Tackling Gender Issues in Pittsburgh
A Conversation with anu jain, Executive Director of the Gender Equity Commission
“Hey, did you think about gender?” That’s a question anu jain frequently asks as the Executive Director of the Gender Equity Commission. She believes we need to bring gender issues to people’s attention if we want to get closer to eliminating gender-based discrimination. That’s the goal of the Commission that was established after a proclamation from Mayor Peduto in 2016. But how to make gender-based discrimination a thing of the past? You can approach it from several angles, which are all interconnected.
Intersectional Thinking
“People want to use intersectional thinking but don’t know how,” Ms. jain explained. That’s why the event she has planned for the Summit will provide tools to enable people to use intersectional thinking in their daily lives.
Intersectionality addresses the fact that people are multi-dimensional and it’s impossible to isolate one part of someone’s identity from the other parts. How are our struggles connected? Once you understand some of the problems that the city is dealing with, you realize that you can’t separate gender issues from race issues from socioeconomic issues. Jain calls this the intersectionality web. At the Summit this year, she will have exercises that help people understand the ways gender equity issues are connected to so many broader problems.
In Pittsburgh gender disparities can be found in a number of places. This is an infographic from a report released by the Women and Girls Foundation in 2016. It shows the correlation between poverty and gender — only 42 percent of all Pittsburgh houses are headed by single mothers but 77 percent of poor households find single mothers at the helm.
This number increased from 2005–2015. In order to understand poverty we need to ask, why is it so likely that a poor household will be headed by a single mother?
The picture gets even more complicated when we think about the role race plays, as well as the impact that growing up poor has on your chances to be successful. These are variables that might not be considered when using a gender lens, but are necessary in order to see the full picture. The graph below shows the huge gap in poverty levels between black and white girls across the country but especially here in Pittsburgh.
Data-Driven Approach
The Gender Equity Commission is still in its early phases, conducting research to gather as much data on the issues as possible. Jain explains that “data is the language most people speak” so before the commission makes any recommendations, they want to get a detailed understanding of gender disparities in the city. Hence, they are conducting a Gender Analysis Study.
“You have to work really hard to tell a story of race and gender, the data isn’t always there.”
This data-driven approach ensures that decisions aren’t being made based on misconceptions.
For example, the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University conducted a study of nonprofit organizations in Southwestern Pennsylvania in 2017. They found that while 58 percent of Executive Directors of nonprofits are women, they make $24,414 less on average than their male counterparts.
The chart below shows the difference in the size of the gap depending on how big the organization is. Often gender disparities are subtle and this chart shows how complicated it can be to be break them down. When considering how to bring about change, this study shows that it might be most helpful to target a specific type of nonprofit.
When the data from the Gender Analysis Study comes back it might confirm some of jain’s suspicions, but the results might also surprise her. The idea is that with strong data the Commission can make quality recommendations as to where the city should direct its resources to make Pittsburgh more equitable.
Merging Innovation and Inclusion
According to jain, inclusivity and diversity in an individual business will make it more likely to be successful and she’s got the data to support it.
A study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 2017 found that to be true. The graphic below shows how success and diversity are related.
The BCG Study revealed that diversity is necessary in order to be resilient and adaptive, two traits that lead to long-term success in a business. But diversity is about more than just hiring a certain number of people from a certain category.
As the conversation on workplace diversity moves forward jain wants people to realize the depth and complexity of inclusion. In order to innovate in ways that are successfully inclusive “we need to address the inequality that already exists” so we can ensure that our innovations aren’t just re-enforcing detrimental social norms. She says often people make decisions based on the mistaken assumption that we live in a fair society.
“Usually innovation uplifts white men with money,” says jain. To change that means taking an entirely new approach that seeks out and encourages new voices at the table.
Another BCG study found that women who pitch their ideas to investors receive significantly less capital than men. But the pitches by women generate more revenue on average. This study reveals one of the ways that gender bias can play out, even when it is unintentional. To address gender issues we often have to go to the beginning of a process to understand where disparities emerge.
Pittsburgh’s Future
With the establishment of the Gender Equity Commission Pittsburgh has demonstrated its commitment to better understanding the role gender plays in people’s lives. This commission plans to look at every city function through the lens of gender.
“I feel hopeful. I don’t think most people want sexism to reign. They just don’t have the tools to make change or see where the problems are,” said anu jain.
The city can’t force companies to change but they can serve as a model of how companies might effectively implement changes to help with diversity and inclusion. The city has already started doing this by providing free childcare to city employees on days that schools are closed but employees must be at work. The Summit is working with the same childcare provider, Flexable, to provide free childcare to all attendees. The hope is that businesses in the city will see this as a possibility and feel empowered to make changes within their organization.
Until all the data is in detailing the most significant barriers to success for women it will be hard to know where the city should make adjustments. Community input will also help paint a fuller picture and jain encourages people to get in touch and make themselves heard if they have issues or concerns. Keep your eyes peeled for jain’s thought-provoking program at the Summit this year.
To learn more about the Inclusive Innovation Summit, follow us on Instagram @weinnovatepgh. This is a profile of one of our partners for the Summit, so check back in for more profiles in the coming weeks.
