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The official International Women’s Day (IWD) community asks us to "imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated."
The truth is, it feels hard to imagine that world right now.
Progress to remove the gender pay gap has stagnanted in the past 20 years. In 2024, according to the American Association of University Women, women earn just 84 cents compared to every dollar earned by men. The gaps widen for women of color or when examining more senior roles or historically male-dominated industries.
Not only are women systematically underpaid, but they are also consistently abused and disadvantaged at work. 2024 research from TeamStage is particularly bleak, finding a staggering 55% of women in senior roles have experienced sexual harassment, 71% of women feel that “unconscious bias” by senior leaders explains their lack of progression, and 77% of mothers say they have experienced discrimination at work while pregnant.
Moreover, as institutions and organizations including the University of Florida, Meta, Tesla, DoorDash, Lyft, and Home Depot all axe DE&I programs in part or their entirety, it can feel to HR leaders and employees like progress is moving backward, not forwards.
That’s why IWD’s theme for 2024 is so important: “Together we can forge women's equality. Collectively we can all #InspireInclusion.”
Now more than ever, HR teams must push against criticism, culture wars, and cutbacks to inspire inclusion and rebuild momentum in creating a workplace and world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive for all.
‘Inspire Inclusion’ – A message HR must get behind
Beyond the obvious human case for creating a workplace where all employees are entitled to equitable pay, given fair opportunities for progression, and free from discrimination or bias, we also know that there is a business case for inclusion. Diversity, equity, and inclusion can improve innovation, and lead to above-average financial performance.
In a previous conversation with HR Grapevine, Kimberley Shariff, EVP, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion at Penguin Random House, spoke on the need to reframe DE&I: “DE&I efforts, when integrated into the DNA of organizations, are… business practices that drive financial success, innovation, productivity and strong corporate cultures that attracts top candidates and helps retain top performers.”
“Inclusion encompasses all efforts by a business to show their employees they are valued members of the workforce,” Shariff told HR Grapevine. “It provides greater security which, in turn, allows employees to focus more of their time and talent on the core business elements lending to greater success and efficacy.”
Inspiring inclusion may require DE&I rethink
Unfortunately, ‘DE&I’ has undoubtedly become HR’s dirty word that causes business leaders to throw a tantrum on social media rather than address consistent accusations of systemic harassment and bias.
Perhaps more worryingly, employees are also frustrated with DE&I programs that do not advance inclusion but simply perform lip service. Research from Gallup finds a sizable gulf in perception between HR leaders and employees on whether multiple inclusion needs are being met.
Rather than strategies, policies, or calculated culture transformations – including fixing gender pay inequity - that show employees they are truly valued regardless of who they are, they are met with surface-level interventions that do not help them feel truly included. We all know, especially around IWD, how frustrating performativity can be. It’s also often these surface-level words – see tepid Pride Month marketing or greenwashing – that draw the most criticism from all sides of the political spectrum.
DE&I no doubt needs a re-think, and HR has work to do to re-inspire confidence from employees and business leaders by showing them the need for intentional inclusion in the workplace.
The road to a truly gender equal world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination will be long and winding. A times, progress will feel slow and culture wars around the need for DE&I teams will feel distracting.
However, DE&I teams cannot lose focus and must take IWD 2024’s ‘Inspire inclusion’ message as a call to arms. HR must lead by example by pushing structural and cultural changes that integrate into the DNA of the organizations and create inescapable value for employees, and by extension, the business.
By cutting through DE&I criticism and delivering meaningful strategic action on issues such as sexual harassment and gender bias, HR can inspire inclusion beyond IWD 2024 until employees no longer have to imagine a gender-equal world and experience equity as a lived reality.
