Last week was International Women’s Day. You probably noticed but if you didn’t, be sure to check the neat little calendar at the end of this article that’ll make sure you never miss an important sustainability day again.
But wait, was International Women’s Day a sustainability day? Well, yes. Here’s why: social and environmental issues are interconnected. Gender inequality affects everyone, and it’s everyone’s problem. Giving women and girls equal access to education, health care, decent work and representation in political and economic decision-making processes fuels sustainable economies and benefits societies and humanity at large, the UN stipulates, and who are we to disagree?
More women participating in the workforce is proven to increase innovation and growth.
Numerous studies show the undeniable link between gender equality and achieving sustainability and economic progress throughout the world. More women participating in the workforce is proven to increase innovation and growth. More access for girls to (higher) education similarly helps fight poverty and social disparities. In fact, two of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (Quality Education and Gender Equality) actually acknowledge the importance of equal opportunities for women. Just one of many examples is the adoption rate of good agricultural practices around the globe. Traditionally these types of training are provided for men. However, in many cases, it’s mainly women that work the land. Training men and women together significantly increase adaption rates for good agricultural practices. For example, female cocoa farmers see income and productivity levels at 25 to 30 percent below their male counterparts — a statistic that makes sense when you consider these women are 25 percent less likely to have received training and 40 percent less likely to have a bank account than men. According to McKinsey, advancing women’s equality — including economic participation — could add $12 trillion to global growth by 2025. When given better access to education, women have better chances of land ownership and better access to resources, which means that women can potentially reduce world hunger by between 12% and 17%.
„It’s not myth, it’s math“ — Michelle Obama
The global pay gap amounts to 37 percent. Many attempts have been made to explain this away and critics routinely argue that the figure is overstated. However, as Michelle Obama famously put it, „it’s not myth, it’s math“. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum, it will take a staggering 202 years for this pay gap to close. „By not factoring women in and by supporting their engagement including access to, for example, a bank account, we are underachieving on climate action when we need to overachieve and overachieve fast,“ the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa stated. Research has shown that empowered women prove to be great entrepreneurs in areas like renewable energy. The 2016 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Momentum for Change Awards was bestowed upon Women’s Empowerment for Resilience and Adaptation Against Climate Change. They’re an association of women-led groups that collect individual savings of at least $1 a week to generate a pool of funds from which women can borrow and invest in income-generating activities that address climate change. This initiative also empowers women to undertake land planning, agro-forestry and soil conservation practices as well as use energy saving stoves. So far, this project has empowered more than 250,000 women, who are now economically independent and enjoy increased access to production resources, thereby giving them a greater voice in their communities.
“Women are key to sustainable development for all“ — Patricia Espinosa
However, if we’re looking for a lack of gender equality, we don’t need to look far. According to the European Commission, the pay gap in Europe averages out at about 16 percent. Campaigns like #MeToo and #TimesUp have shown in the last year alone that many inequalities between men and women exist in our societies too, both in and outside the workplace. Rhian Sherrington, founder of Women in Sustainability, recently said in an interview with edie.net that “gender equality is part of the sustainability agenda to the point that it has its own Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), so a lot of academic literature and, in turn, a lot of business activity, is focused on women as a cause to be helped. What there is less of, is the need to position women as part of the solution to this, and other big challenges — women are benefitting from the change but not leading it.“ Sheryl Sandberg meanwhile argues that “I think our pitch to men has to be, don’t do it because it’s the right thing, do it because it is good for you.“ A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review found that going from having no women in corporate leadership (the CEO, the board and other C-suite positions) to a 30 percent female share is associated with a one percent rise in net margin — which translates to a 15 percent increase in profitability for a typical firm. The researchers suggest that this is because increased skill diversity within top management increases effectiveness in monitoring staff performance. In addition to that, less gender discrimination throughout the management ranks helps to recruit, promote and retain talent. Firms not actively fighting for gender equality miss out on opportunities which clearly affect the bottom line.
“I think our pitch to men has to be, don’t do it because it’s the right thing, do it because it is good for you“ — Sheryl Sandberg
There have been many different attempts to explain the pay gap. Some argue it’s due to women choosing less lucrative careers, others blame women opting out of the workforce to care for their families. However, in most cases neither explanation — while it might hold some truth — is enough to explain the extent of the pay gap. Unconscious gender bias undoubtedly plays a major role.
Most people don’t actively believe that men ought to be promoted over women or that men are inherently more capable leaders than women. However, unconsciously many of us hold beliefs that are informed by gender stereotypes such as men are in fact better leaders and managers whereas women are better at nurturing and caretaking. These feelings are triggered unconsciously which is why it’s called unconscious gender bias.
„It’s great that we have unconscious bias training, it’s great that we have programs, but if that was going to solve the problem, it would already have solved the problem.“ — Katica Roy
Claims have been made that one way of decreasing the gender pay gap in the future could involve unconscious-bias training. However, numerous case studies have failed to show any significant improvements following such training. In fact, Google spent $150 Million on bias training in 2015 alone without much success — a failure underlined by the Google walkouts in November 2018. Katica Roy, the CEO of Pipeline, a Denver-based startup which produces software to help companies track their gender-equity metrics, points out that “it’s great that we have unconscious bias training, it’s great that we have programs, but if that was going to solve the problem, it would already have solved the problem.“ Together with her company, Roy is trying a different approach: focusing on AI to avoid any underlying human bias. Her company has developed a tool which integrates HR platforms that work to search through internal databases containing information about employees who could be suited for other roles or be ready for a promotion. For example, if an internal hire was to be made, the system would assign each candidate a score based on their skills and experience, the text in their performance reviews and the makeup of the team they’d be joining.
However, while tech may well help us tackle bias, it won’t ultimately resolve the underlying problem. Looking at gender and sustainability, it’s clear that both issues are intrinsically intertwined, touching on a wide variety of other connecting topics. But it’s precisely this holistic view that’s needed to address sustainability and women’s rights in this context to truly be effective. Dr. Cecilia Sorensen of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colorado rightly points out that „there are people who study gender and women’s rights, then over here we have climate change, and then over here we have poverty. As a result of that, there’s not a lot of interaction or cross talk. I’ve seen some focus on ways to improve poverty by improving the economic and physical health of women, but I haven’t really seen that mixed in with climate“ — which needs to change if we want all of our climate and gender efforts to be successful in the future.
“We have to understand the emergency of the situation. Our leadership has failed us. Young people must hold older generations accountable for the mess they have created. We need to get angry, and transform that anger into action.“ — Greta Thunberg
There is hope. With young activists like Greta Thunberg, Isra Hirsi and Nakabuye Hilda F. inspiring and mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to take a stance against climate change, it feels like the next generation might be a good place to look for role models. If being a female (and not even of voting age) isn’t stopping them, why not take action ourselves? Sure, not everyone will be able to start a global movement like #fridaysforfuture, but we all can start supporting initiatives striving for more equality and sustainability worldwide.
In fact, if you’d like some nice reminders and simple tips on how to start living a more sustainable life, why not download our Garage „Green Nineteen“ calendar? Another upside is you won’t ever miss any days like International Women’s Day ;-)
Just click this link to download the calendar:
