Women 1st aims to get more women into the boardroom with launch of new guide
The Little Book of Diversity: a practical guide to supporting women in the workplace, aims to increase the number of women in senior positions across the industry by offering advice and guidance from individuals and companies who have actively championed gender diversity.
Despite nearly 60 percent of the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism workforce being female, only six percent of director level positions are occupied by women, a figure Women 1st is hoping to boost through its work.
The book, written by Women 1st founder Sharon Glancy, equality and diversity consultant Samantha Mercer and People 1st research manager Karen Roberts, provides realistic advice and guidance to businesses in the industry who want to increase the number of women in senior positions as well as providing a guide for female employees to achieve their career ambitions.
As well as practical ideas and tips, it includes case studies from McDonald's, PepsiCo, Shell and IBM, companies which actively champion gender diversity within their management teams and offers a foreword by Prue Leith.
Glancy said: "The guide is aimed at both HR professionals and business leaders. It is designed to help you wherever you are on your journey to achieving gender balance within senior management teams, whether you are starting out or looking for ideas to improve your own programmes. We hope we can inspire, encourage and equip you to take action in your own business.
“It has been a labour of love over the last two years and the authors, Sam Mercer, Karen Roberts and I, are enormously proud of the result. It has been developed with the help of many successful men and women working across lots of different types of businesses and I would like to thank everyone for sharing their knowledge and providing guidance.”
The book was launched at the recently-opened Café Royal to a select group of Women 1st Top 100 Club members on Monday (29 April) night.
The Little Book of Diversity is available in hardback for £14.99 and can be ordered at www.women1st.co.uk/LBD. An e-book version, priced at £9.95, will be available soon from the same web address.
What the authors say:
Sharon Glancy, founder, Women 1st:
“Gender diversity continues to be a hot topic for organisations following the Lord Davies Review, but how they tackle it still remains a big question. This book provides a really practical guide to helping organisations to investigate, challenge and find solutions to improve their gender diversity, as well as educating them on why it’s good for business.
“My favourite piece within the book stresses the importance of getting internal communication right when taking steps to address gender balance. This is always a challenge, as introducing initiatives specifically to support women can create negative views in both male and female employees’ minds if they are not handled correctly. Ensuring that staff understand the rationale behind it, and why increasing gender balance will have a positive impact on the organisation as a whole, is key to gaining internal support and making everyone feel involved in the journey.
“Having founded Women 1st in 2009, I am incredibly proud we have been able to provide a really practical guide to gender diversity to support individuals and organisations in achieving their goals. I hope the book will provide inspiration and practical solutions to all who read it.”
Samantha Mercer, equality & diversity consultant:
“Actually making a difference for women in the workplace is difficult, and it can be a frustrating and lonely job. This book pulls together all the ideas, learning and experience of many different organisations and individuals to provide a really practical resource for those charged with and interested in helping women get on at work.
“I hope readers will recognise that the section 'what you need to do before you get started' is really important. Paying attention to this will help improve your chance of success in supporting women. Too often, organisations fail to do the ground work before launching a new initiative and may make the position for women more difficult. Encouraging people to really to understand their organisational culture and the barriers women face means you are much more likely to pick the right intervention for your business.
“There is so much good practice out there and people are so willing to share their experiences - both positive and negative. There is a real sense of collaboration and a shared commitment to improve the position for women at work. I think it is important to recognise what is good for women is good for everyone. All the practical ideas suggested in the book that help women such as flexible working, networks etc. will also help other under-represented groups at work. I enjoy the debate over what needs to change - women or the organisation? Once you start debating what constitutes 'merit' and how an organisation's culture can inadvertently disadvantage women, you start to see the opportunity to make positive change.”
Karen Roberts, research manager, People 1st:
“This book is important because it not only describes why creating greater gender balance is good for business, but also provides practical advice and tips on how to achieve it.
“My favourite parts of the book are the real-life examples – these motivating stories help bring to life the solutions to tackling some of the most common barriers to women’s progression identified through our research. They describe the positive impact these solutions have had, along with practical advice on implementing them and lessons learnt to avoid common mistakes.
“Throughout the production of this book, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the many successful women who have contributed their time, advice and inspiring stories and I hope they inspire others too."
