Empower us and wake up

Empower!

To me, today is appreciation day! Appreciation for my healthy newborn princess baby daughter, her grande sister and the amazing superwomen and mother who gave birth to this amazing individual, all of whom completely shifted and changed my perspective.

To me, today is collective wake-up day, just like any other day should be, waking up to the reality that there is so much to do on equal rights and opportunities for all of us. Of course, this is generally valid, but how come we still have such a gap when it comes to education, pay, employment and equal work opportunities for women? 50% of all of us. The mothers of all of us! Wake up everyone!

Gender inequality is everywhere and cannot be vouchered away with special discounts on female products for todays “International Women’s Day” nor does the pure slogan help, it distracts from the actual issue. We need awareness, we need facts, we need data, we need room for (honest) discussion and we need both a bottom up movement that takes the conversation from the homes to the streets, to the offices, to the politicians as well as top down decision making - one that shouldn’t need to be called “bold” at all, but seemingly is - in light of the current environment we all live in.

We need diversity, equity, inclusion at home and at work, in politics and sports. For everyone. For men & for women. We need holistic cross-gender involvement in today’s decision making and policy formation, people, this shouldn’t be rocket science.

Ever since becoming a father this year my perspective and mindset changed. Completely. The concepts of inequality and structural disadvantage to women all of a sudden became real in my own live, one that is very privileged. It is not that I wasn’t aware of these issues before: gosh – it’s even a key component of my job to assess ESG profiles of corporations and advise their executives on their gaps, policies, governance structures where Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, has always been a key component. But everything changes when you live it.

How beautiful and amazing a baby or child can be, and how challenging and intense. Realizing how tough it also can be to be fully there for your newborn when fully engaged and caring, how can someone even think of restricting access to work, healthcare, daycare, access to infrastructure or pension for the (or any) part of our society who historically and still predominantly raises our future. This by the way is generally also the main part who cares for us when we are old and on our way out. We fail at investing at the very most critical component when investing in our future, when investing for the long-term. I also believe, without having the academic proof or data handy, that we are much better off as a global society if we solve this issue, from all aspects be it political, socio-economical, business and family life. No doubt!

What is the rationale for the pay gap that still exists, and which I recently read will still take 300 years to close. Somebody explain to me why my daughter should not have the same access to education, employment, sports or politics at the same rates as we men do? How is it possible that some white old men decide on what women can and cannot do their own bodies, when same restrictions don’t even count for other genders. It makes utterly no sense.

Rant off and more importantly, raising awareness is key. The International Women’s Day is great if it achieves awareness and discussion around the underlying reasons, away from superficial, slogan-centric campaigns which commodify feminism. On that note, why do not more men speak out and have some balls to confront patriarchy, as it still exists today. Without this group, without us men, it will not work or at least takes forever. Not sure we have that time.

I appreciate the awareness of all of us around this sensitive and important topic, just like many others. Get involved. Speak up and ask questions. Push for diverse and women-friendly work policies in your country, office or region. Point out and demand DEI policies in company and ask for gender-responsive employment policies in your company, one area where my current employer S&P Global thankfully is setting a high bar. Discuss and share and raise awareness where you can, at home, at work, in schools and kindergartens, at your company, at office, anywhere. It needs all of us.

Thanks to all the women out there for bearing with us while we wake up. Empower!

Andreas

Some links well-worth reading:

• World Economic Forum: Gender Pay Gap Report
• S&P Global: Women CEO’s – Leadership for Diverse Future
• UN Women: Impact of Militarization on Gender Inequality
• World Bank: Gender Equality Data
• PNAS – Gender inequality in Scientific Careers
• Nielsen: On Advertising & Marketing