International Women's Day
International Women’s Day - one of our favourite days of the year! It's the time when we all pause to look back at where we collectively started, cheer on our sisters who are running alongside us, and set our sights on the changes that still need to be made - here in the UK, and in other societies, where women may be facing different challenges.
There's always an inspiring theme for International Women's Day, and this year's no different - this year we are all #Embracing Equity! And why is equity different from equality, I hear you ask? Well, it's a reasonable question - for years, equality has been the shining target we've all been chasing. And it's obviously been hugely important in making sure that women have an equal voice and equal rights in their homes and communities. Legal equality's been vital to enable women to access the same educational and economic opportunities as men. But as well as pushing for equality, do we also need to fight for equity?
After all, equality presumes that we're all starting from the same place - that we've all had the same life chances. It doesn't take account of the fact that circumstances, or society, can sometimes put further hurdles in people's way. It doesn't always take proper account of the prejudice still faced by people with disabilities and people of colour, for example. It forgets that some people've grown up in challenging economic situations, or may have had limited access to educational opportunities. Wouldn't equity be a better goal - trying to ensure that everyone has the same chance to reach a particular outcome? Wouldn't it be great if everyone, no matter where they'd come from, or what they'd faced, had a fair chance of career success? If equality is everybody being given the same resources or opportunities, then equity gives everyone the resources or opportunities they need to reach an equal outcome. More like the golf scoring system, if you excuse the analogy. Without equity, it just isn't possible to achieve equality.
We've all spent so long fighting for equality that taking that further step to championing equity should hopefully feel natural for us. Just like the push for equality, it needs each of us to actively support equity in our own lives and friendship groups and workplaces. It may need structural and systemic changes to our professional environments, but each of those changes starts with one person being brave enough to raise a hand and initiate a conversation. If it's ever going to be a reality, then we - individually, as well as collectively - will ultimately need to call out discrimination when we see it. The truth is that we all need to be allies in this campaign - allies who are willing to expend political or social capital to lift each other up, rather than just paying lip service to this ideal. And the honest truth is that sometimes that will feel uncomfortable. Sometimes, we'll wonder whether we have the courage to do what needs to be done. Sometimes, we'll feel nervous about incurring the professional cost of pointing out when things are unfair to someone else. But if we don't stand shoulder-to-shoulder, nothing will change. This International Women's Day, let's commit to supporting and offering equitable - not just equal - career opportunities. To making our workplaces fairer environments. To standing together for the coming year.