Gender Equality Training Programs

Engaging Young Men in Rajasthan: Shifting Gender Norms for a Better Future In Rajasthan, India, gender inequality remains deeply entrenched, contributing to issues like early marriage, intimate partner violence, and limited educational opportunities for girls. Recognizing the pivotal role young men play in perpetuating or challenging these norms, the Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ) launched a gender equality intervention in 2015, targeting young men in 15 villages across Bundi and Udaipur districts (Freudberg et al. 2018). Key Objectives: Changing Mindsets: The program aimed to alter young men’s knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors around gender roles, violence, and sexuality. By engaging these young men early, the initiative sought to lay the groundwork for long-term change in gender norms within their communities. Community Impact: Beyond individual changes, the intervention also targeted broader community-level shifts. The goal was to create an environment of greater gender equality, leading to reduced rates of child marriage, early maternal age, and enhanced educational opportunities for girls. Program Implementation: The project involved forming education groups for boys aged 14-17 and young men aged 18-25 in each village. These groups were led by local leaders trained by CHSJ and supported by the local organization, Manjiri. The curriculum covered a range of topics, from household gender roles to the societal impacts of child marriage and girls’ education. Despite facing challenges, including community resistance and funding cuts that shortened the program from three years to one, the initiative made notable progress. Impact and Results: Individual-Level Changes: Significant improvements were observed in participants’ knowledge and attitudes. Post-intervention, many young men reported helping with household chores and advocating for girls’ education in their communities. One participant noted, “After these meetings, I began to cook in my home and convinced my brother to send his daughter to school.” Community-Level Changes: While community-wide behavior change was more challenging, two villages saw substantial shifts. In one, efforts to combat child marriage led to a door-to-door campaign involving local government workers, resulting in the elimination of child marriages in the village since the campaign’s start. Challenges and Future Directions: Despite these successes, the short duration of the intervention limited its potential for broader community change. However, the progress made at the individual level suggests that with sustained efforts, these young men could become catalysts for deeper, long-lasting change in their communities. The lessons from this initiative underscore the importance of engaging young men in gender equality efforts. #GenderEquality #SocialNorms #YouthEngagement #Rajasthan #CommunityChange #PublicHealth

Today I am unveiling this week's edition of Beyond the Cockpit, where I delve into a critical aspect of diversity and inclusion: Comprehensive Bias Training. As we continue to strive towards closing the gender gap in the aviation industry, understanding and mitigating unconscious biases is paramount. In this newsletter, I explore: ✅ Why Bias Training? Understand the significant impact of unconscious biases on decision-making and team dynamics, particularly in high-stakes environments like aviation. ✅ Effective Implementation Strategies: Learn how to tailor and deploy bias training effectively across all organizational levels, ensuring that it resonates with everyone from frontline staff to executive leaders. ✅ Long-Term Benefits: Discover how comprehensive bias training not only fosters a more inclusive workplace but also enhances operational efficiency and safety. ✅ I also provide a step-by-step guide on how to implement these training programs, integrate them with broader diversity initiatives, and measure their impact effectively. Join me in pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve in workplace equality and changing the face of aviation. #aviation #aerospace #womeninaviation #womeninaerospace

I remember giving a welcome speech to a group of over 200 people in a hotel on the island Kos in Greece. It was my second season as a representative of a tour operator. My goal was to encourage the crowd to buy as many excursions and rent vehicles as they could. It was a huge sales pitch. I was incredibly successful. 20 years later, I‘m also presenting in front of 200 people. This time it’s not that easy to get a buy-in from every participant and reach the goal I intended. Ok, let’s be clear, nobody is for everyone. Neither am I, I know that. But talking about complex topics like how people are being excluded in the workplace and what we can do about it is a whole other thing. These topics are not easy to follow nor easy to accept. Why is behavioral change around DEI so difficult? Most Bias, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion trainings are designed to educate the employees and give them the information they are perceived to lack. This approach can be received as paternalistic, and implies that behavioral changes can only be created teaching knowledge. Participants might feel that there is something “wrong” with them. And, guess what? Of course that makes them feel defensive, and less motivated to change their behavior. The thing is, that people’s behavior is not only determined by their knowledge but also by other factors like their values, motivations, and anxieties. Therefore we need training approaches that go beyond just teaching people what to do. Trainings should respect the participants’ autonomy and give them tools to direct their own actions towards shared goals. That’s why I’ve been focusing on Empowerment in all of my formats where the participants are enabled to lead the change. It's also important to assume the participants are well intended (that's very hard for me since I'm biased myself). And let’s not forget that trainings around social justice can only be effective if the systemic issues that allowed bias in the first place are addressed in the organization. One training alone will not change anything. And, if being poorly conducted, it can actually harm the DEI efforts. A study from 2016 found that DEI trainings are effective if they focus on skill development and are conducted over a long period of time. What do we learn from this now? Yes, we need DEI trainings. Yes, you need more than a 1-hour training. Yes, the people you hire for this work should know about scientific-based and cognitive-behavioral approaches. Yes, systematic transformations in the organization are critical for a sustainable and successful cultural change. Do you believe in DEI trainings? How can DEI trainings be effective? #WorkshopFacilitation #Trainings #Diversity #Equity #Inclusion ALT Text in the picture and the comments.

Close the leadership gender gap in your organisation by following the lead of PepsiCo. PepsiCo is known as a “CEO Factory” known for its robust leadership development program. This program has been instrumental in developing numerous executives, including four women who became Fortune 500 CEOs. PepsiCo’s training offers ‘hi-potential’ individuals access to diverse roles, international experience, and significant responsibilities, fostering skills essential for C-suite roles. Importantly, 43% of PepsiCo managers are female, emphasising the company’s commitment to nurturing talented women. This approach contrasts with the general lack of transparency in leadership development in many other companies, which often leaves aspirants, especially women, without clear pathways to executive roles. How organisations can do what PepsiCo did: 1. Develop a structured leadership program, to identify and nurture high-potential women. 2. Provide diverse, challenging assignments and roles, including international experiences and P&L responsibilities. 3. Maintain a supportive environment where failure is seen as a learning opportunity. 4. Ensure transparency in career progression paths, especially to executive roles, to counter the typical opacity disadvantaging women in other companies. 5. Emphasize the representation of women in managerial positions to eliminate rigid gender stereotypes. ARTICLE: https://bit.ly/3HGiwsk #AdvancingWomen #WomeninLeadership

Women’s Leadership Development Programs (WLDPs) are one highly-effective tool for achieving better gender equity in leadership. But too often, her boss—often a male—is missing in action and unaccountable for her success when she returns.   In the absence of full managerial engagement and accountability, the work of mitigating systemic gender inequities in the workplace falls on women alone.   In this new MarketWatch piece with my good colleagues Ellen Keithline Byrne, PhD and Denise D'Agostino of Her New Standard, and David Smith, we call-out the epidemic of burnout and attrition among women who return from a WLDP, ascend to a new leadership role, and then find little support, resourcing, and allyship for success in the new role.   It’s high time to start training managers to be inclusive leaders, allies and sponsors for high-talent women, and then hold those managers accountable for results.   Here is a roadmap to fully sponsoring women for leader development Opportunities: ✅ Be clear about why she was selected, what you want her to get from the program and what support she can count on from you. ✅ Meet regularly during the program to hear her takeaways and help her apply them within your organization. Use these conversations as opportunities to learn, expand your gender intelligence, and show up as an inclusive leader. Collaborate with her to mitigate gendered headwinds to advancement. ✅ Purposefully build her developmental network by connecting her to potential mentors and sponsors in the organization and be a vocal and public advocate for her taking on stretch assignments including promotion opportunities that leverage both her potential and demonstrated competence. ✅ Give her ongoing career-related feedback when you see her stretching into new leadership behaviors or reverting to comfortable habits. Be sure to get feedback from her about how you are doing as an WLDP sponsor and inclusive leader. #genderequity #genderequality #womenleaders #goodguys #workplaceallies #21stcenturyleadership #womeninbusiness #inclusiveleadership #maleallies https://lnkd.in/e7DU2UPN