8 Ways to Say Forget the Cupcakes and Support Women at Work Now
Inspired by 'F*ck the Cupcakes,' I'm challenging the rituals associated with IWD and calling for real, daily efforts for gender equality. From personal audits to organisational changes, it's a call to action to forget the cupcakes and make workplaces work for women.
Interview multiple candidates
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Search for the right experience
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Ask for past work examples & results
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Vet candidates & ask for past references before hiring
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Once you hire them, give them access for all tools & resources for success
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It's fair to say that movements like F*CK the Cupcakes capture my love/hate relationship with International Women's Day. Their motto: Less Icing: More Action, has inspired me to write what now feels like my annual FFS, get shit done, blog about IWD.
But first, a shoutout to Fck the Cupcakes, a movement founded in 2021 by Jasmin Bedir to respond to the organisational virtue signalling around IWD every year. Virtue signalling includes:
- Organisations buy trays of cupcakes (or some other sugary frippery) for an IWD morning tea and then do naff all for the remaining 364 days of the year for women in their workplace.
- Organisations that leave it up to women to do all the thinking and organising for IWD.
- Organisations that want to engage a keynote speaker like me then don't do anything beyond the absolute minimum for workplace gender equality beyond the 8th of March.
- Organisations that approach me (and other women) to speak for free or for meagre fees on IWD.
Do I sound cheesed off? Well, that's because I am!
Are you cheesed off?
Ok, I know that there are a bunch of people who couldn't give a rats bum about IWD. Then there are the people who might be thinking, holy hell, this (global gender equality) is a big problem to solve. (They're right.) Some people want to contribute but need to figure out where to start.
There are nearly 8 billion of us in the world, so how about I create a list of straightforward ways for everyone to say Fck the Cupcakes and take some meaningful action.
Here are 8 things every person can do to this IWD and beyond.
1. Audit your reading habits. How many female authors versus male authors are on your bookshelves?
FACT: Men are four times more likely to read a book by a man than a woman. Women read books by both genders roughly equally.
Reading List
Inclusive Teams & Workplaces: Everyone Wins!
2. Audit your listening habits. How many women's voices are you listening to each day?
FACT: Whilst the gender gap is closing in podcasting, where women constitute approximately 48% of listeners, the same cannot be said for podcast creators, with just 29% of content creators identified as women. It is the same in broadcast radio, where it is estimated that 80% of radio presenters are male.
Listening List
3. Audit your watching habits. How much of the content you watch is by women and/or about women?
FACT: 69% of men prefer to watch men's-only sports, while 72% of women prefer mixed tournaments.
FACT: Women are underrepresented on screen, with men taking nearly 60% of all roles.
Watching List
4. Audit your social media habits. How many accounts do you follow by women versus men?
FACT: 56% of LinkedIn users globally are men.
To-Do List
How many posts by women do you like/support?
How many posts by women do you comment (supportively) on?
5. Audit your strategic networks. How diverse is your network? How many women versus men do you 'do business' with?
FACT: 82% of men are mentored by other men. Men owned businesses receive more than 98% of investment funding available.
To Do List: Audit and diversify the people you do all sorts of business with including:
Mentors
Colleagues that collaborate repeatedly with
Suppliers/Clients that you entertain.
Businesses you invest in.
6. Audit your spending habits. How many women-owned businesses do you buy from versus men's businesses?
To-Do List:
How might you buy more products or services from women for your personal needs?
Is your organisation's procurement policy inclusive of women-owned businesses? Is it actually procuring from women?
7. Audit who is speaking. Are women provided as much uninterrupted speaking time as men in your workplace?
FACT: According to findings from the Woman Interrupted app, which detects when a female voice is spoken over by a man, this happens 1.79 times a minute in Australia, 1.67 times a minute in the UK, 1.43 times a minute in the US, and a whopping 8.28 times in Pakistan, 7.22 times in Nigeria and 6.66 times in Malaysia.
To-Do List: who gets the uninterrupted airtime:
In meetings
At internal events
At external events (panels, keynotes)
When external speakers engaged
8. Audit your workplace. I've written and spoken thousands of words about this. How many women versus men are there in your workplace?
On the board
On the executive team
Running P&Ls
In STEM areas?
To-Do List: use these resources of mine to get started:
The 5 Questions Every Inclusive Leaders Should Ask in 2024
How to Talk to Women at Work: The 5X5 Discussion Guide
It's way past time to interrupt human social programming by removing the "default man" from our everyday decisions and behaviour. This is how you can fck the cupcakes this IWD and every day after that. If your organisation wants me to help you to forget the cupcakes and create a workplace that works for women, then lets talk.
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