Your study conducted in collaboration with Randstad Canada reveals that 63% of women say that they were promised that they would have the same opportunities as men with their employer, but believe that this is not the case in reality. Is this a new trend?
This statistic reveals that many companies make promises they can’t keep. Some organizations claim to have measures in place to support diversity, equity and inclusion, but in reality, this is only a communication exercise without concrete actions. We are talking about greenwashing when a company boasts of respecting the environment without actually doing so. Well, today we are witnessing pinkwashing. At the same time, it must be recognized that it is not easy to transform from start to finish a work culture that has been developed for people, by people, and that is why the companies that are most successful in terms of equity and parity invest significant efforts in this, generally initiated by senior management.
What is your advice for female executives and entrepreneurs who want to develop strong leadership?
We must trust ourselves, listen to our intuition and realize that we are entitled to the same opportunities as men. Then, you have to surround yourself with sponsors, not mentors. A mentor can listen and give advice, but a sponsor is the one who will open the doors to which we do not have access. The reality today, given the lack of gender parity in senior management positions, is that our sponsors will often be men. We need these allies to advance and reach key positions or to take advantage of opportunities that are otherwise unattainable to us as entrepreneurs. For their part, companies must offer women a work environment that meets their needs: a hybrid and flexible way of working, but above all advancement and development plans whose milestones are clear with pay equity.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Eva Hartling, President and Founder of Femmes de marque/The Brand is Female
In the workplace and in the radio media, we are seeing a return to mansplaining (mecsplication), at interrupting. Do you feel that we are taking a step back on this?
The good news is that we are able to recognize the phenomenon of mansplaining Today. We must now denounce it. Our recent report on gender equity in the workplace references statistics released last year by McKinsey: 37% of women said a colleague had already been given credit of their idea, and female managers were twice as likely as male managers to be mistaken for someone lower in the office. It is the majority of women who report having suffered some form of discrimination, or even microaggression in the workplace (the mansplaining is an example), and it’s not changing fast enough. I come back to the notion of allies: we need the support of men in order to achieve equity and put an end to all forms of discrimination related to our sex.
What is the mission of Femmes de marque/The Brand is Female?
After working nearly 20 years as a communications and marketing executive in the corporate world, I observed firsthand the challenges women face in terms of equity and advancement, as well as the lack of representation women both in conferences and in the media. I launched my business with the objective of giving more visibility to women in business through our content platforms (podcasts, conferences, etc.), in addition to supporting them with strategic communication consulting services. I also host the podcast The Brand is Female where I interview a woman in business every week about her journey. We have over 200 episodes in the bank.