Stories

Approaching conversations about gender disparities can be difficult in the workplace, particularly in inclusive settings.

Data, particularly at the project and program levels, can be costly to collect and difficult to analyse for organizations that do not have the expertise in house.

Studies have shown that increasing workforce diversity has a variety of business benefits and additionally adds a level of richness to workforce interactions.

Women in leadership positions often face different challenges than their male counterparts which can lead to additional stress and demands on their time.

Training is a common tool for organizations seeking to change employee behaviors about gender issues at the individual, organizational, and wider social levels.

Mandatory training is often used by organizations who seek to provide a unified base-level knowledge of topics associated with gender mainstreaming such as policies for the prevention of sexual harassment or general knowledge of the differential experiences of women and men in the workplace.

While getting resources is important, it’s even more imperative that the resources be useful, verifiable, and worthwhile.

Many organizations have utilized employee networks, as well as working and steering groups, to engage as many employees and members of leadership as possible in gender mainstreaming goals.

The role of leaders in supporting the ongoing implementation of a gender policy cannot be overstated.

A key goal for many organizations in their gender mainstreaming journey is to achieve gender parity in their senior leadership teams.

Assessing the level of gender mainstreaming accomplished by an organization both internally and in its programmatic work can be ambiguous, with many aspects often overlooked or unmonitored due to the difficulty in doing so.

Breaking into traditionally male-dominated work requires careful consideration of past gender roles and how to address why these came about.

With the rise in remote working experienced over the last few years, managers are recognizing a need to rethink their practices for managing employees.

Ambiguity around pay disproportionately impacts women who are less likely to negotiate their salaries and more likely to face negative backlash when they do.

Putting gender at the heart of the intervention in a holistic approach to reducing barriers to equality.

There are a number of ways that gender specialists have begun to integrate gender strategies into the existing projects of their organizations; from technical reviews of proposals, to the inclusion of a gender assessment at project kick-off and the need for gender disaggregated data in the reporting cycle.

An unhappy reality even for the most enlightened of organizations is that there is a possibility than an employee may experience harassment or discrimination in the workplace.

Gender mainstreaming policies are a commonly used tool in the international development sector and provide a means to establish gender mainstreaming goals across the organization and provide a unified vision for everyone from the Board of Directors to the newly-onboarded intern.