A Call to Action: Inspiring Inclusion Begins With Embracing Equity
Alt image description: Caption reads, “International Women’s Day 2024: Inspire Inclusion, www.goodsuccessnetowrk.com” Pictured are women of various backgrounds and cultures.
On March 8th, each year, International Women's Day (IWD) is acknowledged, celebrated and honored at events and initiatives across the globe during Women's History Month. International Women's Day is a powerful reminder of the progress we've made in advancing gender equality and the work that still lies ahead. It's a time to celebrate the achievements of women around the world, amplify their voices, and recommit ourselves to the fight for full inclusion and empowerment.
The 2024 IWD theme is “Inspiring Inclusion.” As we strive to create more inclusive habits, leaders, and workplaces, it’s important to note that inclusion and equity go hand in hand. Including someone, without keeping in mind the norms, practices, policies, and structures that impact their progress and livelihood isn’t true inclusion. So how do we put inspiring inclusion into practice?
Below, we’re listing 4 actionable steps you can take to inspire inclusion not only in the workplace but also in your communities and personal circles.
Identify and Mitigate Your Biases. The more you are aware of your biases and how your values cause you to show up and interact with others, the more you can interact through a lens of seeking to understand vs. judgment and projection. To test yourself for hidden biases, we highly recommend the Harvard Implicit bias test. You can learn more about it here.
Own your privileges and use them to amplify marginalized voices. So often, when we talk about privilege, we think about white male privilege, but privilege extends far beyond that. Privilege can exist from an economic standpoint, university or organization associations, being a part of a predominant religion, or even being a native language speaker.
Increase your knowledge of the challenges women face in the workplace, specifically around opportunities for advancement and pay. We highly recommend reading McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace report, which sheds light on many of these challenges.
Create a psychologically safe environment. The Center for Creative Leadership defines psychological safety as, “the belief that you won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. At work, it’s a shared expectation held by members of a team that teammates will not embarrass, reject, or punish them for sharing ideas, taking risks, or soliciting feedback.”
Creating a safe environment for individuals to show up as their authentic selves, if they choose to, is the first step to being inclusive. Fostering a culture of learning and an environment where employees can learn from mistakes without retaliation is a psychologically safe environment.
Call to Action: Take one step today to embrace equity and contribute to creating more inclusive spaces for women in the workplace.
If you're not quite sure where to start, reach out to us at hello@goodsuccessnetwork.com, and let's talk about how we can partner to achieve this goal for you and your organization.