"How Important It Is For Us to Recognize and Celebrate our Heroes and She-roes!" – Maya Angelou
On paper, women and girls can do anything - they can attain an education, become a CEO, earn the same as men, and as we've seen in more recent times, finally play football, cricket and soccer at an elite level. In many ways, there's never been a better time to be a woman.
And for that, we are grateful to the giants on whose shoulders we stand today. Women in particular, who have fought so hard for the rights we can now take for granted: rights that enable us to vote, to work once married, to divorce, to earn equal pay for work of equal value, and rights which provide us with reproductive freedoms through choice.
Yet as recent movements #metoo, #timesup #LetHerSpeak, #CredibleWomen and #TeachUsConsent have all highlighted, equality in practice is yet to be realised.
Even in the country in which I live, affectionately known as "the lucky country", where women attain higher education qualifications than men, they remain underemployed, underrepresented in leadership, subject to sexual harassment and assault, and victims and survivors of domestic and family violence. And the likelihood of experiencing harassment, discrimination and violence increases with the intersection of gender and race, disability and sexual identity. Turns out, there's still lots of bias that needs to be broken.
So what can we do to leverage the momentum of this global movement focused on addressing sexual assault and harassment, and ultimately advancing women's rights through a new wave?
Through a series of events, we'll be celebrating women, sharing their stories of how they #BreakTheBias, and showcasing workplaces leading the way through policy and practice to ensure human rights protections against bias are enshrined in their diversity, inclusion and belonging strategies.
For while #BreakTheBias will generate a day of diversity speak, buzz words and hashtags, translating global movements into local action requires us to recognise that all human beings are born free and equal, in dignity and rights. And women's rights are human rights, and human rights are women's rights.
So regardless of your identity, we want you to join us this month in stepping up as a human rights ally by listening to understand, and stepping up to #BreakTheBias.
Prue Gilbert - CEO Grace Papers
Prue Gilbert reflects on the significance of International Women’s Day
A new day is dawning for women’s empowerment, and this year I’m committing to calling on leaders to embrace their personal responsibility and #BreakTheBias
How to break bias in the workplace
Workplaces should empower psychological safety for all people regardless of gender, and gender equality should be the norm, not the exception.
Nine evidence-backed ways to #BreakTheBias in your workplace
When it comes to women in the workplace, we hear a lot about barriers to leadership. But for new and expectant parents, there’s another barrier.
Making space in the mental load for mental health
Prue Gilbert, Grace Paper's CEO reflects on how to create healthy workplaces by taking the stigma out of flex working.
Double jeopardy: Why deepening your understanding of how the intersections of race and gender hold women of colour back matters, and what true allyship really looks like.
1st April 12 pm
Globally, the focus of gender equality is still too often on the middle-class, able-bodied, white woman. Yet the intersection of race and gender can expose a complex set of biases that influences the experience of women in workplaces and the community and holds many women of colour back.
How can we better account for the intersection of race and gender that impacts the possibility of true equality in the places we work and live?
In this LIVE Coaching conversation, we explore the "double jeopardy," talk about the meaning of International Day for the Elimination of Race Discrimination, and share what you can do to be a better ally.
The Change Agents - Breaking bias through policy, practices and accountability
Ahead of International Women's Day next week these incredible women shared what it takes to make impactful change in government and the workplace, introduce policies that benefit gender equality, safety and inclusion in 2022 and pave the way for future female leaders.
Gender Bias and Discrimination in Data
Discover how organisational data can often be biased, and how organisations can learn to make gender-inclusive data-driven decisions.
Women’s Rights are Human Rights - Find your voice!
Grace Papers CEO, Prue Gilbert, was joined by Janet Palafox, UN NGO Representative and Leah Ruppanner, Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab to reflect and celebrate the evolution of women’s rights and discuss how they found their voice in the movement and how you can find yours.