International Women’s Day (IWD) gets right to the heart of Vault Platform’s mission.
That’s to ensure that people everywhere are treated with respect and without judgement or bias.
Building on IWD’s core objective of creating a gender equal world, this year’s theme is ‘Inspire Inclusion.’
“When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world,” the official IWD site explains.
“And when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging, relevance, and empowerment.”
At Vault, the value we place on women’s inclusion is clear. It’s very rare to find organisations with all-female boards, but that is the case with Vault and it’s a fact we’re proud of.
What is the state of play?
Despite the progress made by organisations whose vision of the world aligns with Vault’s, there’s plenty of evidence to show how far society needs to develop to meet the goals of IWD.
The World Economic Forum has estimated it will take another 131 years to reach gender parity globally.
The International Labour Organisation says: “Around the world, finding a job is much tougher for women than it is for men. When women are employed, they tend to work in low-quality jobs in vulnerable conditions, and there is little improvement forecast in the near future.”
Melinda Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation says “economic progress for women is stalling worldwide”, with COVID-19 one of the reasons cited.
United Nations sounds alarm bells
The UN, which officially recognized IWD in 1977, says the world faces a key challenge – “the alarming $360 billion annual deficit in gender-equality measures by 2030.”
The figures it cites come from a recent UN Women and UN DESA report.
The UN describes gender equality as “the greatest human rights challenge” and says just 5% of government aid is focused on tackling violence against women and girls, and less than 0.2% is directed to its prevention.
The UN says: “Achieving gender equality and women’s well-being in all aspects of life is more crucial than ever if we want to create prosperous economies and a healthy planet.”
The Un Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month highlighted gender equality as a key objective.
“We are promoting women’s full and equal participation and leadership in all sectors of society, as a matter of urgency,” he told the UN General Assembly.
What about workplace issues?
Due to the nature of what we do at Vault Platform, our team speaks to many people who are on the front line when it comes to dealing with bias, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace.
Our team hears some distressing stories about people’s day to day reality. Yet most of these situations could be avoided by putting more effective and user-friendly methods of reporting and resolving incidents of discrimination in place.
How can technology help in the workplace?
When it comes to uncovering misconduct in the workplace and building a speak up culture to support a more inclusive approach for women and all employees, a modern system encouraging an approach of ‘active integrity’ is key.
Tools like a traditional hotline are outdated. These legacy methods can do more damage in the long term by failing to contribute to the improvement of misconduct reporting.
At Vault, we believe in using technology, not on its own, but as an enabler to rebuild trust between people in situations where the balance of trust is not always equal – such as employer and employee. By doing so, we are helping to tackle the problem of unconscious bias.
Want to learn more about how Vault is helping organisations and driving forward the goals of International Women’s Day?
