together to see this shift. Here at Global Women, we’re continuing our advocacy against closing the pay gap, pay gap reporting, and stamping out the motherhood penalty, while bringing attention to the gendered bias that underpins these.
On International Women’s Day, we came together for a kōrero around this year’s global theme ‘Break the Bias’ virtual event, presented in partnership with PwC. We heard from our Chair, Theresa Gattung, PwC Chief Transformation Officer Mark Russell, and new Global Women member and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Chelsea Winstanley and moderated by Wena Harawira. Enjoy the video highlights recap as well as our write-up of this frank, inspiring and necessary kõrero.
Have a look at some of the ways our Partners are committed to #BreakTheBias — from personal focuses to company-wide events, trainings, workshops and structural advancements, they’ve cast a wide net of bias-breaking initiatives.
Additionally, Global Women Chair, Theresa Gattung, and CEO Agnes Naera, lend their voices to exploring the biases, cultural lenses in leadership, pay gaps and the balance of power shifts that hold women back in a kōrero with Canvas.
“There has to be a new way of working. What got us here isn’t going to get us where we need to go next. And as the balance of power shifts, we need to look closely at the loss and grievance of those who’ve been in those dominant roles and walk them through it somehow, because they’re going to have to find a new place” — Agnes Naera
“Women need to not be complacent or take what we’ve got for granted but stand in our power and call it out if we think things are backsliding, and keep electing governments that continue to make progress. If women don’t use their voice and money to support other women, no one else will.” — Theresa Gattung
Of course, advancements simply aren’t made in a vacuum. One important piece of the puzzle is that we close the Gender Pay Gap. MindTheGap NZ’s Public Pay Gap Registry has gone live, against the backdrop of MPs developing a policy that could see this compulsory public reporting on pay data become reality.
We’re beyond proud to be one of the 20 organisations supporting the initiative and to see 22 of our Partners volunteer to sign on to the registry and reporting — many of which being so quick to do so since the registry was announced last year. We know many members of our Partners and our wider community are gearing up to commit to pay gap data collection, and we look forward to supporting them as they progress and their strategies come to fruition in due course.
Stay tuned in our News & Views section for our website to be in the loop in our #BreakTheBias article series, which will shine a light through the many facets of bias women face. We hope that they bring value to you, your organisation, your team, and that you pass them on to build the momentum of this movement throughout the future.
Without these, women will continue to be held back, face reduced opportunities in the world, pigeonholed while paid less, overlooked and undervalued in our workplaces and communities.
As individuals, organisations, leaders, community-members, we all have a part to make gendered bias a thing of the past.
Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.
We can break the bias in our communities. We can break the bias in our workplaces. We can break the bias in our schools, colleges and universities.
Together, we can all break the bias – on International Women’s Day (IWD) and beyond.
Are you, your organisation or team celebrating IWD? Email us to let us how you or your organisation is dedicated to breaking the bias (and a photo of you doing the #BreakTheBias hand signal, if you’d like) join in our storytelling — we’d love to see it.