If you prefer to listen to this blog, click below for the audio. Or, just read on…
International Women's Day
International Women’s Day has been and gone, did you celebrate this year?
If social media is anything to go by it would seem that our desire to mark the day is waning. And we understand why.
Many organisations are fuelled by the working mothers sacrifice, and it is not ok. For too long mothers (and increasingly fathers) have been asked to nurture in a society and in cultures that do not nurture them back. Add that to the depressing stats we saw from the gender pay gap reporting recently and we completely understand why the calls for actions, not words, were so loud this year.
Slow but Steady Progress
In the same breath we have been supporting working parents for 26 years, and we have seen positive change.
The progress maybe glacial but it is moving forward, and we must never underestimate the part we all play in that. For every working mother who has courageous conversations in the workplace, who expresses her needs, who even takes flight, your actions do shift the dial.
Trends Report Insights
Each year we share a trends report with our clients, we look at the data on working families across the globe, highlighting the shifts we see and how we see them showing up in our client organisations. For the fourth year running in 2024 we see the trend that we call ‘Elevated Expressionism”, where more and more women are vocal for change. This matters and is worth celebrating. We firmly believe that organisations neglecting to prioritise changing their culture, structures, and systems to support working parents and foster enabling environments will not be positioned for success in the future.
So, as a reminder here is a starter for ten on some of the things that organisations that we work with focus on… Things that really do matter, and it needs celebrating.
Key Focus Areas
- A focus on enhancing parental leave, not just maternity leave.
- Not assuming that it is only mums who have caring responsibilities.
- Offering true flexibility, but not making flexible work look like a ‘perk’ for mothers or senior leaders only.
- Having robust and practical back to work processes for post parental leave.
- Calling out negative attitudes or discrimination towards working mothers, and that there are consequences for poor leadership of working parents.
- Helping with practical childcare issues.
- Continuing to focus on the gender pay gap.
The gap between what is said and what becomes positive action is more important than it ever has been.
If you have anything else to add to this that really makes a difference in your organisation, then let us know. We always want to call out companies that are doing their very best.
We also wanted to share with you the latest Women in Work Index from PWC. It makes for tough reading, but has essential, clear and compelling stats to support the business case for women at work.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to receive the next one direct to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter here.
Feature Image Credit: Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels