On the heels of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, I’m sharing highlights this month from a discussion I had with international women business leaders which focused on embracing equity and building new norms. As we all know well, we as women face unique challenges in the workplace, especially when we take into account our race, ethnicity, origin, and cultural traditions. Often, we have had to fit a preset mold when joining the workforce and have been tasked with learning to navigate cultural norms and workplace practices on our own. This is especially true for those of us who are immigrants, third culture kids and women working across international borders.

On International Women’s Day, I had the pleasure of chatting with fellow colleagues and women business leaders to explore together about what it means to build new norms and embrace equality as women. Our conversation touched upon some very important questions including:

Is there a hindrance to embracing equality because you may be pushed aside or you don’t have opportunities?
What internal work is necessary in order to embrace equality? How can we shift from Either/Or to Both/And?
What to do if you see inequality? What actions can be taken?
How do you pave the way for others by reinventing norms?
How can embracing equality benefit both the individual and the community?
How can one reinvent norms?

The conversation began with Tiffany, an international lawyer who is based between Miami and Paris, and her experience in working to embrace equality and reinvent norms. She began by making an important point - it’s not just about making sure that everybody has access (we’ve all been told the cliche that if there is no seat at the table then to bring a folding chair - which in many ways does ring true) but it’s about being given the actual opportunity to really connect with people that will open doors for you. The idea of equity is based on being given access to the same educational opportunities and access to the same promotional opportunities as fellow colleagues. When this doesn’t happen, one has to work 10x harder and often has to invest time and money, to have access. As Tiffany noted,“Equity isn't given to us, we have to find a way to go out and get it for ourselves.”She notes that it is important to move forward even in the face of inequality and not dwell on it, which can only keep us behind. Tiffany has responded to her experience with embracing equity by finding ways to mentor other women, including collecting art from emerging women artists, as well as focusing on underserved communities, in order to make a difference.

Our participants had further thoughts to add, including:

“You can be the hero of your own story, or the victim of your own story. If we choose to be heroes of a challenging story, we certainly are not victims of a difficult situation.” - Margarita, who is based in the US for 28 years and originally from Mexico, noted that often immigrant women don't know the culture and don't know exactly how certain things are done. But if one has the technical capability, at least that's the first step to setting the foundation. For her, it’s been a process of learning, sharing, building, re-positioning, all of these words that were not familiar to her vocabulary have now become part of her day to day vernacular. She also touched upon giving back to the community, whether it’s hosting talks or offering small workshops to other women, including working with women in the corporate world.

Jane touched upon advice which her father gave her when she was young, noting “Always go for the Yes. You already have the No. So go for the Yes, especially in today's world where we're fighting to achieve equity. I think we're going for Yes, equity parity. We're not considering the no, we already have that. So let's just go for the yes.”

During our conversation, we also touched upon how language fluency, biculturalism and education also impact equity and how we embrace it.We discussed how we can create a more inclusive environment for others taking into account an understanding of differences, as well as intersectionality, in order to drive inclusion and make room for others. For example, we can make sure that we continue to evolve and understand how our communities are changing, as well as redefine what equity looks like and what equity could and should look like in the future. We can also explore embracing further women’s experiences in the workplace and redefine business norms.

Connecting with curiosity versus judgmentand really paying attention to one’s preferences, bias and judgments are also important aspects of embracing equality and creating new norms. Many of the participants during our chat noted that it was helpful and important to delve into the conversation from a very nuanced perspective, both from our own lived experiences, as well as including those from other communities, in order for more women to feel included. It allowed them to feel more comfortable in sharing their experiences, as well as connect with others on a deeper level.

Now I’d love to hear from you - what are your thoughts on embracing equity and building new norms? What internal work have you found is necessary in order to evolve and create change? What challenges have you faced in the workplace and wish to discuss? Drop me a line, I would love to hear more.

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