Welcome to Season 1, episode 5 of Breaking with Tradition, Catalyst’s podcast that explores trends and ideas that will impact the future of the global workplace. This episode is called Broadening Gender in Workplace DEI.

Catalyst has been accelerating progress for women for over 60 years, and our future vision is “workplaces that work for women.” To many women, this vision is a rallying cry because the status quo of workplaces is that they don’t work for women. But where do men fit into the equation in this future workplace? And what about trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) employees?

Join Erin Souza-Rezendes as she sits down with Dani Gomez-Ortega, Senior Manager, Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at McCain Foods, and Mark Greene, a writer, inclusion coach, and host of Remaking Manhood. Together, they tackle the complex subject of gender and how we talk about it in the workplace.

First, we start with the basics: what does “gender equity” mean in today’s world? And how is that reflected in the workplace—or not? Before long, we dive into “Man Box Culture,” how women can be allies to men, and the importance of vulnerability in conversations around gender.

Grab a drink and sit down with our panel to hear their inspiring perspectives on this topic and how we can shift workplace cultures so that nobody is left behind.

Hosts and guest

Erin Souza-Rezendes, VP, Global Communications, Catalyst

LinkedIn | Bio

Dani Gomez-Ortega is a global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion leader with a passion for empowering others to create more inclusive spaces. Dani has championed inclusion across various sectors for 10 years. Currently, Dani works as a global DEI leader at McCain Foods, where she collaborates with teams across the world to drive inclusion.

Most recently, Dani was featured in the book Global Changemakers for a Feminist Future by Dr. Gayle Kimball and has won multiple awards for her work, including a Bill 7 Award. Dani’s work and commitment to inclusion are shaped by her lived experience as a Venezuelan Latinx, immigrant, transgender woman with an invisible disability.
LinkedIn

Mark Greene is an author and activist who speaks, consults, and coaches on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Mark works with organizations and individuals to overcome the challenges created by retrogressive workplace cultures. Mark’s client list includes General Mills, Société Générale, Sephora, AOL, Bank of America, Catalyst, and The Better Man Conference.

Mark is the author of The Little #MeToo Book for Men and Remaking Manhood, and co-author, along with Dr. Saliha Bava, of The Relational Book for Parenting and The Relational Workplace. Mark is co-host of Remaking Manhood, the Healthy Masculinity Podcast, available on all major streaming platforms.

Website | LinkedIn

In this episode

• 1:24 | What does gender equity mean to you? Spoiler alert: it goes beyond equity for women alone.
• 5:04 | The “evolution” of gender norms—or not. And have they been reflected in the workplace?
• 8:56 | Workplaces still aren’t safe for everyone. Where can we look for solutions? What is men’s role?
• 12:30 | Women can be allies to men, too People of all genders have work to do on how we define masculinity and femininity.
• 18:34 | We need gender equity inside and outside the workplace. How can we make work more connected and joyful?
• 20:57 | Closing thoughts (both practical and inspiring). Questions companies can ask to create more gender-inclusive workplaces and personal anecdotes from our panelists about how they show up.

Favorite moments

• 1:45 | Dani: When we talk about gender equity, it can’t just be about women. It’s also about men, but also about all the other genders that exist in the world.
• 6:00 | Mark: It’s become evident that if we don’t make space for conversations among men about men, men will continue to fall prey to the single primary purpose of “Man Box Culture,” which is to keep us silent and keep us conforming without ever checking in with each other about where did we learn these ideas about dominant space masculinity?
• 7:54 | Dani: I think people are slowly but surely starting to realize that [gender norms and gender roles] are made up, right? And they’re not necessarily benefiting us in the way that they might have benefited us in some magical time in the past.
• 11:44 | Mark: What we need men to hear and do now is that you cannot remain silent any longer because your own mental health, the mental health of your coworkers, of the people in your life, the well-being and future hope of everyone requires that we push through decades of conditioning we’ve had to remain silent by the bullying men around us.
• 13:20 | Mark: When we start to define male strength as including the full spectrum of human capacities, which we all have, which include things like caregiving, empathy, listening with curiosity… And we invite women at the same time to bring those aspects that are traditionally referred to as masculine, which is strength, leadership, toughness…When everyone is invited to bring their full human capacities, we start to change things.
• 14:39 | Dani: As women, we need to recognize that men have really high rates of mental health challenges. Especially when we talk about suicide rates. And so, it’s up to us to create space for men where they can be vulnerable and ask for help. Unless we create the space, that space is not going to be created.
• 15:55 | Mark: Vulnerability means, ultimately, to reveal. And when we reveal, we tap into an incredible resource because our resiliency, our success in the workplace, our capacity to live richer, fuller lives, is co-created with other people.
• 19:16 | Mark: The question becomes for us as human beings, why can’t we have as rich and meaningful of relationships in the workplace as we have in any other of our communities, in our churches, in our families?
• 20:28 | Dani: In the workplace, some people need to be able to talk about their lives, talk about their family, talk about their same-sex partners. Other people need privacy to succeed. It’s about recognizing individuality and giving everyone the ability to come to work the way that makes them feel happiest, even if that means being private about some things.
• 21:06 | Dani: We need to ask more questions. We first need to ask, “Who’s here?” Who’s in our company? It’s not just women—it’s men and non-binary people, Two-Spirit people, etc. Then we need to ask, how are they feeling? We need to segment that data to make sure we capture how different genders are experiencing the workplace. After that, we need to do research around where the gaps are and see what strategies we can enact to ensure that all genders are feeling included.
• 22:28 | Dani: I try to break with tradition by taking up space, by speaking up, and trying to be as visible as possible as a trans person to ensure that being trans in the workplace is no longer a thing that needs to be highlighted.
• 23.43 | Mark: Each and every one of us must step outside of our comfort zone and show the kind of courage that a lot of folks are publicly displaying right now in a genuinely unsafe world.

Mentioned on the Pod

• Equimundo: The Man Box – A Study on Being a Young Man in the US, UK, and Mexico
• Harvard University Press: Deep Secrets – Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection
• Penguin Random House: Rebels with a Cause – Reimagining Boys, Ourselves, and Our Culture
• The Cigna Group: TThe Loneliness Epidemic Persists: A Post-Pandemic Look at the State of Loneliness among U.S. Adults

Research you can use

• Masculine Anxiety and Interrupting Sexism at Work
• Interrupting Sexism at Work: What Drives Men to Respond Directly or Do Nothing?
• How Organizations Can Encourage Men to Interrupt Sexism
• Engaging Men: The Journey Toward Equity
• Engaging Men: Barriers and Gender Norms
• Flip the Script: Transgender in the Workplace (Supporter Only)
• Move Beyond Performative Allyship for Your 2SLGBTQ+ Employees
• 5 Ways to Create a Gender-Inclusive Workplace
• What is Gender? A Guide to Understand Gender Identity (Supporter Only)

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The post Episode 105: Broadening Gender in Workplace DEI appeared first on Catalyst.

With LGBTQ+ employees frequently reporting lower levels of psychological safety and belonging across a range of measures than their non-LGBTQ+ colleagues, business leaders have to commit to a multi-pronged approach to inclusion for the entire calendar — not just during Pride month. This means implementing genuine DEI policies, modeling inclusion at the highest levels of leadership, and utilizing every tool at their disposal to build out a holistic suite of inclusive programs and policies.

LGBTQ+-focused Employee Resource Groups are frequently among the oldest and most robust ERGs at any given organization. This uniquely positions them to take the work of employee engagement to the next level. Organizations can leverage advanced intersectional ERGs to catapult employee belonging and engagement into a new era.

Join our panel of experts for Pride Month to discuss:

• The complex history of Pride Month and LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion in the workplace
• Strategies for moving ERGs from the intermediate stage to the advanced stage
• Best practices for leveraging the unique position of ERGs to advance business priorities that go hand-in-hand with employee belonging

For questions, please contact catalystevents@catalyst.org.

Catalyst is recognized by SHRM to offer Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® recertification activities.

The post Unity in Diversity: Building Intersectional LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Groups for Women appeared first on Catalyst.

The Catalyst webinar “How to Use Generative AI Free of Gender and Racial Bias” explored strategies for creating ethical AI practices that promote equity and inclusion in the workplace. By understanding and mitigating its biases, organizations can leverage AI as a tool for progress rather than one that reinforces inequalities.

Moderated by Julie Cafley, Executive Director, Catalyst Canada, the panel included Cathy Cobey, Global Responsible AI Co-Lead, EY; Noelle Russell, Chief AI Officer, AI Leadership Institute; and Michael Thomson, Executive Vice President, Edelman.

Here are our top five insights from the discussion:

1. AI education is essential to avoid pitfalls.
   AI can enhance human capabilities, yet it also carries inherent risks. Russell likened AI to magic, highlighting its capacity to leverage past data and behaviors to refine decision making, while Cobey noted that “AI is still human controlled. Maintaining this oversight is essential in AI development. There’s always a magician behind every magic trick.”

   All panelists agreed that users need better education to utilize AI effectively and avoid potential risks. “There is a dark side to this magic,” Thomson warned. “AI’s transformative power offers great opportunities but requires robust risk management strategies to protect against its pitfalls.”

2. Understand that all AI is inherently biased.
   AI systems can unintentionally absorb biases from their training data. “No dataset or person is free of bias,” Thomson said.

   Data scientists aim to create holistic, empathetic, and inclusive models, believing that their innovations will deliver beneficial outcomes. “At the onset, these models are like baby tigers—cute and full of potential,” Russell said. “However, critical questions about their long-term impact are often overlooked, leading to significant challenges as AI models mature and become operational. Ensuring diverse representation throughout the development process is essential to minimize biases effectively.”

3. Implement strong AI principles.
   AI standards should be ingrained into an organization’s core values, not treated as an afterthought. “AI principles need to be like water in a wave, woven through everything we do,” said Russell. She also advised that leadership must shift their thinking and incorporate these principles into the organization’s core values.

   Cobey added that EY updated their AI principles in September 2023 to include sustainability, noting the high level of computer processing, energy, and water usage involved in running large language models (LLMs) and other types of AI models. She also pointed out that some of the principles can be in conflict with each other and require trade-offs. “Sometimes security works against transparency and accuracy against explainability,” she said. “You have to choose which principles and values are the most important, depending on the AI use case.”

4. Embrace AI—cautiously—for a competitive advantage.
   “The best advice I can give is to just start using AI,” Thomson said. “It may be intimidating at first, so start with small, manageable tasks. AI is a tool with limitations. It’s like an imperfect first draft. Don’t blindly share AI-generated information.” He likened it to using a calculator for complex math, saying “Without it, I’d struggle, but with it, I’m efficient. AI can be that tool for you. Organizations using AI effectively will outpace those that aren’t, making AI training essential for everyone. We need to take advantage of these tools, particularly when other people aren’t.”

5. AI needs all our perspectives for a better future.
   Active participation in AI development is the way forward. “We need to help it make better decisions. We are part of the solution,” Cobey said, adding that users don’t need to be tech savvy.

   Russell stressed the importance of diverse perspectives in building AI systems that serve everyone, saying, “Don’t build for people without those people. It’s important to show, not tell, when advocating for diversity and inclusion.” Outsourcing how AI will be implemented at your organization, she cautioned, is ill-advised without diverse representation.

As organizations navigate the complex challenges of integrating generative AI, they should focus on maintaining ethical standards that promote inclusivity and lessen biases. By conscientiously implementing AI practices that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, organizations will reap the enormous benefits of this transformative technology while continuing to advance workplace equity and support their core values.

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The post Leverage AI While Avoiding Its Risks and Biases (Blog Post) appeared first on Catalyst.

What is microfeminism? Popularized on TikTok, microfeminisms are everyday actions women are employing to push back against day-to-day sexism in the workplace, one small act at a time. Watch as Catalyst experts break down this TikTok trend in this episode of Catalyst Spills the Tea, a video YouTube series.

Women across social media are talking about how they engage in small acts of feminism in the workplace. Some do it to correct or call out intentional or unintentional sexist acts or microaggressions. Others do it to spark controversy.

This trend speaks to how there’s a strong desire to create more equitable, inclusive workplace cultures and how women are empowering themselves to drive change through small gestures. Listen as we dig into why this is happening, what the implications are, and why companies should care.

• Sheila Brassel, PhD, Director, Research
• Alix Pollack, VP, Head of Knowledge Transformation & Solution Development
• Host: Josh Smalley Baldasare, Director, Content Creation

About Catalyst Spills the Tea

Catalyst Spills the Tea is a video series where we discuss trending topics in workplace culture; gender equity; and diversity, equity and inclusion. We are all about creating equitable workplaces for everyone, so you won’t find people more obsessed with workplace culture than we are. Yes, we love research, but we also love memes, video shorts, pop culture, and debating hot trends just like the rest of you. We decided to bring our watercooler talk and infuse it with a little bit of our research in this video series. Essentially, we’re bringing the research receipts to #worktok. Buckle up!

Wait, what does “spill the tea” mean?

Spilling the tea is slang used to refer to gossip or news, popular on the Internet and social media.

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Transcript

00:00:04:00

Hello and welcome to Catalyst Spills the Tea, where we break down and discuss trending topics in DEI. If you’re new here, Catalyst is a global nonprofit that drives gender equity through workplace inclusion. Today I’m your host, Josh Smalley Baldasare, Director of Content Creation. And I’m spilling the tea on microfeminism, with my fellow Catalyst staffers Sheila Brassel, Director of Research, and Alix Pollack, Head of Knowledge Transformation and Solution Development.

00:00:34:25

So let’s start with the obvious. What is microfeminism? Popularized on TikTok, microfeminisms are everyday actions women are employing to push back against day-to-day sexism in the workplace, one small act at a time. And I’d love to tag you in, Sheila, to kind of talk to us about why this is happening.

00:00:50:66

Thanks, Josh. Well, we know that for decades, if not longer – perhaps as long as women have been in the corporate workforce –
that they have experienced these sorts of everyday slights at work. Little things like having their ideas get taken up by someone else, often by someone in a position of power or by a man and having that idea, having that person take credit for their ideas, or their work, or things like being spoken over, or interrupted during meetings. So, microfeminisms are raising awareness right now of the ways that everyday sexism continues to be a problem at work. But this is certainly tapping into a trend that has been around for quite some time.

00:01:31:08
Yeah. But in those everyday kind of death by a thousand cuts, subtle, not-so-subtle moments, right, women are looking for ways that they can take back some of that control, that they can make positive impacts in their workplaces, even if they’re not necessarily in a position of power. So I think it’s just a really a great example of the ways in which feminism doesn’t need to be getting up on a soapbox or making broad, sweeping changes. It can be in those small everyday actions to push back against the status quo.

00:02:01:62

Yeah, and I feel like that’s why it’s been so popular, right? Is that it’s very accessible. And that folks like, like you know, a lot of folks, people have different roles, different personalities, and they may not feel like they can go out and like march or protest. But these little things, and especially the everyday aspect, make that I feel like very accessible and also very like powerful when all taken together.

00:02:24:00

I think it also helps women not to feel so alone, right? Because they can be in partnership in these kinds of actions. It’s really validating to have other women and hopefully people of all genders around you picking up on those sort of behaviors and responding to them in kind. Right? That it’s kind of in locking arms in solidarity in small ways that can have a big ripple effect.

00:02:46:62

Yeah, Alix. It can help so much in those moments where you’re maybe in fight-or-flight to have an idea of what you might do. But then also showcasing the diversity in these experiences, right? And how the ways that we’re seeing everyday sexism and microfeminism show up are intertwined with racism and microaggressions against women of color, and how this is the way that sexism shows up for women of color. And there’s so much power, I think, in this you know, awareness-giving that social media has provided.

00:03:17:20

Yeah. Yeah. It’s definitely one of my hopes coming out of this trend is that it’s an invitation into partnership for men, and people of other genders as well, that feminism does not belong to women. It’s about equity and you know, the kinds of things that these microfeminist acts are pushing back against are the same kinds of problematic dynamics that people across genders are, you know, suffer from.

00:03:34:08

Yeah. I mean, I think that’s definitely how I receive it as a cisgender man, like I feel like it’s an invitation for allies too. Because all these things allies can also do, like men can also do to support women. And I think, you know, the point that you, you both brought up about, like the noticing and the intersectionality as well, like, the more men notice these things that these women are like bringing awareness to, the more they can also interrupt them, in the name of partnership.

00:04:11:50

I love hearing your perspective on this, as you said, as a cis man, like what the invitation looks like for you. I also think that that’s a place where we have an opportunity, maybe an obligation to call out the potential challenges of this trend, which is that when it’s an invitation, when it is these positive forms of microfeminism, it’s a beautiful, accessible, inclusive thing. But it can also default to a place of shame and blame and sort of a zero sum. If women are going to quote-unquote win, then someone has to be on the losing end of that, right? And it’s kind of rather than calling in, it’s calling out men and saying in particular, like you are bad or wrong for doing or saying the thing you just did. And that’s not an invitation. That’s not how we make progress and it can be really alienating. And I think kind of gives the work we’re trying to do around equity and inclusion and feminism a bit more of an uphill battle to climb than we need. Yeah.

00:05:10:08

I would love for us to talk a little bit about these sort of combative cultures and climates of silence that, you know, breed these types of interactions that are hyper-competitive, right? So if you are working in a hyper-competitive environment, you might get more points if you do interrupt someone. If you do, you know, take credit for someone else’s work, intentionally or unintentionally. So it’s a lot of these sorts of cultural dynamics that we know can be shifted, that set up these experiences of everyday sexism at work.

00:05:41:70

Yeah I think, Sheila, what you’re getting at, too, is the call to action for organizations and leadership in all of this, both to if and when they notice acts of microfeminism happening in their workplaces, to life that up, to validate and celebrate and replicate that, as an opportunity for some self-reflection around why that microfeminist act was necessary in the first place.

00:06:06:70

Yeah, I’m really just coming back to like that idea of like, death by a thousand cuts, psychological safety, like, this is a workplace safety issue. You know, like women don’t feel safe in the workplace. They feel like they have to use these small acts to get to that place of like, feeling like, they’re on an equal playing field. So I think that’s like a big call to, you know, allies, especially, and these workplaces to acknowledge that and to do what they can to put in safeguards.

00:06:33:95

Well, I think we spilled the tea on microfeminism. So, I just want to thank Alix and Sheila for this conversation. It’s been very fruitful. And please join us next time on Catalyst Spills the Tea.

00:06:45:87

Thanks, all.

00:06:46:62

Thanks, Josh. Thanks, Alix.

00:06:47:70

Thank you.

The post Video: Catalyst Spills the Tea on Microfeminism appeared first on Catalyst.

But that understanding will require careful consideration of the risks and biases AI tools and processes tend to exhibit—from gender and racial biases to flat-out inaccuracies in output. With that foundation of awareness, business leaders set themselves up for success in creating a workplace that is fit for inclusion in the new era of work. 

Watch this webinar to hear our panel of experts discuss: 

• How companies are tackling AI and the future of work, from AI councils, committees, and chief officers.
• The landscape of AI and business strategy, including legislative regulations, common biases, and risks.
• The invigorating prospects for success in leveraging AI to support a holistic approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Speakers

Cathy Cobey, Global Responsible AI Co-Lead, EY

Noelle Russell, Chief AI Officer, AI Leadership Institute

Michael Thomson, Executive Vice President, Edelman

Moderator

Julie Cafley, Executive Director, Catalyst Canada

Recording Available only to Catalyst Supporters. Please log in to watch the recording.

The post Webinar Recording: How to Use Generative AI Free of Gender and Racial Bias appeared first on Catalyst.

Introducing: Season 1, episode 2, of the Catalyst podcast, Breaking with Tradition: It’s Not All Doom & Gloom: State of DEI.

It’s easy to become disheartened by the backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movements in the workplace. It’s a time of inflamed political rhetoric and multiple overlapping global crises that threaten to roll back the clock on our efforts to make more equitable work environments for women.

On this episode of Breaking with Tradition, we’re reminded of words from Felice Schwartz as she looked at the radical changes she saw in her lifetime: “We can’t go on the way we have been—living new lives in the old patterns.”

What is the state of DEI in 2024? Is it all doom and gloom, or is there reason to hope for “new patterns” emerging? Our host Erin is flying solo this week and sitting down with Ruchika Tulshyan, expert, speaker and author on DEI and founder and CEO of Candour to discuss her predictions for our work this year and beyond.

Our conversation will tackle some of the biggest Future of Work trends impacting women today. Spoiler alert: There’s a lot to be excited about!

Host and guest

Erin Souza-Rezendes, Vice President, Global Communications, Catalyst

LinkedIn | Bio

Ruchika Tulshyan is the best-selling author of Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work (MIT Press). The book was described as “transformative” by Dr. Brené Brown. She is working on her next book: “Uncompete: Dismantling a Competition Mindset to Unlock Liberation, Opportunity, and Peace” (Viking Books).

Ruchika is also the founder of Candour, an inclusion strategy practice. A former international business journalist, Ruchika is a regular contributor to The New York Times and Harvard Business Review and a recognized media commentator on workplace culture.

LinkedIn | Website

In this episode

• 1:35 | About Ruchika. Who is Ruchika Tulshyan and what is her approach to DEI?
• 6:01 | Ouch, 2024. It’s been rough. Are the DEI doom and gloom headlines true? Ruchika weighs in.
• 12:57 | What’s your advice? How do we shore ourselves up during these challenging times?
• 18:45 | Imposter syndrome is a systemic issue. Ruchika shares how we can make systems-level change.
• 25:35 | What does the future of work look like? Will inclusivity be the norm?
• 30:57 | Sneak Peek. The Catalyst community gets a sneak peek into Ruchika’s next book

Favorite moments

• 1:51 | Ruchika: I think of the work that I do or my approach to diversity, equity and inclusion as multi-faceted. So much of it is driven by various identities I have and hold throughout my life.
• 5:48 | Erin: I think it means so much to marry those two things and have both, the personal storytelling and the receipts of the research to uncover what is happening in workplaces around the world, particularly for women.
• 8:06 | Ruchika: I’d say the most important part of this is that a lot of these attacks are not new. They’re not using, they might be using new language, they might be using different packaging around it.
• 8:21 | Ruchika: Ten years ago, when I was in the technology industry, at that time, even using the words diversity, equity and inclusion were basically completely new.
• 9:35 | Ruchika: I think actually think now we’ve come to a place now where it’s [microaggressions] so widely understood, we can actually update it to say microaggressions are not that micro. They actually have a very macro impact on people in their lives, on their careers.
• 10:35 | Ruchika: Some part of this, I think is also the zero-sum thinking that I think a lot of people and leaders and organizations operate with. Like this idea of winner takes all.
• 11:45 | Erin: If the workplace is a place where women feel like they can show up authentically, where they’re going to experience inclusion, whatever that means to them, however that feels to them and be able to succeed on their terms, whatever that means to them. Then that’s good for everybody.
• 22:49 | Ruchika: Once you start to unpack the systemic issues at play it because really hard to keep saying or keep believing that it is an internal issue [imposter syndrome] that you are struggling with.
• 23:47 | Ruchika: How do you win? Until you stop taking it [imposter syndrome] on as an internal burden?
• 24:02 | Ruchika: We need to widen the table. We need to show different styles of leadership. We need to show that someone who pounds her fist, especially a woman who pounds her fist or is just her personality is such, that her leadership style is to be you know, strong, commanding, domineering, etc. is just as acceptable as someone who identifies as an introvert who’s really quiet, who leads sort of in a different way.
• 26:22 | Ruchika: Gender inequity isn’t necessarily men doing inequity to women. Some of the most challenging and concerning examples of gender bias I’ve seen in the workplace has been from women upholding very patriarchal very gender-biased norms against other women.
• 26:52 | Ruchika: I think some of the backlash is the idea of like we’re separating people out into groups, we’re creating more divisions, rather than understanding that systemic biases impact everyone regardless of their identity.
• 28:51 | Ruchika: I think these examples of people being able to really be their full, authentic selves is the type of future of work that I really want us to see.
• 29:39 | Ruchika: To hear from, you know white men to say to me, I identify as an introvert. I don’t like speaking up at meetings. And, you know, being so commanding and domineering, it’s expected of the workplace that I work at. And since we’ve sort of been working on inclusion much more thoughtfully and intentionally, I feel like I can bring my more quiet, more introverted self to meetings and to my leadership style.
• 23:54 | Ruchika: If we are truly going to rise, if we’re truly going to create this future where everyone wins, we need to stop believing and stop only focusing on the gains that we can make as individuals or just our own community.
• 34:22 I Erin: I can think of times in you know, what I would consider fairly inclusive workspaces, being told by bosses like, oh you know, watch out, watch out for her kind of thing. And thinking 20 years ago, that doesn’t seem right to me.
• 35:14 | Ruchika: A lot of what we were conditioned with, a lot of the norms, we were told about the workplace, about society don’t hold true anymore.
• 35:16 | Ruchika: Just because we’ve done things a certain way, now that we know better we don’t have to continue in that way.
• 36:26 | Ruchika: The opportunity is there, but we have to imagine it.

Mentioned on the Pod

• HBR: https://hbr.org/2021/02/stop-telling-women-they-have-imposter-syndrome
• Inclusion on Purpose
• HBR: https://hbr.org/2023/04/how-colorism-affects-women-at-work
• MIT: Dr. Chester Pierce, psychologist
• HBR: https://hbr.org/2022/03/we-need-to-retire-the-term-microaggressions
• Fortune: https://fortune.com/2024/06/04/fortune-500-companies-women-ceos-2024/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/introducing-my-next-book-uncompete-ruchika-tulshyan/
• Unlocking Us with Brene Brown: https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-ashley-c-ford-on-storytelling-truth-telling-and-liberation/

Research you can use

• What’s really causing the DEI backlash and how to fix it
• 33 ways to address the backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion
• 7 facts that prove America Ferrera’s speech in Barbie is true
• Erskine, S., Brassel, S., & Robotham, K. (2023). Exposé of women’s workplace experiences challenges antiracist leaders to step up. Catalyst.
• Is DEI authentic? Caroline Wanga says we need a reframe
• The Double-Bind Dilemma for Women in Leadership (Infographic)

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The post Episode 102: It’s Not All Doom & Gloom: State of DEI appeared first on Catalyst.

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Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed by Men by Caroline Criado Perez is a wake-up call that women are systematically discriminated against—but that much of the time, we don’t even know it. A lack of data about women—our priorities, experiences, even our biology—has consequences that are affecting and will continue to affect us in predictable and unpredictable ways.

Catalyst has long prioritized data collection to support creating workplaces that work for women—most recently with our global quantitative research on women in frontline roles, Team Dynamics on the Front Line: How Managers and Organizations Impact This Overlooked Key to Retention. As Criado Perez maintains, you can’t make change unless you have the data showing what needs to be changed in the first place. The good news is that this book shows us the way forward so that we can make change with data and metrics.

Criado Perez demonstrates that there’s way more information about women that we don’t know than we do know. Regardless of the industry, country, or area of concern, gender data gaps can be ultimately traced back to patriarchal governments and cultures enacting legislation and creating social norms that excluded women.

As for the scant data that does exist, Criado Perez has gathered and organized it in a straightforward way. Each chapter tackles a distinct aspect of women’s lives. I found that reading one chapter at a time and then taking a day to digest it helped me to further comprehend and retain the information. There is a lot to consider, but her style is engaging.

The best part of this book is that for women feeling gaslit by society at large, it validates our experiences. Were you told to take some aspirin and go home when you went to the emergency room? Have you found out you made less than a coworker with the same job and responsibilities? Did you have to choose between working a full-time job to pay for daycare and having no job but still working full-time? Your individual experience may feel isolating and be brushed off as anecdotal. But taken together, the data is illuminating (and a little infuriating).

Anecdotes like “Brigid Jones, a Birmingham City councilor, was told that she would have to step down from her role as cabinet member for children’s services [italics added] if she became pregnant” may make you particularly angry. You may feel called to do something, to start making positive change in the world for women.

And if you’ve been gaslit by a world designed to work best for men, you may also feel quite stuck. Where to begin? Where to go? What to do? It can all be overwhelming. Think of this book as a map for changemakers. If you don’t already think of yourself as a changemaker, this book will help you see what is possible.

Want to make change at work? Here’s what Invisible Women teaches:

Metrics matter. If you want to make the case for change, numbers will help prove your case. And if your organization has never gathered data before on retention or attrition or pay disparity, etc., you now know what to ask for first. Many companies are embracing pay transparency and are publicly disclosing all sorts of data. Gather examples to show what’s possible.

Data is power. Regardless of intentions, biases still permeate the systems and processes humanity has built. Criado Perez cites studies that show when people even think that they are objective and not sexist, you actually become more prone to subjective and sexist behavior. And with new systems including AI being built on top of the same old biased ones, we risk carrying the same problems forward. How do you shake up the status quo? Show those big companies how much better things could be, show employees the value of their work, and show customers how much buying power they have. Biases and assumptions mean much less compared to verified data.

We’re stronger together. There’s no such thing as a movement of one. The data Criado Perez gathered for Invisible Women came from the tireless work of data scientists and changemakers around the world. Check out Catalyst’s latest research to learn more about women at work and be inspired to help change your workplace and workplaces to come.

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The post Fed Up With the Patriarchy? Don’t Get Mad, Get Data. (Book Review) appeared first on Catalyst.