Break the Bias – IWD 2022

Written by Orlaith McGuinness, Community Development Project Manager at ELBA

One of the themes for 2022 International Women’s Day is #BreaktheBias: a call to stand up against gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping.

At ELBA, we are proud to collaborate with many fantastic organisations fighting for gender equality: from the East London community partners empowering local women through training, education, employment, mentorship, and wellbeing support, to the business partners giving their time, skills and expertise to support these organisations and their beneficiaries.

A key mission of this year’s IWD campaign is to forge inclusive work cultures where women’s careers thrive. Bias continues to hold women and workplaces back: according to IWD, almost 60% of women regularly experience microaggressions at work. This is higher and more acute amongst women of colour, LGBTQ+ women, and women with disabilities. That said, less than 50% of people report speaking out against biassed behaviour in work.  This year, IWD and its partners have developed several helpful resources to help organisations identify and challenge bias in the workplace head-on.

In honour of IWD and this mission, ELBA ran an online ‘Learning from Leaders‘ session* to create a space to share advice, experiences, and learnings on tackling bias in our organisations and communities. We welcomed some fantastic panellists from both the corporate and community sector, including Anna Strickland, Director of True you Today, an organisation that empowers and supports survivors of gendered abuse through art, movement and creativity. 

IWD is a time to celebrate women’s achievement, raise awareness against bias and take action for equality, not just on the 8th of March, but all year round. At ELBA, we are proud to collaborate with organisations that value and celebrate difference. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

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*The session formed part of the Evolve project, a collaborative partnership between Societe Generale, Societe Generale Foundation, Linklaters and UBS. If you are interested in collaborating on a similar programme, please get in touch with Orlaith: orlaith.mcguinness@elba-1.org.uk.

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