International Women’s Day 2023: Equity & Leadership

International Women’s Day is on 8 March and the theme this year is ‘Embrace Equity’. It is important to distinguish equity from equality. Equality is when each person is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that everyone has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities to each person needed to reach an equal outcome. 

Significant work needs to be done in the nonprofit sector to reach a state of equity. At management level, for example, 70% of employees are women; our sector is powered by women. However, a 2019 report by The Community Foundation for Ireland (CFI) found that there is still a significant gender pay-gap and men still occupy a disproportionate number of leadership roles in the sector. The report found: 

Job Roles 

• Men are more likely to be working at the higher levels of management (i.e., CEO or Senior Manager) 
• Even though there are twice as many women managers as men, women are more likely to hold middle-management positions than men 
• Men are over-represented at the higher levels of management and under-represented at the lower levels. 

Gender Pay Gap 

• The average gender pay-gap for management grades in the survey is 15.2% 
• The gender pay gap appears highest at the most senior management 

Top Earners 

• The survey found that just over half of the top 10% of earners were men, compared with 63% and 75% in 2017 
• Over nine out of ten (92%) of the bottom 10% of earners overall are women 

Practical policies and practices should be put in place to back up the intention for real change.  This means setting meaningful targets for change and involving all genders to deliver a better balance. 

Adare HR say that an equal-opportunity workplace delivers far-reaching benefits. Getting the balance right across organisations drives a more successful and cohesive working environment for everybody. This includes growth in income, better decision-making, and an engaged workforce with opportunities for everyone. 

The Irish Human Right & Equality Commission have developed a framework for building a culture of equality and human rights in the workplace. An organisation interested in embedding human rights and equality in their workplace can consider some of these steps: 

• An equality and human rights policy that sets out the standards to which the enterprise/organisation is committed in relation to employment  
• Equality and human rights training that enables for staff  
• Responsibility for equality and human rights that is taken by a committee or appointed person to drive the standard set for equality and human rights.  
• An equality and human rights roadmap that sets out objectives the enterprise/organisation wants to achieve.  
• Equality and human rights impact assessment   
• Equality and human rights data that is gathered and analysed within the organisation.   

These steps are a way to embed equity into an organisation’s culture and eliminate discrimination. Learn more about this framework here. 

The Leadership Academy 

The CFI report highlights the need for a greater representation of female leaders in senior roles. The Wheel has set up The Leadership Academy as a way for all nonprofit workers to network and develop their leadership potential. To mark International Women’s Day, the upcoming Breakfast Club event will celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world. It is on March 2 is taking place the LinkedIn’s Office, One Wilton, Dublin 2 from 08:30am – 10am. Get more information and register for the event here.  

The Leadership Academy runs a monthly Breakfast Club event with guest speakers exploring different leadership themes. To learn more about The Leadership Academy see here.