As International Women's Day rolls around again I've been reflecting and diving deeper into what it all means. Because like many, to me the meme droppin', balloon poppin' 'tag a strong women' content feels disingenuous. As said so well here by Ebony Breen: "International Women’s Day was not always a pink-washed, corporate cupcake affair. It began with revolutionary women marching in the streets. Women being "difficult", protesting, demanding action, and creating structural change. A favourite of the capitalist corporate world, IWD was started by Marxist feminists and socialists over 100 years ago (stay with me, the history lesson is short). It grew from grassroots activism. It's entwined with the worker's rights movement and the struggles of the working class. The women who started this day would despise the way it has morphed into bake sales, performative corporate posts, and panels of cis white women in power suits. Niceties and platitudes can be comforting, but they are not progress." I'm not throwing shade here. Most people are showing up as best they can, doing what they think is right in the moment. Point in question me on stage above at our International Women's Day event sponsored by Facebook, supported by a crew of unpaid female speakers. I've learnt a lot since then. But there could be so much power in this movement. Particularly in the business space where so many of us dwell. We have a real opportunity to leverage our businesses to bring about the real and valuable change we want to see in the world. I know that's what so many of our She Owns It Members aspire to. So let's think about how we can break the lipstick fuelled, #BossBabe mould that's become so normalised in our space, and do business and IWD with integrity. Point to note- I am no expert here. I am learning on the go, trying to do better. If you want to dive deeper into this learning, here are some organisations/ people to follow and invest in: Allyskills NZ - We work with forward-thinking companies to build inclusive, high-performance teams Leigh Development - Sel is a respected impact strategist and leadership coach for businesses and community organisations Storyo - Celebrating stories of women and gender diverse folks in New Zealand There will be many more! Please share the learning resources you've found valuable in the comments below 🙏🏼. 1. Educate YourselfAs a business owner you've taken on a leadership role. For your employees, your contractors, your customers and the community you serve. So continued effort to educate yourself on issues related to DEI- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion- recognising and challenging unconscious bias, understanding systemic inequalities and investing in education and training is critical. Even if you're a solopreneur, this type of training and knowledge can empower you to become more inclusive and equitable in your practises. 2. ConsultBefore you jump into advocacy mode consult the affected people. They may prefer to drive or be included the process. They may not want the form of help you're thinking of extending. Here's a deeper read on this by the Harvard Business Review 'When (And How) To Speak Up As An Ally.' 3. Amplify Your ActionAs a business owner consider how you can leverage your platforms and resources to advocate for meaningful social change. Can you invest in education? Can you partner with organisations that promote social justice? Can you use your marketing channels to amplify under represented voices? Could you start paying speakers or contributors instead of or as well as offering exposure? Can you pay above the average rate? Change your hiring practises? What guiding policies do you have and if you don't have any- what support do you need to create them? What steps do you need to take to make that happen? All of this goes hand in hand with No 2. Without consultation, any efforts to take action could be misinformed. 4. Share Your EffortsInstead of showing up one day a year with a pretty Instagram graphic, consider sharing throughout the year what you plan to do and what you ARE doing to progress in this space. Use this day each year to share the action you've taken. This simple change in approach lends accountability but is also a great way to get community involvement and show people that you're truly committed to change. Photo Credit: Carmen Bird In the spirit of practising what I preach, I thought I'd close this post out by sharing where we're at with She Owns It in our efforts to progress in this space.
What I/ we've done 1. Awareness & Commitment To Education Before Black Lives Matter I had little awareness of how I (a Cis White Woman) and this business was contributing to these cultural issues. Now I know better, I'm committed to doing better as a community leader and as a human. 2. Holding Space For Discussion and Mistakes Through She Owns It we hold space for these sometimes difficult discussions within our community. As a participant in this I know I'm going to regularly put my foot in it because #StillLearning and #Conditioning and so will others. So far, our approach has been to try to use these moments as learning opportunities. We aspire to facilitate a space where people can highlight a concern and have their perspective received with respect and gratitude for their time and correction. This is by no means a perfect strategy and (as below) we need to create guidelines and policies to better facilitate this in the way that those affected want. 3. Amplifying Voices We have a platform and reach with She Owns It and we use this space to amplify voices through our content and also through giving our community access to use our platform to promote their own. As much as we can we make that easy for people by creating the content ourselves, making it easy to show up by keeping interviews conversational rather than training based, and facilitation a space where people can speak from the heart and share their journeys without judgement. At our events we're committed to prioritising the under represented everyday as we as every day business owners. We prioritise giving space to those groups shine as speakers and panelists- an opportunity often extended only to the 'success stories' or big name draw cards. Our goals for 2024 1. Analysis and Consultation Understanding what we're doing well and what we need to improve on. How are members in our community supported? What are their specific needs, individually and as a group? How are we catering to them? How are we working with our community to determine what success looks like for them? In what ways might people feel excluded? How are our events and spaces benefitting some but not others? Are we shouldering the burden and speaking up about inequities? What are the gaps? How can we improve? 2. Policy With consultation, create policy that can serve as as guiding framework for our community. We have so many community touch points online and offline, and it's here where true progress can be made, in a way that's truly uplifts the values and special nature that already exists in this community, if it is welcome. 3. Leave The Ladder Down Use this community to advocate in this space and broaden awareness and perspective. This can be done through conversations, amplifying voices and seeking professionals to providing training. 3. Get Support To make significant progress with this in 2024 I/ we need help and it's worth the investment. DIY isn't gonna cut it this time much as I you know I love it 😂. Finally, it's important to say I'm trying to approach all of the above from a space of empathy and kindness- to myself and others. Dwelling in shame only serves to slow down the meaningful progress we can contribute to in this space. I invite you to use this space to share what your next steps will be below. Let's support each other to continue moving forward in this space and doing better, and let's see where we are this time next year shall we?
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