Change to benefit all

Joanna Lee-Mills, partner and deputy head of the Birmingham office of law firm Shakespeare Martineau, issues a rallying cry calling for greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

 

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is ‘inspiring inclusion’ – a powerful call for us to promote inclusive policies and practices in the workplace.

In the UK, we’ve made tangible progress, with policies like the Equality Act 2010, and achieving nearly 30% female representation on FTSE boards. But true gender equity across workplaces still remains unfinished business.

Giving this some context, despite parity in more entry-level roles, women still remain severely underrepresented at senior levels, in both public and private sectors. We hold just 30% of leadership roles in large UK companies – falling behind countries like the States, at 40%.

And sadly, there are even greater challenges faced by ethnic minority women. Being one myself, my particular cohort faces real ‘concrete ceilings’, barely registering over 3% in exec teams, or board directorships.

Refreshingly, the business case for improving leadership diversity is empirically backed by a steady stream of data, reflecting direct profitability gains for more inclusive firms. As Dame Inga Beale, who was the former CEO of Lloyd’s of London put it, “diverse groups make better decisions – and diverse markets are stronger markets”.

So, inclusion and diversity are terms we are all familiar with, but implementation in the workplace has some distance to go still.

True inclusion should mean creating working environments where women can thrive, advance, and lead. It’s proactively building a culture of belonging, where diverse perspectives are welcomed, and everyone feels valued for their authentic talents and contributions.

Now, inclusion goes hand-in-hand with equality and equity, which was last year’s theme for International Women’s Day.

Equality, as we know, means we all get access to the same opportunities. Equity on the other hand, recognises that we don’t all start from the same place, and that it takes deliberate steps to provide that personalised support each person needs to be successful.

So, how do we join up this year’s theme of inspiring inclusion, and last year’s theme of equality and equity?

The way I see it is, inclusion is the destination that want to get to, with equality and equity representing the road we need to build to get there. And the case for equity is clear.

Research shows that companies with higher female representation at exec and board level perform better financially. Equity allows businesses to draw from 100% of the talent pool, not just some of it. Companies can reap the benefits of diversity in ideas, perspectives and experiences that fuels innovation.

Workplaces that focus on inclusion and belonging, have higher employee engagement and satisfaction.

Our plight is very real. Discriminatory policies and practices, unconscious, or indeed conscious bias, as well as barriers outside the office like lack of access to childcare, all stack the odds against the advancement of women and minorities.

And then there’s the cost of exclusion, which bleeds into declining business performance metrics. There’s extensive research by McKinsey, Morgan Stanley and others which has shown that companies with sustained high gender diversity on their exec teams, deliver superior profitability and earnings margins over the long run.

Now, another inescapable part of the conversation relates to unconscious bias. I don’t believe we can fully embrace inclusion, so long as unconscious biases lingers in our professional and societal mindsets.

It adds unseen hurdles into the existing barriers women face in the workplace. For example, we sometimes see gendered language in job descriptions that influences who applies. Then you have unfair attribution of performance in the workplace, which is not uncommon but shapes promotion decisions.

And finally, I work in a male-dominated industry and so where we have male-heavy sectors and networks, this tilts the playing field further.

These biases, and I’ve seen this from personal experience, can trap women into a ‘prove it again’ mentality, where they work excessively hard to achieve above-average results – just to be deemed adequately competent. Whereas due to, say, affinity bias, men with similar experience and skills win entry more easily. This is a clear case of burnout fuel, that ultimately holds women and organisations back from equal advancement.

So, what’s the best antidote to our challenges? Well, we need to be having more open conversations and continue to challenge and address. That’s why platforms like International Women’s Day are so important.

We need to peel back those unseen drivers that limit equality, and roadblock equity. It’s through awareness and working together, that we can reshape the narratives. And we’re such a long way off. Soberingly, the world economic forum predicts that at the current rate of progress, it will take a disheartening 132 years.

But we can of course, make strides in ensuring a new era awaits us – ultimately we’re looking for one where women can soar, based solely on skill and effort, unencumbered by stereotypes and barriers that are seen or unseen. We have the power to make this vision real through our actions, so long as we retain sight of what meaningful inclusion makes possible. We can collectively spearhead bias through purposeful policies and working practices and not just for gender equity, but for unlocking human potential – creating workplaces, economies, and societies that are better for it, with no place for marginalisation or missed potential.

We should hold a vision of a future world which we can build through inclusion close to our hearts. This is a world where young women can dream without limits – confident that their talents, and not their gender, will shape their opportunities. It’s a world where businesses can tap into the absolute best minds, and maximise innovation through diversity of thought.

The possibilities for meaningful inclusion are of course endless, not just for gender equity, but for unlocking human potential – creating workplaces, economies, and societies that are better for it. Every small step takes us forward, and when we stand together, anything is possible. After all, empowering women empowers humanity.

*This is an excerpt from a speech given by Joanna Lee-Miles at an International Women’s Day collaboration between Shakespeare Martineau, Phoenix Business Club and Midlands Women in Tech Awards.