Creating and Celebrating Equity for Women: Three Things We Can All Do

The role of creating and celebrating equity for women has been a journey for me. As a female executive, it is personally meaningful to serve as a mentor or simply be a good listener. I hope someday equality for women is not something we “celebrate” because it is table stakes. While I do recognise the progress we have made in gender parity in the workplace, we still have a long way to go. Here are three things we can do:

1. Set examples every day for young women and men

I have had the great fortune of having wonderful mentors and coaches throughout my career.  My boss in my first job out of graduate school attended the same graduate program as I did.  She was the first woman ever admitted to that Ph.D. program and was a constant source of inspiration to me, reminding me of what I could accomplish and the positive impact that I could have.

How do we advance the roles of women in the fields of life sciences, behavioral sciences, and physical sciences?  Women are filling an increasing proportion of graduate programs and obtaining advanced scientific degrees. We can all play a role in inspiring the curiosity of young women and motivating them to pursue careers in science. I personally spend time with high school and college-aged women talking with them about their aspirations and all the possibilities they have in front of them. I must admit, I am biased towards encouraging them toward scientific pursuits. 

Stereotypes still exist and impact the behavior of educators, bosses, and colleagues

I recently heard a heartbreaking story of a young woman in the engineering computer lab of her college, who was asked to verify that she had the right to be there – as “she didn’t look like an engineer” according to the supervising professor. This was within the last 10 years.

We need to ensure that we are pushing back against bias and stereotypes from within. At Waters, I’m proud of the programs we have in place to encourage women applicants and to ensure they have a great experience. We work closely with multiple organizations to support the recruitment and retention of women, like our partnership with Women in Manufacturing and Females in Mass Spectrometry.  At Waters, we focus on inclusion – ensuring that every one of our team members can bring their whole selves to work and feel that they have an awesome opportunity to contribute. Our Women at Waters employee resource group provides opportunities for women and allies to connect across the organization, supporting each other through mentorship, sponsorship, and learning.

2. Recognise when the bias is occurring and break down those barriers

• Pay attention. Not everyone is having the same experience that you might have had – positive or negative.  Observe how your women colleagues are treated. My natural tendency is always to assume positive intent, so I don’t naturally have my eye out for examples of bias in action.
• Speak and act up. Explicitly identify outcomes or behaviors that may be influenced by bias and bring those observations into the conversation so that they can be explored and addressed.
• Support and encourage your women colleagues to bring their full selves and their full capabilities to every relevant problem, to lean in, and to not accept the explanations and behaviors of others who make assumptions about their skills and capabilities, and ability to contribute.

3. Be willing to evolve your perspective

Earlier in my career, I actually did not want to be associated with “women’s programs.”  I did not want to be seen as needing something special or unable to stand on my feet in competition or collaboration with my male colleagues. Over the last 10 years, my perspective has really changed. My eyes were opened with the Me Too movement, hearing the stories of women who had such different experiences than my own, and recognizing that so many systemic barriers and outright hostility still exist for so many women in society and in our modern organizations.

Today, I feel it is a critical responsibility of leadership to pay it forward for women. This responsibility falls on each of us to ensure that women are encouraged and better prepared, and I am proud that Waters is on the leading edge in supporting those efforts.

By Belinda Hyde