Gender

Gender is one topic I have learned a lot about in the last year, but remain far from an expert in. This is obviously a controversial topic for some, due to politicisation and other issues, indeed the New Statesman podcast did a good job recently of covering the gender care report and what the implications may be for UK politics. However, given I recently spoke publicly about some of my work related to gender, I thought I would reflect here too.

Work in the last year or so

So what have I been doing:

1. I was invited to help a group of experts on gender develop an elearning module on gender-related issues in my employer’s particular context. This included working with a number of very inspiring/informative subject matter experts.
2. I have been involved in various gender related sessions such as webinars.
3. Recently I was asked to replace a colleague at a UN event that covered gender topics.
4. Updating the online learning from point 1 to be future ready.

A big issue for me?

Well, I would say, in part, that I have been fairly oblivious to some issues in this space. Perhaps due to my background, including working for/with lots of great female leaders and team mates, I have not experienced some of the issues. Therefore, I can appreciate I have been “gender blind” to some of the experiences of others. This is, of course, at the same time as knowing that there would be other industries than my own where traditional gender balance has led to reduced opportunities, sexism (in both directions), etc.

One route to consider gender is part of wider DEI, indeed perhaps gender has fallen down the order of importance for some groups given wider DEI issues (I would say this is the case in the world of L&D where talent/learning teams have often had DEI responsibilities added to their roles), climate change, supply chain crisis and other issues.

Another recent find that got me thinking was this video from Mattel (albeit it is 5 years old):

Now this is very powerful and it’s clever from a marketing perspective considering Barbie toys would have been seen as the ultimate “girly” toy when I was a kid.

Role models

The message of needing to see role models is an interesting one. As with most topics, we comprehend via the lens of our existing knowledge. My personal take on this, therefore, is that identifying role models undoubtedly does play a part in childhood. In my case, just as I was being bullied as a teenager (for me the “othering” was being ginger) Chris Evans burst into stardom and through the Big Breakfast, TFI Friday, “Ginger Media Group”, etc. will have (unconsciously – as I wasn’t that self-aware) undoubtedly had an impact on me in thinking that there was no barrier to red-heads being successful. Indeed, reflecting on this now, you could argue the likes of Karen Gillan have really pushed it to another level and I would hope ginger kids today have a much easier time. Should only a ginger call another ginger ginger?

Data over personal experience

A lot of the above is really limited to personal experience and perhaps it is an issue/topic so rife for anecdote that gender becomes difficult to treat as seriously as it should be. Therefore it is interesting to consider that the World Economic Forum estimated it would take 99.5 years to close the gender gap in 2019. By 2023, the time to achieve gender equality had risen to 131 years. How robust these numbers are is surely debatable but the UN’s view that there is “backsliding” on gender is something for everyone to consider.

Conclusion

Anyway, lots to think about, lots to keep improving in my own practice, lots to keep learning and, dear readers, do feel free to help me with that.

The conclusion of some of the work I have assisted with is below which, you would hope, not many people would disagree with:

What is to be avoided is gender blindness, which is the failure to consider the implications of the physical and/or social differences between gender.