Women shouldn’t have rights

 

Lack of diversity affects our lives personally and professionally. In this country, equality for everyone — minority, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender — seems like a simple concept. Sadly, I struggle every day to understand why it is not.

Challenges such as marriage equality and feeling safe in the workplace (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) are joined by a multitude of other forms of inequality, such as sexism, racial profiling and gender bias. These issues appear in abundance on the Internet and social media, and on sites you might not expect.

Recently Adweek published an article entitled “Powerful Ads Use Real Google Searches to Show the Scope of Sexism Worldwide.” The campaign, created by UN Women, uses Google’s autocomplete search feature to show how gender inequality is a worldwide epidemic. The study used search qualifiers like “women shouldn’t,” “women need to,” and “women cannot.” 

The results were inconceivable, returning statements like “women shouldn’t have rights” or “women need to know their place.” Campaign creator Christopher Hunt, head of art for Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, explains, “The adverts show the results of genuine searches, highlighting popular opinions across the worldwide web.”

Popular? Maybe. Appalling? Absolutely! So we decided to try it out at the Bloomsburg office of Aloysius Butler & Clark, and we were horrified by what we found.  The searches truly did return topics like,  “women shouldn’t vote” and “women need to shut up.” We then opened up the search to include the LGBTQA community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Ally). The results were even more disheartening, returning things like “gays need to stop whining” and “gays need to die.”

Sexism and LGBTQA intolerance remain very real issues. They stem from ignorance and breed hate and inequality. Unfortunately, they’re with us every day, creating impossible situations and unsafe and unsatisfactory work environments.

Business leaders are beginning to realize the importance of diversity and inclusion to their organizations. According to an article in the Gallup Business Journal, “Inclusiveness is a strategy to unleash the power of diversity to generate business value. It involves creating opportunities throughout the organization so that the talents of all employees can be fully realized. And it extends beyond strictly embracing legal dictates associated with the ‘protected categories’ of discrimination law, which include race, gender, religion, age, and disability.”

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace can lead directly to greater innovation, operational efficiency and higher profitability. To gain a greater understanding of diversity and inclusion and what it can mean for your organization, please join Shawn Kessler, Senior Strategist at Aloysius Butler & Clark, and Stephanie Huckle, Diversity Specialist at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Rhode Island, for a webinar entitled “Diversity, Inclusion & You,” hosted by ASPR on Wednesday, November 20, at 1 p.m. EST.