On March 8th we celebrated 'International Women's Day' with it's theme of #balanceforbetter, a campaign which will continue throughout the year.

​I believe it should continue beyond 2019 so we carry on creating balance in the world. The challenges we currently face won’t go away if we just quit taking action once we reach the end of the year. As with any change, behavioural or otherwise commitment and perseverance is required or progress will stop.
 
The ‘Balance for Better’ campaign looks at building a gender balanced world, which is essential for businesses, economies and communities to thrive.
 
Diversity in thinking, perspectives, learning styles and personalities is a must for success in business and these other areas, gender balance allows all of these and many more attributes to create and enhance success.
 
We already know how important balance is in all aspects of life, it’s something we can all work towards creating for ourselves and for others in varying forms.
 
The campaign theme emphasises that we all have a part to play to make gender balance happen. Including both women and men in the conversations for change will enable collaborative action.

Here’s an example of how an open conversation can change assumptions and perspectives, which are very important for working towards gender parity.

​True Diversity and Inclusion cannot exist without very honest and sometimes difficult conversations.

Diversity and inclusion are high on the agenda of many organisations, yet I’m still having conversations where women share with me the most inappropriate things that have been said to them both in one to one conversations and open forums.

I’m witnessing the fall out from behaviour that falls short of respect and acceptance for others. How can we as a collective promote a greater level of respect within organisations, so this behaviour becomes something that happens less and dare I say it disappear.

True, I’m only hearing one side of the story and as the saying goes there are three sides to every story yours, mine and the truth, but based on my own experiences and the upset I see being caused by what is being said, I find it difficult not to believe what has been shared with me.

​Equality & Diversity is not only about gender, in this instance my viewpoint is from having conversations with women who are feeling extremely challenged working in predominantly male environments.
 
Here is an example: a conversation was started where a male colleague said “women who have children should not be given any special treatment at work, if they need to go home due to their child being unwell then perhaps they shouldn’t be working and should stay at home”.  I appreciate this is one quoted comment but in the same environment it was noted as not unusual for inappropriate comments to be made by male colleagues.
 
It’s pretty sad to hear things such as this are still being thought, never mind said out loud.