-By Tunbosun Afolayan
The International Women Day (IWD) is one of the days to celebrate women and is about turning global attention to critical feminine issues with the aim to educate all and win allies.
The IWD also known as Women’s Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year to commemorate the movement for women’s rights with protests held on this day. The organizers of IWD have used different themes since its inauguration in 1911. Each theme highlights a different problem and talks about how women can tackle it together. In 1920, IWD became an official holiday and governments began to endorse the occasion by issuing official statements on gender equality and giving women public roles in society to improve their status.
This year’s theme on Breaking the Bias comes with one main question. Will you help break the bias?
We all have Biases, Even the Best of Us
Bias is a pattern of thought that leads us to process information in a certain way. Biases can be conscious or unconscious; they can be a behavior, feeling, belief or even knowledge. Preferences, attitudes, feelings and behaviors are the four most common areas of bias defined by Psychology today.
Biases can also be referred to as stereotypes and discrimination. Discrimination connotes a system of un-fairness, stereotypes, and an age-old “untrue or in-correct” institutional framework.
‘BreakTheBias’ is a theme made for you. Specifically, for everyone who care about experience and inclusion, who want a better world.
Bias Is Every Where
Firsthand experience is very powerful. We learn from our own experiences and what others tell us—and we sometimes believe what we want to believe, seeing only what we want to see. Or hearing only what makes sense to us.
As humans, we are wired to be more inclined and receptive to people or things we are familiar with. Therefore, nature and nurture play a huge role in shaping our beliefs, aspirations, intuition, and biases. These can be positive, but they can also be negative.
The concept of Leadership can also be biased, as it creates a need to categorize, compare and as such, reinforces personal “often unintentional” prejudices, preconceptions, popular or un-popular ideas on a larger group. Great leader may be greatly biased, if they fail to consider how their own values shape the perceptions of what Leadership is — which is likely to be biased by their personal experiences.
Gender biases severely affect the female gender growth and denies access to opportunities. Furthermore, it creates a huge disparity in organizational representation, people, and process optimization. Without gender equality, institutions suffer.
Recognizing that we can be biased, causes us to reflect on the place and importance of personal leadership. With personal leadership, we each, can recognize our fallibility and make conscious effort to intentionally question our beliefs and how they fit into other narratives.
Personal Leadership in BreakingTheBias
The world currently operates under G-Localism, a combination of Globalization and Localization. These two forces continue to transcend borders and reshape how we see things. Institutions, organizations, and national entities are implicit on driving local leadership with a strong reliance on personal leadership, because biases start with a person.
Exposing our unconscious bias is extremely complex. What does “unconscious bias” look like? Would you know it if you saw it? Would you know it if you had, or have it?
Taking personal responsibility that you are biased start with developing a core value system of focusing on fair treatment and respect for others, regardless. Yes, it is this simple!
The challenge to overcome is our forgetfulness and tendency to overlook this basic human right amidst the pressure of daily living, goals, targets, and expectations.
Steps To Unify Your Biases
Step One
Always start with the heart. Each story you hear has an echo you may not hear. Give yourself a benefit of a second thought and wider opinions. In other words, give your first thought a second look. There is a reason why writers edit endlessly. This is because errors, like biases have a way of hiding away from the sight of a reader’s lens.
Question the why. Why do I not like this person? Why do I think the female gender shouldn’t aspire this much? Why do I feel more connected to a member of my team than the other? Knowing and recognizing the why doesn’t equate to knowing how to remedy it. It however makes you conscious of the chances and opportunities you need to create to ensure balance.
Step Two
Approach the Heart with Curiosity & Transparency. What if the opposite of what you think is true? Unconscious biases are more than conscious ones. These unconscious biases always find their way into policies and practices we exhibit. We must constantly evaluate opinions and decisions against the lenses of bias.
There are few good lessons to learn from the judiciary system, not the element time, but the picking of jury and the rigor each party goes through to present and establish fact(s) beyond a reasonable doubt. Fostering balanced perspectives is a game changer for personal, professional, and organizational development. It is a tough call to develop a practice that drives 100 percent inclusion, but it is imperative to continually solicit and recognize the opinions of most (if not all).
Step Three
Embrace Feminist Diplomacy: Yes! The elephant has refused to leave. According to a coalition group of Afro, Euro & Mediterranean women, Feminist diplomacy hinges on universal feminism against all forms of relativism, whether religious, cultural, identity or political, and strives to defend women’s rights wherever they are non-existent, insufficient, or violated. The gender-based approach, their third principle (also referred to as gender mainstreaming), attempts to ensure that “a gender equality perspective is incorporated in all policies at all levels and at all stages, by the actors normally involved in policy making. Feminism is more than a movement; it is a lifelong cause. It will remain if gender equality is not achieved. It will continue to be mainstream because other minority and inequal people, practice and policies will keep emerging. Equality is ambitious yet achievable because it is not asking for the extra-ordinary. It is a basic right.
Representation is very important for women; the pressure point is to be accepted and regarded as we are. FEMALE, and this is where personal leadership begins. Everyone is accountable for this progress.
With the International Women Day and every day, the dice is rolled to continually educate and challenge mindsets through peer /ally conversion, alignment, and dis-agreement. Simply because, there is no alternative to success than to have gender equality.
Tunbosun Afolayan is a Strategy, Sustainability, & Communications Expert. A Certified Petroleum Geologist with over 18years experience in international Oil & Gas, Financial services & Solid Minerals Mining industries. She holds Post graduate degrees in Geosciences, Business Management, Entrepreneurship & Leadership, and Energy & Sustainability.
She is the current Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists and sits on other professional boards.
She can be reached via: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tunbosun-afolayan
Comment here