I think today is a good day to talk about Gender Partnership, especially after the disappointing verdict in the Ellen Pao/Kleiner Perkins lawsuit yesterday in Silicon Valley. Whatever else the facts in the case were, it was clear that Pao’s colleagues did not treat her like a trusted member of their team. If you ask other women in business, they will say this is often the case. If you ask men, some will say they don’t feel that the women in their company treat them like trusted partners either.
© 2015 Institute for Women’s Leadership
It’s time to move beyond any unconscious or merely unspoken ill will or bias and make the commit to Gender Partnership. Not gender equity, gender equality, or even gender balance. To me, those terms have an unfortunate hint of separate but equal. My vision is for full Gender Partnership, where all of us bring our diverse talents and skills to the table in the service of a common goal. Where all voices are respected and all are heard.
IWL has been teaching the benefits (and skills) of Gender Partnership in-house for a number of years. Now we have found a way to reach out to our clients’ remote employees – people who cannot make it to their headquarters for a three-day training, people who would have to learn on their own or miss the opportunity altogether.
Our newest program, Gender Partnership Everywhere (GPE) is a dramatically different offering for us. It uses current events, provocative ideas, and thought leadership to awaken and align remote employees with in-house efforts aimed at ending gender bias – and reaping the financial, productivity, and decision-making benefits of full Gender Partnership.
Nothing in this curriculum is about pointing fingers or casting blame.
We have designed GPE to be engaging and lively, as well as informative and effective. Its source materials include pieces from widely admired publications like Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Scientific American and The Washington Post. It also brings together entertaining videos from YouTube, U.N. Women, and Google’s own in-house anti-bias program, to name a few.
Each of its 15 modules includes questions to stimulate individual thinking on the topic covered. Participants’ answers serve to kick off followup group discussions (led by in-house facilitators or IWL coaches via teleconference) to deepen and cement learning.
We are very excited about GPE’s potential to not only educate your remote team members on the many benefits of gender partnership, but also inspire each of them to experience aha! moments about gender bias and its many (often unsuspected) consequences.
For nearly 20 years, our logo has
captured the essence of Gender Partnership
Gender Partnership Everywhere focuses on exposing your remote employees to:
- Well-documented facts about the state of gender bias today
- Pragmatic, actionable strategies for removing gender bias in teams and organizations.
- Thoughtful and provocative opinions about how we can change the status quo
- Vivid personal storytelling from both men and women who have discovered how much we limit ourselves by unconsciously assigning gender-based limits to others
- Widely respected studies about the effects of gender bias and the remarkable success of companies who have learned how to harness the talent, energy, experience, and teamwork of 100% of their employees.
Curious?
Check out how Gender Partnership Everywhere works
Review program fees and options
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