There are So Many Ways to Invest in and Inspire Women. Here are the Ones Inclusion and Diversity Champions Find Most Helpful.
The best part is that many of their suggestions about how to invest in women don’t require money – just effort.
There are nearly as many women in the world as there are men, yet there is an astonishing imbalance when it comes to fundamental human rights, such as healthcare, food, and housing. Hundreds of millions of women are living below the poverty line. Gender disparities become even more prevalent when you look at education and business settings. Some women are never even allowed to get an education or work, much less choose their career or pursue advancement opportunities that keep them in lockstep with men.
That’s why the UN is advocating for us all to “Invest in women, accelerate progress” in recognition of International Women’s Day (IWD) this year. It’s also why other grassroots organizations are focused on “Inspiring Inclusion” on IWD. We must find a way to organically root out both learned and inherent gender biases and stop holding women back (even when we don’t mean to.)
Though many organizations are launching initiatives to encourage greater inclusivity in the workplace, in healthcare and in communities at large, there are simple things we can do every day as individuals to uplift the women in our lives – friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues, and even strangers. In fact, there are many things we can do, according to three of my colleagues, all of whom are inclusion and diversity (I&D) champions:
- Colleen O’Sullivan, who was recently featured on our Women Who Wow podcast, and serves as the executive sponsor for our Women’s Inclusion Network (aka WIN)
- James Morley-Smith, who is one of our global co-chairs for WIN and has given a TED Talk on designing products with inclusivity in mind
- Shelley Eades, who is Zebra’s Senior Director of Inclusion and Diversity and HR Transformation
Tune into our conversation now to hear…
- What “inclusion” really means. (It might not be how you understand it today.)
- More natural ways you can be inclusive of women (and all people) beyond the recommendations we often hear about from groups driving formalized outreach or inclusion efforts.
- What beliefs or habits we may have that make us, as humans, prone to accidental bias. (These are the things we should be more aware of that might inadvertently be making women feel like they aren’t seen, heard, respected. or valued at a certain level because they are a woman.)
- What women can be doing to ensure they aren’t being accidentally excluded, dismissed or overlooked by others.
- What it means to invest in women and how we can all invest in women’s growth and success.
Prefer to listen later? Download the MP3 below. You can also read the transcript here.
Easy Ways to Invest In and Inspire Women
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Therese Van Ryne
Therese Van Ryne is Senior Director of External Communications for Zebra Technologies. She joined Zebra as part of the acquisition of Motorola Solutions Enterprise business in October 2014. She and her team are laser focused on growing the company’s brand awareness globally aligned with business objectives. Her accomplishments include leading Zebra events with Harvard University and TED as well as the creation of the annual Intelligent Enterprise Index, resulting in positive media coverage, customer engagement and revenue growth.
Prior to Motorola Solutions, Van Ryne worked at SC Johnson where she led corporate communication strategies and drove PR and branding efforts for leading consumer products. One of her top achievements was leading the Windex® placement in the film, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” resulting in a 25% sales increase for the brand.
One of PR News’ 2019 Top Women in PR and Crain's Chicago's 2021 Most Notable Executives in Marketing, Therese also has experience as a journalist, editor and producer, reporting nightly from Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Van Ryne holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Journalism from Marquette University and an Executive Leadership Master’s Certificate from Cornell University.
