International Women's Day 2023: #EmbraceEquity

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2023 and this year’s theme, #EmbraceEquity, MoFo Asia hosted a webinar to discuss intersectionality in the workplace, sharing perspectives on how businesses in Asia can broaden the application of their DEI policies and programs to cover a wider range of diversity, including race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, and disability.

Thank you to our guest speakers: Puja Kapai, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, and Convenor, Women’s Studies Research Centre, University of Hong Kong; Preet Grewal, a leader in diversity, inclusion, and workplace cultural transformation in Asia; Zainab Javid Patel, Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Pernod Ricard India; and Aramide Fields, Associate General Counsel for the Asia division of a Fortune 500 company, and Executive Committee Member, Women in Law Japan.

Intersectionality is a practical tool to drive change – one that we can use to intervene and disrupt the everyday assumptions and priorities that might appear to be fair and just on the surface, but can obfuscate and sideline the needs of marginalized groups.

UN Secretary General António Guterres recently declared that it is likely to take 300 years to achieve gender equality. What does that mean for those of us who sit at the margins of various intersectional groupings that do not fall within the DEI framings currently applied?

While there are big challenges in taking an intersectional approach to achieving equality and equity, we can all make meaningful progress.

Here are some key themes and actionable insights shared by our speakers during the discussion. Please see below for additional details on these.

• Be consciously inclusive in developing DEI policies and programs.
• Don’t be afraid to ask the difficult questions.
• Look for opportunities to continually build knowledge and awareness of intersectional issues and opportunities in the spaces in which we have a voice, influence, or power.
• Provide sponsorship and mentorship specifically targeting underrepresented leaders and employees.
• Empower people to speak up.

This webinar was part of MoFo Asia’s 2023 Diversity and Inclusion Series. Please look out for future events and activities.

More from our speakers

• Be consciously inclusive and deliberately intersectional.
• “Being intersectional, and thinking intersectionally, is something we can do every day in the spaces in which we have a voice, influence, or power. We need to hold ourselves accountable for the privilege that we have, and to use it to build better understandings to strengthen our frameworks for doing DEI more meaningfully. Commit to practicing intersectionality deliberately and put an intention out into the world.” Puja Kapai
• “Take a participatory approach to DEI. Begin by designing DEI frameworks in an inclusive way. Do not overlook the needs of the marginalized groups by failing to include them in the design process.” Puja Kapai
• “Actively look for the underrepresented groups whose voices are missing. Make the conscious effort to go outside and ask – whose point of view might still be missing both at the corporate and the individual level? Then invite those people into the conversation to share their lived experiences and help to identify where the gaps are.” Aramide Fields
• “Equality requires actively doing something. If we are not actively pursuing equality, then we are a part of the problem. If you don't create or think with intersectionality, then you will end up unconsciously excluding someone which, in turn, creates inequality. Building with intersectionality, thinking with intersectionality is the work that we are going to need to achieve true equality.” Preet Grewal
• “There is no cookie-cutter approach or a one-size-fits-all solution to this work. Use a localized lens and approach. When designing programs, analyze the situation at the local level and gather input from the interested groups on the ground.” Preet Grewal
• “Audre Lorde has said, ‘There's no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.’ If we are serious about addressing inequality, we must move beyond gender and now, increasingly race, and take a more complex approach and tackle inequality in all its manifestations.” Puja Kapai

• Don’t be afraid to ask the difficult questions.
• “What is happening in hiring and promotion? Why aren't we getting diverse candidates in – or, if they are getting in, why aren't they staying?
• What is happening in employee development? Why are some employees not finding the support offered helpful in advancing their careers? Where are the gaps?
• What is happening in gender, race, disability, pay, and other forms of parity in terms of career advancement? What are the discrepancies and how do we rectify these?” Puja Kapai

• Look for opportunities to continually build knowledge and awareness of intersectional issues and opportunities in the spaces in which you have a voice, influence, or power.
• “If we do not see the problem, we will never be able to tackle it.
• Be aware of our own unconscious bias and whether we are surrounded by people that are like us, as that will only reinforce that bias.
• Consciously learn about those communities in your organization that you know little about and try to understand their experiences and issues.
• Rely on the expertise of those people in your organizations who do this work.
• Bring in outside speakers and experts to help educate people on intersectionality.
• Offer specific, targeted DEI training.” Preet Grewal
• “Collect data that are disaggregated along multiple axes such as race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, and socio-economic background. This will help to move the needle and measure impact and enable a more intersectional approach, e.g., use broader DEI self‑assessment program such as unconscious bias/implicit association tests.
• Submit to an inclusion index. Companies tracking, reporting, and achieving on measures of diversity, inclusion, and people development gain more valuable, differentiated insights and achieve better success in DEI over time.” Zainab Javid Patel

• “Provide sponsorship and mentorship specifically targeting underrepresented leaders and employees.” Zainab Javid Patel
• Empower people to speak up.
• “On an individual level, recognize the power that you wield and that you have a voice.
• Create a safe space so people can discuss, share, and hear about the experiences of others.
• If there is no open forum to safely raise an issue, consider asking allies to help bring the issues to the table.” Aramide Fields