International Women’s Day 2024: Tough Conversations Inspire Inclusion
This article covers:
- How companies empowering more women into leadership roles outperform rivals
- The need to bridge divides in gender equality attitudes across generations
- Tips to build inclusive cultures to make people belong and be more engaged
International Women’s Day (IWD), which takes place yearly on March 8, presents an opportunity to celebrate females worldwide and reflect on progress and diversity gains made over the last year while resetting objectives across recruitment, retention, and advancement for women.
Crowe Global’s Art of Smart content informs, influences, and inspires business leaders to make smarter decisions, and “inspiring inclusion” is the theme of IWD 2024. All four Art of Smart pillars for smarter decision-making—growth, boldness, innovation, and diversity—are relevant.
According to BlackRock research published in November, companies with diverse workforces and more women in management roles outperform rivals in terms of their return on assets by as much as 29% a year.
The report, Lifting Financial Performance by Investing in Women, found that firms closest to gender parity across key leadership roles generate higher returns than those with predominantly male leaders. Specifically, from 2016 to 2022, companies, where the representation of women in middle management most closely matched their overall workforce representation, saw 36 basis points higher risk-adjusted monthly returns compared to companies with gaps in women’s representation between middle management and the overall workforce.
Manuela Furdui, Managing Partner at Crowe Romania, says that IWD is an important day to “recognize women’s achievements and promote gender equality. It is also a moment to celebrate accomplishments, to empower women, and inspire future generations to strive for equality and inclusivity.”
As a leader, Furdui understands the importance of diversity in all its forms. “I have been fortunate to work with people from different countries and different backgrounds, and brought different perspectives and sources of knowledge and inspiration,” she says. “Having an inclusive workspace means creating an environment where—regardless of background, identity, ability, race—people feel a sense of belonging and are empowered to contribute their best.”
Robust response to toxic masculinity
The treatment of women, inside and outside the workplace, is in the spotlight in Furdui’s Romania. British-American influencer Andrew Tate—the self-styled “king of toxic masculinity”—and his younger brother, Tristan, are under investigation for human trafficking, sexual assault, and forming an organized crime group to sexually exploit women, having moved to the eastern European country in 2017.
The outspoken former kickboxer gained notoriety—and many millions of followers on social media—for his controversial and aggressive views about women. “The Tates set a terrible example for teenagers, and this was allowed to happen in Romania because of a lack of rules in society,” says Furdui.
Indeed, she points out that, according to a European Union Eurobarometer study on gender-based violence published in 2016, over half (55%) of Romanians believe sexual assault is justified “in certain situations.”
Early in 2024, an explicit popular song by a Romanian singer in her mid-20s, Erika Isac, offered a robust response to Tate and the attitudes towards women. In only two weeks since its release in February, the video for Macarena had registered almost four million views on YouTube. “Always blame the victims like idiots,” raps Isac.
“The lyrics are harsh, but the message is powerful about human rights and how women should be treated in Romania,” says Furdui, who senses the song captures the frustration many in her country feel. She hopes businesses will take heed, lead from the front, and change social norms from the inside out.
Bridging the gender divide
Some 37% of UK men aged 16 to 29 consider “toxic masculinity” to be an unhelpful phrase, approximately double the 19% of young women who feel this way. Correspondingly, young women (47%) are more likely to find it a helpful term than young men (29%), or any other age category.
Further, the research found women aged 16 to 29 were especially likely to say it is harder to be a woman, with 68% feeling this way, compared with 35% of men of the same age.
Perhaps surprisingly, the oldest group is the least likely to agree that men have it tougher: 17% of men aged 60+ feel this way, compared with 25% of men aged 16 to 59.
Leaders worldwide looking to improve company culture and narrow the gender equality gap should study these findings. To achieve a successful business, they must accommodate young women more liberal than previous generations, mindful of men of a similar age being more conservative in outlook. The echo chambers of social media appear to have played a part in these attitudes on both sides of the gender divide.
There are gender disparities in other areas, not least in the technology space—still—points out Utah-based Marni Baker Stein, Chief Content Officer at online learning platform Coursera. “UK government research suggests that women are at a heightened risk of experiencing artificial intelligence-related job automation, underlining the urgency for proactive upskilling to ensure their careers evolve alongside technology rather than being replaced by it,” she says.
Baker Stein reveals that currently, men are three times more likely to have enrolled on Coursera’s most popular courses. “This disparity threatens to widen existing gender gaps in the workplace as AI literacy becomes increasingly necessary for career advancement,” she says. Yet those women who can enroll are outpacing men in achieving skills proficiency. “It is therefore clear that it is not ability preventing women from attaining the most important technical skills, but accessibility.”
For Baker Stein, investing in women’s upskilling is “imperative.” And to foster equitable environments, “modern workplaces must continue to adopt hybrid work frameworks and flexible learning methods, offering upskilling opportunities tailored to women’s schedules,” she adds.
Supporting women in society
Nigeria-born Okosi, who studied in the UK before moving to Ireland over 20 years ago, is inspired by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was appointed Director-General of the World Trade Organization in March 2021 and is the first African in the role.
Okosi has been inspiring others for years, too. She supports African immigrant women in adjusting to Irish society. “As a community group, we give these women a sense of belonging to help them integrate. We provide learning and training on topics like the English language, computer literacy courses, and information on social welfare entitlement.”
Road trips to famous landmarks, social events with Irish families—which “raise awareness for the host community as well”—and even courses in local literature help get the women up to speed. “It can be a culture shock, especially the weather,” Okosi jokes, but many success stories exist.
“For instance, in the mid-2000s, Aisher, from North Africa, migrated to Ireland with her family,” says Okosi. “She could not speak a word of English but soon became perfect, went to college, and is now a qualified nurse. She moved away from Dublin but has set up a community for migrant women from North Africa. We inspired her, and she inspires the next people, so seeing the chain growing is brilliant.”
She adds: “Inspiring inclusion shouldn’t be something you must create time for. It’s part of our living; it’s part of what we do daily. Once we are conscious of that, then everybody can inspire anybody.”
Leaning in, speaking up, and being respected
Rachael Gibson, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Crowe LLP in the United States, continues this theme. “The fundamental way to inspire inclusion is to ensure that women are not just seated at tables but that our voices are heard and our ideas are leveraged,” she says. “We are doing everything we can to open up our firm so that women thrive, and other women can see they can live their best lives.”
Crowe LLP’s values, especially “courage,” attracted Jamaican-born Gibson in October 2022. “I saw an authentic desire to move the needle from leaders at Crowe LLP. There was no interest in Band-Aid approaches. It was understood that the big results [regarding diversity and inclusion] would take some time. I don’t feel like I’m on an island—colleagues support me. When I started, I said: ‘You don’t have to agree to every request, but I would like a yes to every conversation.’”
Gibson’s ultimate goal is to ensure Crowe LLP is a “diverse firm that reflects the communities across the United States where we work, live, and play. I also want everyone in our firm to thrive and grow in their careers, whatever that looks like to them, and break down barriers to progress.”
Echoing Okosi’s sentiments, Gibson says building a community and a mutual support network is the beating heart of this approach. “This is a hard profession, so if you don’t have that feeling of support, you will start questioning your job. When I think about belonging, it’s building that community, those connections that serve somebody’s soul at work, that provide mentorship, sponsorship, and friendship.”
Community building and improving engagement
Gibson uses a recent example to show how Crowe LLP is inspiring inclusion. “A year ago, we saw certain concerning trends among Hispanic and Black women, regarding engagement. Generally—and this is unfortunately mirrored across the profession —Black women felt less included. And here, many of these women didn’t know we had Black female partners.”
Over the last 12 months, Gibson’s team has organized “lift-as-we-climb” regional meetings, bringing marginalized women together in five states for lengthy, peer-sharing sessions. “We talked to them about career progression and then followed up those in-person sessions with virtual meetings. In a year, our engagement scores for Black women have gone up 10 points, higher than the firm average, and for Hispanic women, it has risen by 18 points. I thought we would see incremental improvements, but this has been incredible.”
Gibson says it comes back to community, belonging, and being heard. In February, she traveled to Jamaica to mark her father’s 80th birthday, and despite only a day’s notice, over 50 people turned up at the family home. “On a Wednesday, too,” she smiles. “I grew up seeing the power of connections and the power of community.”
She advises business leaders seeking to improve engagement to appoint a data-savvy chief diversity officer. “The community allows us to have the tough conversations we need to drive change, but understanding and leveraging data is central to it all,” Gibson adds. “The answers to these four-hundred-year-old problems lie deep within organizations.”
Key takeaway questions
- How can you ensure women’s voices are genuinely heard and their ideas leveraged in your organization?
- What specific actions can you take to support the career progression and advancement of marginalized women in your company?
- Do you have concerns about engagement trends among certain demographics of women in your organization that need to be addressed?
- Have you appointed a data-savvy Chief Diversity Officer to help uncover insights and drive change through your diversity, equity and inclusion efforts?
- Does your organizational culture accommodate generational shifts in attitudes between young women and men regarding gender norms and equality?
- Beyond one-off interventions, how can you embed “inspiring inclusion” day-to-day across your company to create a greater sense of belonging among marginalized groups?
