Embrace equity – all together now!
On the International Women’s Day I had the pleasure to attend the Embrace Equity event organized by PwC Luxembourg and AMCHAM. It’s been a tradition for me for over a decade, and one that I am happy to carry on as an external participant now.
The panel was amazing, and I was inspired and touched by all the speakers.
The discussions during the presentation and the networking lunch got me thinking about the importance of role models in shaping our perceived field of possibilities and consequentially our individual choices.
- We are shaped by the culture we live in, by what we observe at home, in our communities, in the media and the society at large. More often than not, this process is unconscious, we are immersed in it and take it for granted. It takes a conscious effort to be aware of our bias and of the way the culture we were raised in shapes our beliefs, thought patterns and what we feel is “the normal”.
As children, teenagers and even as adults, we tend to project ourselves in the roles occupied by our peers, or the people we perceive as being “like us”. So, if I grow up seeing the people who look like me, speak like me and act like me being teachers, lawyers and secretaries, I will have no trouble projecting myself in those professions. It takes a flight of imagination to project myself being a mechanic, a plumber, or an airplane pilot, if I never saw anyone “like me” in those roles.
And so, the traditionally attributed gender roles get perpetuated. Not by a lack of skills or by a lack of options and choices, but firstly by a lack of imaginations and of readily available role models.
- Bringing to light and saying out loud, and showing out loud, that all genders can chose to occupy all roles and professions, is the first step to opening up the field of possibilities for young people to really, truly chose their path.
It is also my personal belief that that framing it as “empowering women” is reductive. Men are put in boxes too. Men are also discriminated against and belittled when they dare embrace the roles that traditionally don’t “belong” to them: caregivers, nurses, midwives, stay-at-home dads, and the list goes on…
For a society to be truly fair, truly inclusive and for real equity to be achieved, we need to bring everyone to the table. Be it the board members table or the changing table!
All together now!
Mind Tree Coaching is committed to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through our focus on Quality Education, Good Health and Well-being and Gender Equality.
