Breaking the bias
Ann Allen MBE, Chief Executive Officer
ON 8 March many people will attend events and take time to celebrate the achievements of women from across the world. International Women’s Day provides us with the time and space to celebrate the amazing achievements of so many women. In celebrating International Women’s Day many organisations and companies hold debates and panels; engage in discussions on ways to support more women to succeed and how to remove barriers to their progression. How many though will discuss hidden bias?
We have made huge strides in reducing the level of gender-based discrimination, however, there is still more to do. Women make up only 12% of the UK construction workforce of 3.1 million. I have spent my career in construction challenging and promoting the need for equality in the workforce. I am a straight white middle-class woman in a leadership role; I have a voice and I can argue my case. Yet I can see that many women do not have such a voice and many experience bias from multiple aspects of discrimination.
This is why break the bias, the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, is so important. The issues of exclusion and diversity within the workforce mean that there is a spectrum of bias impacting women in the workplace. Breaking the bias is important, and to do this we have to start to nuance the arguments. We have to recognise that while there are challenges for women in the workforce, these challenges can be even greater if you have a disability (visible or non-visible ); if you do not wish to identify your gender; if you are gay; or if your ethnicity gives you a sense of being excluded, for example.
At the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors we have chosen to take equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) as a golden thread that will run through everything we do. We will test all our competencies to ensure that they address EDI and we will look at how we can ensure we are inclusive in everything we do. With this approach we do not distinguish between gender and other protected characteristics, we simply look to do things in a way that celebrates diversity, embraces equality and ensures inclusion.
We need to educate, but this must be in an empathetic way which is able to make the distinction between discriminative language and words which are well meant but wrong.
We need to encourage debate around equality, diversity and inclusion and help to break the bias. It has become clear however that we have created another bias – between those who have the understanding and language that allows them to join the debate and those who currently feel disenfranchised, unable to join in and avoid debate.
All of us who are involved in these discussions must find ways of bringing those who are less comfortable and scared of saying the wrong thing or using the wrong words into the debate. We need to educate, but this must be in an empathetic way which is able to make the distinction between discriminative language and words which are well meant but wrong.
I am lucky. I chair the CICES EDI Council where my colleagues mentor and support me when I do not understand an issue, they share their experiences and give me insight into challenges that they have faced. If we are going to break the bias, we must find a way for everyone to be able to have this support and engage in these discussions.
If we are going to create a truly diverse workforce, we need to start looking at EDI issues in less polarised ways. We must recognise that bias can be about many other things, as well as gender. Once we recognise this, we can start to see that each person faces different challenges and prejudices. We must all look to ourselves and recognise our own prejudices and make sure we do not project those into anything that we do. We must support others and push forward debates and challenge. Through this, we will break the bias. By working together we can all break the bias.
Ann Allen MBE, Chief Executive Officer