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Creating more gender equitable and inclusive cultures is high on the agenda for many organisations. However there is often a disconnect between existing staff development activities and efforts to create the desired cultures. More explicitly linking individual development to organisational change can make a big difference to the return on investment when developing staff. The ‘bifocal approach’ translates this ideal into reality through clear principles and program design.

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?

I love this line, asked repeatedly by Donkey in Shrek – it sums up that childish urge we’ve all experienced, to be there, almost before the journey has begun. But I guess my question is not have we arrived yet, but are we ready to start the journey? 

Tim Muirhead and I have recently had the opportunity to revisit our Partners for Change work. An invitation arrived from the Gender Equality (GE) Academy, out of the blue to share our work via a webinar. In a nutshell Partners for Change sets out to engage and equip men and women to work in partnership towards a more gender equitable and ‘re-humanised’ workplace.

This is not an invitation for men to engage in gender equity work as champions or allies (Engaging men blog), but an invitation to partner with women. Fundamental to this approach is the understanding that men too, have gender. The breadwinner script, for example, remains alive and well. Not all men are advantaged by masculinist norms, and there are disadvantages and costs to conforming to masculine stereotypes, both in and out of the workplace. (Challenges for men: The expectation to lead and succeed) Equally, men need to examine their own biases, practices and stereotypes, and how they might be contributing to gender inequality.

Of course we all know men have gender too but gender equity work remains overwhelmingly focused on women, is still framed as women’s problem, and remains largely women’s work to fix.

Men have not been showing up in the gender equity space. And without the engagement of men, change will continue to be paralysingly slow (see Men’s work, women’s work). Yet men in our workshops relished the opportunity to discuss their gender issues with other men (discussed in the blog ‘I never expected to be talking about men’s issues today’) and to engage in courageous conversations with women about gender.

I believe men will show up if we stop doing gender equity work without them and if the invitation is to work in partnership to create more humane workplaces for all, workplaces where all can thrive, without undermining the private sphere of community and family.

Partners for Change seemed to be ahead of its time when we first ran it in 2014, and we struggled to gain organisational interest. When I re-read what we wrote back then I get excited all over again, knowing how positively the work was received by the participants. My own research (The bifocal approach) shows how to effectively link this individual development to a larger organisational change agenda. 

You can download a pdf of the three Blogs Tim and I wrote back in 2014 describing the work and the response of participants in more detail. Download all 3 Blogs

To answer Donkey’s question. No, we are definitely not there yet. But are we ready to start a different gender equity journey? Is your organisation ready? I’ll let you be the judge.

As an aside, if you are not familiar with the Gender Equality (GE) Academy, they do fabulous gender equality capacity building work. I encourage you to have a look if you are a practitioner or academic working towards gender equity in your institution. And thanks to participants for their enthusiastic response to our webinar.

“This webinar exceeded expectations and provided research and clear ideas on an area I have become convinced is the way forward. The speakers are exceptional and living proof of an ideal bifocal team. The seminar was uplifting. Thank you Gender Academy for this.”