Gender Equity: A partnership

Diversity

A lot of people talk about partnerships between providers and suppliers. But a group of people got together this fall in Columbus, Ohio, to listen to speakers and talk among themselves about another, even more immediate, kind of partnership – that between men and women.

The setting was the Gender Equity Summit, an inaugural event organized by the Columbus Partnership and the Columbus Women’s Commission. “The Summit was designed to be a workshop for leaders who wanted to better understand gender partnerships and how to accelerate them in the workplace,” says Therese Grossi, senior vice president of enterprise contracting, Cardinal Health, and executive sponsor of the company’s Women’s Initiative Network/Midwest chapter.

Proceeds from the one-day event went to the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign, which supports research on heart disease among women, which, according to the AHA, is the No. 1 killer of women. Cardinal Health CFO Mike Kaufmann is this year’s co-chair of the Go Red for Women campaign as well as executive sponsor of Cardinal Health’s Women’s Initiative Network, or WIN.

“Gender equity has been a passion of mine for years,” says Kaufmann. “Great leaders know you need great talent, so being able to better attract 50 percent of the population is a competitive advantage. So when I was asked to chair the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign in Columbus, my first reaction was that a gender equity summit would be a great way to raise money and – just as important – awareness of the challenge of gender equity.

“I believe the Gender Equity Summit activated a group of leaders who left with a business case for why gender equity makes business sense, some tips on how to accelerate their programs, and a network of people tackling the same challenge. I am convinced that we can shorten the 100 years if we all take a more active role in gender partnership.” (Kaufmann was referring to some estimates that, given the nation’s current trajectory, gender parity may not be achieved for at least 100 years.)

Says Grossi, “The research is clear – companies succeed at an accelerated rate when there is more gender balance at leadership levels. Gender equity is not a ‘women’s issue.’ It’s a business growth opportunity.

Gender equity is also a men’s issue, she says. “Involving men in this work is crucial and essential. Men are the disproportionate decision-makers today. We must have leadership’s active engagement and partnership on the topic to get the traction we need for improvement not to take 100 years.

“Following the summit, I have heard from many of our attendees how excited they were about the day and how they planned to take the information gathered and learned back to their own organizations. I’m confident that the summit will have impact beyond what we will ever know.”