Why gender equality is not a concept; it’s a set of actions

Gender equality is a global hot topic. Not a day passes by without some sort of gender-based rhetoric in the media. Whether it’s related to domestic violence, discrimination, access to jobs, promotions, leadership or the basic human rights of dignity and respect, 50 per cent of the world’s population has to struggle to be heard and valued. I grew up in a home where gender equality was never discussed – it was a fact of life, our ‘normal’. So how do we make gender equality a fact of life in our workplaces too?

Social justice is a core value 

Our values, along with those of our organizations, go beyond mere words on paper; they embody the purpose, commitments and actions we bring each day. As social and business leaders we hold pivotal roles in influencing the lives of many stakeholders— from our team to our numerous stakeholders and the communities we serve. Equal opportunity for all is a core value and approaching our work commitments with ‘gender blindness’ is empowering, impactful and just.

Where to start 

In my 40 years in business, I have had more women in my team than men – but that’s just statistics; the reality is that I don’t mind what gender group the team members belong to, I just want the best results with the best team. Gender is irrelevant.

I ‘blindly’ follow these steps –

1. What’s the task at hand?
2. Who’s the best person for the task and why?
3. What support do they need to create the greatest impact?
4. Who can be their inner circle, sharing the vision and commitment to the task?
5. What mentorship and facilitating can you add?

Our society is definitely not ‘gender-blind’ – it’s impossible to unlearn the gender-stereotyping that’s been handed down from previous generations. All the same, ‘evolution’ means we have the opportunity to do better than previous generations, and as business leaders we are expected to do just that.

The extra mile 

It goes without saying that each team member is different and as organisational leaders our roles are to support and strengthen our team. To catch-up on the centuries of women’s disempowerment, we need to specifically be cognisant of the social demands on women, specifically the perceived conflicting demands of work and family.

As a family-owned company, we understand the value of family – and we know that team members work to live, not live to work. Our team members, irrespective of gender, are encouraged to balance family time and work time. Long before COVID, team members were able to work ‘family hours’, allowing them to drop their kids off to school and pick them up. School events and excursions are more important than work and we have never denied a request for time off to join such opportunities. When a child is sick, we do all we can to support the team member to work from home – and at times send a box of doughnuts or cupcakes to the family ‘just because’.

These perceivably small gestures have developed a culture of care and responsibility, rewarding the business with committed and dedicated team members. Our team member tenure averages 18 years – that’s a lot of retained ‘tribal knowledge’.

The ripple effect 

In my book ‘Empowered, a new generation of leaders’, I reflect on the early years after our family founded the Cambodia Rural Students Trust NGO (CRST) in Siem Reap in 2011. Our vision was to break countless cycles of poverty in rural Cambodia, by educating disadvantaged rural youth to become Cambodia’s future social leaders.

Initially, our student cohort had a notable gender imbalance, with girls making up only 30%. The challenge wasn’t gender bias, but rather a lack of girls applying to receive our educational scholarships. To right the scales, we ensured that 50% of our leadership roles were held by our girls and each year when it came to recruiting new students, our girls became great role models.

These days we have 66% girls (we’re still ‘gender blind’) and our team of 100 students impacts over 20,000 rural students every year through our social enterprise projects and programs. Our students work alongside each other and inspire thousands of other rural high school students to follow in their footsteps, showing them that anything is possible.

We don’t talk about gender equality; we simply walk it.

Written by Aviv Palti.
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