#2 International Women's Day 2024 -Why We need to #ActivateAllyship

#2 Why #ActivatingAllyship is more important than #InspiringInclusion

What can transform International Women’s Day (IWD) events from being well-intended inclusion events to becoming events that make real change?

For me, the difference lies in re-focusing the event on allyship. Allyship that starts with looking first at ourselves and our own organisations, networks and communities, and being prepared to be honest and transparent about what we find. THIS requires a shift of mindset away from deafness and defensiveness and towards openness and learning.

This shift of mindset is an active choice and can only come about by making a focused decision to do it.

It shows that we are prepared to experience discomfort to be part of a solution and to stop perpetuating a problem. Without this very first baby step towards allyship for change, our event will, most likely, be about serving some other purpose than actually creating change for women. And that, of course, is absolutely fine. Just so long as we know that is what we are doing.

3 Steps to making your IWD event about #ActivatingAllyship.

WILLINGNESS     >     DATA    >     IMPACT

WILLINGNESS – How willing are we to understand inequality?

The first step towards our events being allyship events is the willingness to stop ourselves and our planning teams in their enthusiastic tracks and consider (a) what exactly is the problem here that we are attempting to solve by hosting these events? (b) Are we willing to consider that bias might be affecting our OWN organisations in ways we hadn’t considered? And are our events about that? Or are we making them about something else less meaningful? (c) Are we willing to care enough, be bold enough, or be open enough to take action towards solving a REAL problem? (d) Are we avoiding change because we’re fearful of something we’re not talking about?

Real allyship starts with the willingness to understand the situation. It requires an open, growth mindset and a show of solidarity where there might still be uncertainty. Saying ‘I don’t know, but I want to know’ is often harder than pretending we DO know or burying our heads in the sand. The first step towards change, is adopting a new mindset of willingness to know the reality.

Before it’s too late, let’s ask ourselves and our planning teams some questions about willingness. Are we willing to be real, willing to be part of a solution? Are we willing to change direction and do something different? Something bolder? Something braver?

DATA – What information can we use to understand the facts?

The second component to allyship in our IWD events, is making sure we are working with the facts. And that starts with data, statistics, and information. Do we have DATA we can get our hands on? Is there already research in our ‘field’ that we need to look at? Have we even thought to look? And, importantly, do we look at our data broken down by sex or gender? Do we check whether the data we base decisions on is broken down by sex or gender?

The first, and most important thing we can do for IWD events is to be curious and brave enough to ask ourselves questions about whether there is bias in our OWN organisation or activities.

What is the gender split of our members, employees, volunteers, followers, constituents, residents or beneficiaries? And can we look at age and other protected characteristics? Do we have data that might tell us whether men and women have different experiences of us? Are women or girls avoiding us? Leaving us? Experiencing difficulties interacting with us? Being heard? Having unequal opportunity? Being represented in the Boardroom? Do we know whether our organisations truly value, develop, and learn from women, or whether we unwittingly treat them as ‘less than’?

If the answer to that is ‘we don’t know’, then, what women really need, is for us to turn back from any OTHER form of IWD event and focus on tackling THAT. AND to be open and brave enough to go public about what we are doing. It matters. It sends the right message. It is a powerful first step towards true allyship - allyship that stares down inequality right betwen the eyes and says ‘I see you’ and ‘I’m prepared to feel the pain with you’.

Before it’s too late, can we pivot our IWD event plans to focus on DATA? Beginning with our own? Or use evidence or research that exists outside our own organisations? Can we role-model the importance of data as part of our IWD events?

IMPACT – How do the facts impact women’s experiences?

Data, though, is only half of the problem. It’s one thing to look at the data, but, when we see what the data is telling us, how do we know the IMPACT that it has on women’s lives within our own organisations and within wider society? Have we been making assumptions? Have we been looking for solutions in the wrong place? Have we been asking the right questions?

What does it matter if we discover that our experienced female employees are leaving in their droves when they hit 50? So-what if we realise it’s only the men who speak in our WhatsApp groups? What is the relevance of women not returning to work after maternity leave? Why should we care if we can see that teenage girls aren’t using our social clubs and sports grounds?

We can only understand the IMPACT of these things if we make an effort to find out. And to find out, we need to ask women, listen to their responses and be prepared to take action when we understand how the impact of inequality affects everyone.

It seems to me that IWD is the perfect opportunity to hold these conversations, highlight these issues, find collaborative solutions to problems, and put women front and central to how we address the impact of inequality on their lives and the lives of their families and communities.

Before it’s too late, can we adjust our IWD event plans to incorporate impact? Whether we re-shape them into discussions or collaborative workshops, whether we celebrate our achievements of overcoming inequality or showcase the success of others, how can we re-focus on the importance of understanding impact?

Summary

We are all at different stages of the WILLINGNESS - DATA - IMPACT journey, but wherever we are, we ALL have the opportunity to use our IWD event, to #ActivateAllyship. There is still time to re-shape your event to incorporate something along these lines. Where are you on the journey?

WILLINGNESS

1.     Do I WANT my event to actually make a difference? To be part of the solution to creating equality for women?

2.     Am I prepared to be TRANSPARENT about my data, my findings or my survey responses? To give the message that I/We are willing to learn and to find solutions? Accepting that showing our ‘warts and all’ might be uncomfortable but – no pain no gain?

DATA

3.     Do I REALLY understand the situation within the context of my organisation, network, community, or company? And, if not, am I prepared to find out?

4.     Do I know the ‘problem’ my IWD event is attempting to address? Do I have data, statistics or information that I can draw on?

5.     Do I know how I could measure whether my event has made a change?

IMPACT

6.     Am I prepared to LEARN ABOUT THE IMPACT of bias in my context? In order that we/I can be part of a solution that benefits everyone?

7.     Can I use my event to (a) show my willingness to be an ally, (b) start to collect or publish my data, (c) understand impact or (d) find solutions to problems?

8.     Can I use my event to showcase the impact of change from somewhere else?

Marianne Storey

www.storeyland.co.uk I @StoreylandCoaching

@DorsetWomenCICChair I @DorsetWomen I dorsetwomen.org.uk