The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2023 is #EmbraceEquity I‘ve been thinking about what this means to a woman returning to work after a career break.
The words equity and equality are often used interchangeably.
“Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.”
“Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”
In order to reach gender equality, we first need equity. Equality is the goal, and equity is the means to get there.
That is, in order to achieve the same outcome, each individual may need different support. Let me illustrate this with an example –
For instance, there are two candidates appearing for an interview for the role of a Java programmer. The first candidate has five years of continuous work experience in a large IT Services company. However, she has been working on a different technology platform. She needs to upskill in Java. However, her programming experience allows her to see parallels so that she learns fast. She has a network of colleagues and mentors to whom she can reach out to help her make her learning programme effective. They provide her with a test problem and are also helpful in directing her to platforms where can practice her new skills and get hands-on experience.
The second candidate is a woman returning to work after a 5 year break. She also has to upskill in Java. But her programming skills are rusty. She has to put in extra effort to learn. She also doesn’t have a network of mentors who can guide her to effective learning.
Equality is giving both candidates the same interview opportunity.
Equity is ensuring that the second candidate gets the support she needs in order to be ready for the interview. It could be a mentor who assists with the course material, a test problem and the environment to get hands-on experience. It is also the coach who encourages her to stay disciplined in her upskilling programme. It could be opportunities to practice her communication skills to do well in the interview.
This is what indePenn does – we truly embrace equity. We don’t just talk about it or write about it. We believe in it and we make it happen. Equal opportunity is no longer enough. In fact it is unfair.
With Equity, we are creating an inclusive world.
indePenn helps women on a career break returning to work, to prepare and present themselves as confident professionals.
Visit us at indePenn.com and Sign Up – we’ll handhold you through the process of getting back to work.
#InternationalWomensDay #IWD2023 #EmbraceEquity #WomensRights #GenderEquality #WomenEmpowerment #EqualOpportunities #EquityForAllWomen
