International Women’s Day: Choosing to challenge

Hana Dickinson & Louise Nicolaou

It strikes me that this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) theme of ‘Choose to Challenge’ neatly aligns with what we do here at ABSTRACT. From the IWD website:

“A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day.

We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.

From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.”

On our ACCELERATE programme, we look at organisational politics from a holistic point of view, before shifting the focus onto our delegates. We challenge them to think how they can best use those organisational politics to grasp their desired career goals. Through, for example, surrounding themselves with the right people, and fine tuning their behaviours to get what they want.

And of course, we push our delegates to challenge themselves. Are they willing to step out of their comfort zones? To advocate their strengths to others? Will they seize opportunities, or wait to be asked? After all, a challenged world is an alert world. And so it follows that an individual who is willing to challenge is an alert individual, proactive and engaged in what is going on around them.

We also challenge our delegates to not only adapt to their environments, but to shape them. And that shaping, and change, comes from challenging the status quo. Of course, this isn’t meant to be a lone act. We help our cohorts form strong networks, and when members of those network make even small challenges to their environment, it creates a ripple effect.

Of course, it is one thing empowering individuals, and networks, within an organisation. But what of the bigger picture?

Palpable progress has been made on equality, but we still face challenges.

In the recently published fifth Hampton-Alexander Review Report, we saw very positive trends. Women now make up more than a third of the top 350 UK company boards, and the number of women at FTSE 100 leadership level has risen 50% in the past five years.

That’s tangible progress, but the challenge must continue. The challenge, for example, to move beyond tokenism. We must challenge the reluctance of decision makers to delve into the deep pool of talent they have in their female staff. We must choose to empower that talent, and use it to benefit businesses, and ultimately the economy. These are challenges that all of society must take on. It’s not enough to simply let people fight for this from within.

I believe that in another five years, the people who have been through our ACCELERATE and AMBITION programmes will play a role in tipping those statistics much closer to 50/50. They will have secured their seats in the boardroom, strengthened their networks, and chosen to challenge the environment they operate in. They will inspire, and encourage, those that follow.

For us, it’s about creating a diverse pipeline of future leaders, one that improves businesses. But in the greater scheme of things, it’s also about levelling the playing field for equality.

And on Sunday 7th March, it is also CARE International’s #March4Women, which is a global movement for gender equality. It’s a celebration of the power and the potential of women and girls around the world, a prior event to mark International Women’s Day (8th March). We are proud to support CARE International and if you are interested in finding our more or joining their online event, please visit their website.

So while we celebrate how far we’ve come on IWD, we also remember that there is more work to be done on the front line. And as ever we, our clients, and our delegates, will be doing it.

Time to choose to challenge? Get in touch.

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