Men, we need to be active and involved.
March 8th is International Women’s Day, in case you hadn’t noticed.
There is a plethora of female voices championing for equality, celebrating successes and inspiring more work to be achieved.
In case you are yet to realise, they aren’t just talking to themselves.
🔇 Being silent is not the answer.
✔️ We need to engage.
Let’s do more than simply show our support.
Let’s demonstrate that we are listening to female voices. We are recognising that we need to take action. We are taking action. We are trying to be the change.
Here are some suggestions:
💡 Go beyond ‘Liking’ a post. Instead, share in the comments why you liked the post; what you took away from the post; what you agree with; or where it has challenged your thinking. Or share the post with your network – this gives the author the opportunity to reach a larger audience.
💡 Share Examples of the work that you have been doing personally to #breakthebias. Be vulnerable. It’s not easy to retrain our biases – and we all have them. Share your experiences in order to inspire other men, and give the women in your network encouragement that we are listening, we are starting to understand, and we are trying to do better.
💡 @Mention women that have inspired you, developed you and challenged you to be better. Celebrate them and thank them. You can do this publicly in a post or privately through DM.
💡 Post about what your organisation is achieving towards gender equality, and what this progress means to you personally. Too often these posts only come from other genders.
As for actions to do outside of social media platforms:
➡️ Ask questions, be curious, and listen. Every woman has a story to share. Literally, every woman.
➡️ Educate Yourself – listen to podcasts, ted talks, or read articles, and prompt a discussion. Google terms and issues that you don’t completely understand yet.
➡️ Talk to other men about IWD, and gender inequality. Chat about what you struggle with, what equality would mean – for all genders, and what you’ve observed about your own male privilege.
➡️ Contact me if you want to have a chat or would like some learning recommendations. I always reply, and as an executive coach, confidentiality is assured.
International Women’s Day is a day to profile women and the issues they face, but it shouldn’t be a day that men aren’t involved in.
Let’s demonstrate our desire to be part of the solution.
And MOST IMPORTANTLY, our commitment to keep that desire going all year!