Food Standards Agency honour International Women’s Day #BreakTheBias in the workplace

To mark International Women’s Day, Director of Policy, Rebecca Sudworth looks at the interplay between discrimination and bias in the workplace. She sets out positive steps and actions that all can take towards a more inclusive, supportive working environment.

 

 

When I started secondary school in the 1970s, we were told that the boys would do woodwork and metalwork and the girls would do sewing and cooking.

I complained to my parents and my dad was down the school like a shot, threatening them with the European Court of Human Rights. After this, my friend Jane and I became the first, and only, girls in the metalwork class that year. (I'm still the one with the toolbox in our household.) No boys were brave enough to join the sewing class.

Stopping someone from doing something because of their gender or another protected characteristic is discrimination. It's often pretty obvious when it happens and there are laws against it that most people know about.

The interplay of discrimination and bias

Bias is more subtle. Tackling discrimination meant that, in theory, boys and girls at my school were free to choose the subjects they wanted – but it was bias that stopped people being able to make a genuine choice.

Bias is the attitudes, culture, behaviours, assumptions and prejudices that we all carry within us and express in ways that are implicit as well as explicit. Bias told those boys that our school would not be a welcoming place for boys who wanted to study sewing.

When I reflect on my career so far I can see more clearly in retrospect the way in which the opportunities I've had were shaped by the interplay between discrimination and bias and how understanding these things can help make our workplaces more inclusive and diverse.

Flexibility at work

Twice in my career I've had to tell an employer on my very first day in a new job that I couldn't start work as expected because my partner was unwell and had been admitted to hospital. My partner was always the primary carer for our children and so if he was unwell that meant that I couldn’t get to work until I'd made other arrangements.

It would mean that I'd need flexibility for an extended period at a time when my new employer expected me to give the new job my full attention. Not an easy thing to talk about with a brand new employer.

Both of those employers exceeded my expectations. I knew that both had good family friendly policies and would be sympathetic – that they wouldn’t discriminate against me. But there is a big difference between having a policy in place and getting the kind of support and understanding that means you feel comfortable at work.

I still remember those conversations when I had to screw up the courage to say, 'I'm really sorry, I know it’s my first day but I can't come in' – and the kind and wise HR professionals who responded with empathy and experience to let me know that it was OK, and I'd get the support I needed.

Challenging assumptions in the workplace

In fact, my career might have got going sooner if I'd had that kind of empathy and encouragement at an earlier stage. I'd been offered a great job in London when I found out I was pregnant with my first child. Living in Oxford with a long commute and not knowing how I would juggle work and family, arrange childcare etc., I simply assumed that meant I wouldn’t be able to do the role. When I rang the employer to explain, this was accepted as a matter of fact.

Looking back now, I wonder what might have happened if that employer had taken some time to explain their maternity and flexible working policies to me, to offer me more time to think about the practicalities or even to keep me on a reserve list for future opportunities.

They weren't discriminating against me – it was my choice to turn down that role – but my own assumptions about what I'd be able to do and their acceptance of those assumptions meant that the result was just the same.

What it takes to succeed

It happens a lot that women – and it is usually women – express reservations about whether they can cope with a new role alongside family and caring responsibilities. I always advise them not to think about all the reasons that they might not be able to do the job, but to think about what it would take to help them succeed.

Talk to your manager or the recruiting team – be clear and positive about what you can contribute, given the right support. Explain what that support involves. Find out what they can offer. It really does work – you can take it from me.

You might be thinking that's easy for me to say – I'm now senior in my career and in a very different position from people starting out. Earlier in my career I used to wait until I'd been offered a job before having these conversations. I figured that would give me more leverage, and in many cases I know that was true.

That’s still something that a lot of people do, and I understand why – especially disabled people who continue to face significant discrimination and bias in the workplace.

But increasingly, I see that employers are paying attention to the ways in which they can showcase their workplace culture, and using their recruitment campaigns to demonstrate that when they say they are inclusive – they really mean it.

Workplace culture at the Food Standards Agency

When I joined the FSA three years ago, I checked for things that would give me a flavour of what it was like to work here – what it’s really like, I mean, not what it says in the job advert.

Talking to my prospective manager in advance, looking for clues about the organisational culture. For senior roles, the FSA has an employee panel – that was a chance for both of us to get to know each other. I liked what I saw.

What I try and do now is to remember that battling bias is about our everyday interactions, a tone of voice, a reaction to news, the way you show people that you mean what you say. It’s about walking the walk and it’s not always easy.

So don't assume that people know what you think and feel. Say it out loud – if a colleague tells you they are expecting a baby, be joyful, and ask what will help them at work during their or their partner's pregnancy and after the birth. In job adverts, actively welcome applications from people who have different working patterns. If someone asks for flexibility don't let your first response be 'I'll have to see if we can manage that' but, 'I'm really pleased you've explained what will help you'.

If a talented colleague says that they worry about coping if they go for promotion, tell them to take it one step at a time and not to rule themselves out before finding out more.

Saying it out loud is why I talk about diversity and equality at work. I'm proud to work for an organisation where the senior managers support staff networks and demonstrate personal commitment to change.

So this International Women’s Day, I want to encourage you all to reach out to each other, and think about what you can say or do at work today to show your own visible commitment to #BreaktheBias.