3 Ways to Make International Women's Day "Happy"

It’s Women’s History Month and normally I plan a brunch for my fabulous tribe of women, but this year, I attended the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit instead. Being around 1,500 black women who are taking their workplaces by storm inspired me to write this post for International Women’s Day.

In my consulting practice, I get asked frequently why diversity and inclusion is so complex and how to start a diversity and inclusion department. I’ve also been asked far too many times if I can write an unconscious bias training that will fix years of bad behavior in an organization. The answer to that last question is no, unless it is rewritten to ask what actions can we take to fix years of bad behavior in an organization.

There are so many directions you can go with that, but I am going to give you three ways you can make International Women's Day "Happy" by being a better human towards women (Women, I am talking to you too).

Assess your behavior towards women

We think we treat everyone the same. We really do. Especially women. We have bought into the sexist and toxic workplace cultures and are quite capable of questioning and demeaning other women for no real reason other than the fact that we have had it hammered into us that women aren’t as competent.

Martin Schneider, based out of Philadephia, PA, discovered just how differently men and women are treated in the workplace when he started signing emails as his female colleague. The entire story is posted in a series of tweets, but basically, as he said, “I was in hell. Everything I asked or suggest was questioned. Clients I could [handle] in my sleep were condescending. One asked if I was single.” Meanwhile his colleague Nicole had the most productive work week of her career.

“I realized the reason she took longer is because she had to convince clients to respect her. By the time she could get clients to accept that she knew what she was doing, I could get halfway through another client,” he said.

That part right there is what I’d like you to start addressing. The impact that your behavior has on another person. It impacts her morale, her confidence, and most of all, her pay. Because she is actually less productive not because she isn’t capable, but because she isn’t perceived as capable and has to work harder to prove it.

And yes, I am well aware this example is from three years ago, but just this weekend I was chatting with a woman who is experiencing the same thing. She is an HR consultant, her peer is an employment attorney, so every comment she makes about employment law is being questioned. Why? Because of course a J.D. trumps a Ph.D., right?

We have to check ourselves. You are probably reading this saying, not me. I don’t. I would never. And if your first thought is to excuse or justify the outcome described above, don’t. First, ask yourself why you have such a hard time believing women are treated differently and second, ask a female coworker what their experience has been like. Then actually listen to her response.

Ensure the CROWN Act and others like it are being implemented not just in theory, but in practice.

Last year, California became the first state to ban discrimination against natural hair, followed by New York and New Jersey, and most recently, Colorado. If this comes as a surprise to you, it’s ok. I sat in a room full of black women this weekend, some of whom admitted, they didn’t know why the act was necessary . . . UNTIL, they started speaking to women who deal with this nonsense frequently.

It is quite natural for us to have blinders on. If it isn’t affecting us, then we don’t pay attention. So I’m asking you to pay attention. This law isn’t about the annoying habit people have of asking black women to touch their hair. This is about actual discrimination that once again affects our earning ability. An ability that is already lessened just because of the color of our skin. (Side note: Equal Pay Day is March 31 but Black Women’s Equal Pay Day will not be reached until August 13).

I conduct a lot of training around unconscious bias and black women’s hair is such a hot topic. Dreadlocks, twists, afros, you name it, we wear them and we wear them proudly. I’d like to bring my whole self to work and if you really care about your workplace culture and improving diversity at work, then you want me to bring my whole self to work too.

According to a campaign by Dove, Black women are 50% more likely to be sent home or know of a black woman sent home from the workplace because of her hair.

If you want to know how to increase diversity, inclusion and belonging at your company, create a workplace culture where each individual feels comfortable coming to work and can model that for others. I don’t have to wonder if it’s acceptable for me to wear my hair in a natural style at work when I see others who already do it. Don’t just read the law, ensure that in reality, your workplace is practicing acceptance and promoting belonging.

Move the Needle on Pay

If you’re tired of hearing about equal pay, please trust and believe that we are tired of talking about it. We’d much rather someone did something about it. Which is where you come in.

I’m having trouble believing that you don’t already know how important this is so I’m just going to give you data.

While women overall in the U.S. earn about 80 cents for each dollar paid to men, the disparity in pay among Black, Latina and Native American women is worse than among all women, according to the National Women’s Law Center’s analysis of 2018 Census Bureau data. Black women, for instance, get 61 cents for every $1 that their white male counterparts are paid.

The difference over a 40-year career would mean earning about $946,000 less, according to the research.

According to a SurveyMonkey/Lean In poll conducted in 2019, 53% of Americans are not aware of the pay gap between Black women and white women.

So, now that you know, you can do something about it. Starbucks, Apple, Salesforce, and Intel have reached full pay parity for women and underrepresented minorities in the United States. And there are many others companies who making positive changes.

Gravity Payments, a Seattle, WA based company, has raised the minimum salary of all their employees to $70K.

If you say it can’t be done, I challenge you to try. How do you know it’s difficult or expensive or unnecessary if you haven’t done the work necessary to confirm that you aren’t paying someone less based solely upon their gender or race.

You can do this!

I only gave you three ways to change your behavior. One of them is a tad more difficult than the other two, but all three have a major impact on our wallets so I ask that all year long, not just for Women’s History Month, you take action to be a better human to the women you work with.

For a little help getting started, I'm giving you free access to my Unconscious Bias course on LinkedIn’s Learning platform.

#unbias #HR #diversity #inclusion #Recruiters #Employers #belongingatwork

Stacey A. Gordon, MBA is Founder of Rework Work and a LinkedIn Learning Author. Working to bring equality in career opportunities to the workplace and improve hiring practices, you can view her courses on diversity recruiting, unconscious bias, making a career change and resumes. Follow her on Twitter or visit her company website or LinkedIn page for more information.