Louie-Mae Gibson, Estate Director / Chair of the (J)EDI Group / KFP People Board | Ambassador One Loud Voice for Women | Veteran inc. heading up the KF Armed Forces Focus Group | TEDx Speaker
In this week’s Doyenne Discuss article, we chat with Louie-Mae about her work with One Loud Voice, an organisation dedicated to advancing gender equality in the workplace.
One Loud Voice for Women (1LV) has been on a mission to reshape workplaces for gender equality since 2017. As its name suggests it started out with an aim of amplifying the voices of women in the workplace to create a balanced and gender equal work environment. It is a charity and it’s overarching mission is to elevate women by influencing and reshaping workplaces into the best modern day work cultures. That means advocating for cultures of psychological safety and opportunity – as well as equality.
It’s an approach that resonates with the way I have always approached the workplace, supporting WiB and in particular the way I would like to help bring about positive and much-needed change in the workplace for my peers and the next generation of women; it’s why I am so proud to be an ambassador for 1LV and a champion for them.
1LV’s current focus is to identify and bolster gender equity in organisations. By doing this they will enable cost-effective best practices that empower women in the sticky middle to become senior leaders. They have rightly identified the sticky middle – which refers to the point at which women in the workplace might start to experience difficulty progressing in their careers – as a key focus. Whatever the reasons – and there are many that range from taking time out to have families to not hanging out in the right places out of the office where decisions are made – it means there is a lack of a healthy female talent pipeline in middle management that impacts senior leadership opportunities.
I have seen and continue to see for myself the female talent pipeline start to dry up as women are overlooked for a variety of reasons. These range from systemic barriers within their organisation to having families and working flexibly, to simply not spending time on the golf course or in the pub where men are able to network effectively; although to be clear this is not man-bashing as there is great value in male allyship, however equally it is still a constant that holds women back.
1LV’s approach is to bolster gender equity from within organisations, effectively working with organisations AND with women. It is an approach that makes sense; it enables organisations to adopt best practices whilst empowering women. By doing this 1LV is supporting and elevating today’s sticky middle and creating the talented female leaders of tomorrow.
In June this year, 1LV launched its WE+ brand. This is all about ‘women’ and ‘equality’ and so much more. There are three core pillars of work at the heart of WE+:
WE+ Measure – best practice metrics
WE+ Allyship – gender partnerships
WE+ Support – advisory and coaching
Each of the three pillars plays a role in 1LV achieving its overall mission. In particular, the introduction of WE+Measure has accelerated its mission. I am particularly excited by the potential of this gender equity benchmark, it is the first of its kind, with academic research and not subjectivity. It allows an organisation to measure its gender equity inputs against established best practices that achieve gender equality outputs. By doing so it benefits both the organisation, but also – crucially – the women who work there now and in the future.
The WE+ Measure assesses an organisation’s gender equality status beyond representation and pay gap. It assesses the organisation’s practices across seven key goals that include creating an inclusive culture and ending gender discrimination and harassment. It also helps make informed, data-driven decisions for equality outputs, and it is an easy-to-use approach.
I am thrilled and honoured to be part of this charity that is forcing change in such a considered and innovative way. Together, we can create a louder voice for women in the workplace and drive real change.
Visit www.oneloudvoice.co.uk or email info@oneloudvoice.org to get involved.
Connect with Louie-Mae today
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