43. ALL women to be represented at the decision making table.
Today I am chatting to the most amazing woman Ashanti Benhtil Dhue - who is a speaker, diversity expert and researcher. She is co-founder of Diversity Ally, the first HR, Training & Search partner dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive culture in the global events industry, and co-founder of the global network, Black In Events. She has also spearheaded the only research in the UK exclusively focused on how organisations can invest in black millennials and generation Z females in the corporate structure. You can sign up to receive the white paper below. A heads up is that we recorded this amazing interview back in April before George Floyd was killed among many others and the Black Lives Matter movement really found energy around the world, so I wanted to mention that because since then Ashanti co created the UK's first nationwide anti-racism and allyship project for white women who want to be allies. The mission is to empower as many white women as possible to become anti-racist changemakers and allies in their personal and professional capacities. You can find out more in the link in the show notes and to be involved. In this episode we chat about the importance of ALL women being represented and having a seat at the decision making table. Ashanti shares some great stats that will really get you thinking and we talk about what organisations and individuals can do to move the needle on having more women of colour and individuals from BAME groups to have equity. Employee activism comes up as well as the ‘double burden’ that needs to be acknowledged when it comes to role models at work. “There is a shift and they expect their employers to have an incisive culture and also expect their employer to be living the values that are on their website.” (Ashanti) “We are seeing that there is a double burden... sometimes as a black women you’ve got the additional burden of being a role model for other black women if any exist in your workplace” (Ashanti) “For me that’s key that women can be themselves at work and feel like that’s enough” (Gemma) “When there is equity then people can be themselves” (Ashanti) “Self awareness is key to not feel that pressure and know yourself and what you want” (Gemma) “HR, L&D, D&I and CEOs are all uncomfortable talking about race. That’s your first problem...a lot of that isn’t their own fault as human beings it's the labels we put on each other… the issue is equity ...we have to have empathy to move to a place of equity” (Ashanti) “Race has become less and less of a priority because of how challenging it is to talk about it” (Ashanti) #NoMoreHiding #Leadership #Selfpromotion #Femaleleaders #diversity #equity #equality #BAME #Blackwomen #blacklivesmatter Book a call with Gemma: http://bit.ly/CallGemmaPodcast More info about the 1-1 No More Hiding 12 month Coaching Programme https://bit.ly/NMH12Pod Get the White Paper ‘Visibility at Work: The Importance of Self Promotion for Women’s Career Progression https://bit.ly/WP2020podcast Connect with your host Gemma Stow: Website: https://www.gemmastow.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gemmastow/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/gemmastow Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamgemmastow/ Connect with Ashanti: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashantibd/ You can sign up to receive her white paper here: https://forms.gle/U2eXp2P1onWZLnEp6. You can find out more about the 100 white women project here: https://100whitewomen.typeform.com/to/hpvkHGjg