we were united in our humanity we were
talking about that tricky touchy subject
of equity equal work equal pay equal
opportunity and equal respect now when I
first started work a few years back now
I was paid five hundred dollars more
looked at this earlier this year when we
were putting that event together I’d
actually been asked six weeks earlier to
write an article in the preparation for
International Women’s Day and I came
across a body of data that really threw
me off my center of balance equal work
equal pay fifty years ago over fifty
years ago before I was born in Australia
the law has changed and said equal work
equal pay in the UK equal work equal pay
it’s the law in the USA equal work equal
pay and this year in 2018 in Australia
the statistics women on average or pay
twenty four percent less than men in the
same company we’re not talking different
industries we’re talking even within the
same organization
in the UK twenty five percent in the
u.s. twenty six percent what does that
statistic mean for somebody over a
lifetime it means forty three percent
lower lifetime earning it’s not just a
life of less earnings a life of pain
it’s a lifetime it’s a retirement on
lower income for longer years now when I
was a little girl
my idol was my grandmother anyone here
have a grandmother whose powerful mine
was like one of the most amazing women
she had a degree she had run her own
business she had been the head of
department at the hospital in the town
that she was in and by the time I came
around she was well retired and I
remember learning about money from my
grandmother she ran her own investment
portfolio in those days and she made
seven percent over the long term when I
share that with investment advisers
these days they go oh my god she was
good and I of course sit back and go
yeah my grandma was good I grew up in a
world where there was no difference
women were financially capable and
responsible men were financially capable
responsible
my parents my father of course with a
mother like that no choice right my
mother was the same I grew up in a world
where I was judged for who I was as a
human not who I was as a gender and
there I am at the beginning of this year
realizing how many people are living
this life were there judge for their
gender so let’s just you up for playing
slightly okay
so just close your eyes we’re going to
imagine imagine yourself as a whole
being you’ve got a head to shoulders
pair of hits left leg right leg two feet
now feel one side of your body shrunk by
24% shake it out let it go feel yourself
whole again one full whole balance being
the truth is each of us have within us a
little bit that’s masculine and a little
bit that’s feminine we’re whole it’s the
story that says because one of these
sides is meant to be
a little bit smaller 24:25 for 6%
smaller or in some case more it shrinks
us if you’re a guy and you go this world
is not applicable to me but you’re
living it and you seeing that with other
women you’re giving it to them and
thereby also doing that too with that
part of you and if you’re a woman well
you might just be living in that so if
you ever feel that story coming back on
go back to who you are hole as humanity
now when I started talking about the
economic side of the purple elephant
earlier this year I got a couple of
responses they said you know what we
don’t get the purple piece unless that’s
super simple there’s the blue side of us
and there’s the pink side of us when we
put them together it’s purple it’s us as
whole beings and then we continued the
conversation and I had three major
responses they go like this Joanne don’t
be pushy I got that from a set of guys I
got don’t be shrill from a set of women
and I was sharing this with a friend of
my mother’s to a 76 and visiting here a
couple of months ago and her first
response was they’ve got a vested
interest I looked at her and went wow we
dug into that for some people the idea
of equity is scary they fear that by
opening up they’re giving up power and
strength and wealth as opposed to
creating a greater space and others have
been told don’t upset the applecart be
nice it’s okay the truth is yes our
world is better than it was a hundred
years ago
we’re not fighting wars in the same way
famine is largely a thing of the past
and pestilence and pretty unusual but 50
years on from the loss
equal work equal pay it’s still not the
truth for many women’s existence the
third thing I was told was Joanne you
don’t understand business I’ve been in
business for over thirty years I ran my
first ten million dollar business at
twenty four I get the juicy of saying
we’re getting something for twenty four
percent less I’m just not prepared to
buy into a story that says that that’s
an acceptable story when it comes
literally from saying the only way I can
make my numbers I can make my profit and
keep my shareholders happy is by abusing
a group of people just to put it out
super simple the truth is super
successful businesses are able to do
this for example salesforce.com the CEO
of salesforce.com had his eight head of
HR approached him and said you know what
we talked about equity pay equity but
I’m not sure we’ve got it
he said no we do were not that kind of
company and she said yeah said get the
data she comes back with the data not
long after and he looks at it and I
respect this cuz this is a moment of
courage as a leader he looked at and he
said that’s not the truth I want to see
what do we do formally every year they
were review pay levels across genders
and other areas of diversity to make
sure there is equity they have found it
needs to be an annual process because
they’ve identified that as they bring
other companies on board there’s not
always equity it’s actually a pretty
pragmatic process earlier this year a
archaic industry anyone ever heard of
mining super old-school masculine
dominated industry a CEO of one the
mining companies in Australia said ok
and as an executive took the decision to
actually comply with the law and comply
with equity and said we
going to ensure that women are paid the
same as men the result women every month
remember this is a monthly thing every
month the average pay differential that
they’ve received is three thousand four
hundred dollars for them and their
families twenty four percents a lot of
money so it’s something that as leaders
we can do it’s something that as
individuals we can ask about but there’s
a bigger thing why the elephant here we
go
the sustainable development goals are
targeted to the next set of them for
2035 it’s now 2018 so that’s just 17
years away right however the World
Economic Forum says that at current
rates of progress it’s 217 years until
economic equity that’s a 200 year gap
that’s eight generations so the
processes that we currently have
underway at the moment gentle and
socially safe as they are don’t fit with
this bigger picture of the sustainable
development goals item number five says
economic equity the rising tide of women
and girls economically creates a massive
ripple effect across nearly everyone of
the rest of the sustainable development
goals and yet two hundred and seventeen
years on current practice so it’s
actually something where we have a
powerful place to make action and make a
difference this is what we call the
purple why we started calling it the
purple elephant of the beautiful future
it’s a big issue it’s an elephant
it’s one about who we are as men and
women how do we want to show up as men
and women as boys and girls what is the
future we want to create when I was a
kid my dad one of my other role models
he was a scientist where everyone was
mr. because everyone had a PhD mind you
most of the mothers did too so it was a
pretty weird and wonderful place to grow
up the Research Institute that I grew up
at was part of what later became known
as the Green Revolution when they were
first set up they had the vision what
would the world be like if wars are no
longer fought for food and the world is
actually fed when it started they
thought this was going to be a
multi-generational challenge by the time
I graduated from high school the Green
Revolution had peacefully completed in
less than a lifetime companies had got
together with countries and individuals
to create a change it’s possible to
create stunning changes in a very short
time what would happen if each company
made a choice to say equity is simply
something we are going to see happen
what would happen if that happened in a
decade one of the interesting truths is
that these days out of the top 200
economic entities in this world over
half of them are corporate people
listening to this talk have influence in
those corporations have relations and
parents and those corporations we cannot
just do this ourselves we can influence
those who influence creating a greater
domino effect and some of asked what is
the pathway so for those of you who have
ever done anything with Carnegie Mellon
you may have come across maturity models
this is based on that and what you what
we saw when we started looking at that
there was actually a journey in there
and business would call this a strategic
change journey acceptance is pretty much
level 3 that’s following the law equal
work equal pay for some organizations a
bit it’s a bit tougher than that they’ve
got to come from somewhere behind
maybe spaces where there is an office
equity potentially spaces where it’s
more destructive and then on the upside
it’s not just about acceptance it’s
about respect
it’s about appreciation and conceivably
even a world based on joy because the
truth is simple acceptance and fixing it
is only part of the challenge to get to
a sustainable future so I want to leave
you with two thoughts firstly as you
move forward in life as you walk in to
sit down and study or go into the office
remember the whole you there is no need
to feel shrunk girls if you’re ever in
that situation where you feel that
happening remember the moment of
wholeness and stay with it and boys
remember how it felt
shrunk and let it go bring the gift of
wholeness to adjust yourself and to the
person you’re looking at and for anyone
here who’s in a capacity to influence
and organizations speak to them about
getting the data and having the courage
to take the leadership decision to
create equity because the purple
elephant of the beautiful future can
have wings on it and this is something
that can happen in a decade not
generations you
talking about that tricky touchy subject
of equity equal work equal pay equal
opportunity and equal respect now when I
first started work a few years back now
I was paid five hundred dollars more
looked at this earlier this year when we
were putting that event together I’d
actually been asked six weeks earlier to
write an article in the preparation for
International Women’s Day and I came
across a body of data that really threw
me off my center of balance equal work
equal pay fifty years ago over fifty
years ago before I was born in Australia
the law has changed and said equal work
equal pay in the UK equal work equal pay
it’s the law in the USA equal work equal
pay and this year in 2018 in Australia
the statistics women on average or pay
twenty four percent less than men in the
same company we’re not talking different
industries we’re talking even within the
same organization
in the UK twenty five percent in the
u.s. twenty six percent what does that
statistic mean for somebody over a
lifetime it means forty three percent
lower lifetime earning it’s not just a
life of less earnings a life of pain
it’s a lifetime it’s a retirement on
lower income for longer years now when I
was a little girl
my idol was my grandmother anyone here
have a grandmother whose powerful mine
was like one of the most amazing women
she had a degree she had run her own
business she had been the head of
department at the hospital in the town
that she was in and by the time I came
around she was well retired and I
remember learning about money from my
grandmother she ran her own investment
portfolio in those days and she made
seven percent over the long term when I
share that with investment advisers
these days they go oh my god she was
good and I of course sit back and go
yeah my grandma was good I grew up in a
world where there was no difference
women were financially capable and
responsible men were financially capable
responsible
my parents my father of course with a
mother like that no choice right my
mother was the same I grew up in a world
where I was judged for who I was as a
human not who I was as a gender and
there I am at the beginning of this year
realizing how many people are living
this life were there judge for their
gender so let’s just you up for playing
slightly okay
so just close your eyes we’re going to
imagine imagine yourself as a whole
being you’ve got a head to shoulders
pair of hits left leg right leg two feet
now feel one side of your body shrunk by
24% shake it out let it go feel yourself
whole again one full whole balance being
the truth is each of us have within us a
little bit that’s masculine and a little
bit that’s feminine we’re whole it’s the
story that says because one of these
sides is meant to be
a little bit smaller 24:25 for 6%
smaller or in some case more it shrinks
us if you’re a guy and you go this world
is not applicable to me but you’re
living it and you seeing that with other
women you’re giving it to them and
thereby also doing that too with that
part of you and if you’re a woman well
you might just be living in that so if
you ever feel that story coming back on
go back to who you are hole as humanity
now when I started talking about the
economic side of the purple elephant
earlier this year I got a couple of
responses they said you know what we
don’t get the purple piece unless that’s
super simple there’s the blue side of us
and there’s the pink side of us when we
put them together it’s purple it’s us as
whole beings and then we continued the
conversation and I had three major
responses they go like this Joanne don’t
be pushy I got that from a set of guys I
got don’t be shrill from a set of women
and I was sharing this with a friend of
my mother’s to a 76 and visiting here a
couple of months ago and her first
response was they’ve got a vested
interest I looked at her and went wow we
dug into that for some people the idea
of equity is scary they fear that by
opening up they’re giving up power and
strength and wealth as opposed to
creating a greater space and others have
been told don’t upset the applecart be
nice it’s okay the truth is yes our
world is better than it was a hundred
years ago
we’re not fighting wars in the same way
famine is largely a thing of the past
and pestilence and pretty unusual but 50
years on from the loss
equal work equal pay it’s still not the
truth for many women’s existence the
third thing I was told was Joanne you
don’t understand business I’ve been in
business for over thirty years I ran my
first ten million dollar business at
twenty four I get the juicy of saying
we’re getting something for twenty four
percent less I’m just not prepared to
buy into a story that says that that’s
an acceptable story when it comes
literally from saying the only way I can
make my numbers I can make my profit and
keep my shareholders happy is by abusing
a group of people just to put it out
super simple the truth is super
successful businesses are able to do
this for example salesforce.com the CEO
of salesforce.com had his eight head of
HR approached him and said you know what
we talked about equity pay equity but
I’m not sure we’ve got it
he said no we do were not that kind of
company and she said yeah said get the
data she comes back with the data not
long after and he looks at it and I
respect this cuz this is a moment of
courage as a leader he looked at and he
said that’s not the truth I want to see
what do we do formally every year they
were review pay levels across genders
and other areas of diversity to make
sure there is equity they have found it
needs to be an annual process because
they’ve identified that as they bring
other companies on board there’s not
always equity it’s actually a pretty
pragmatic process earlier this year a
archaic industry anyone ever heard of
mining super old-school masculine
dominated industry a CEO of one the
mining companies in Australia said ok
and as an executive took the decision to
actually comply with the law and comply
with equity and said we
going to ensure that women are paid the
same as men the result women every month
remember this is a monthly thing every
month the average pay differential that
they’ve received is three thousand four
hundred dollars for them and their
families twenty four percents a lot of
money so it’s something that as leaders
we can do it’s something that as
individuals we can ask about but there’s
a bigger thing why the elephant here we
go
the sustainable development goals are
targeted to the next set of them for
2035 it’s now 2018 so that’s just 17
years away right however the World
Economic Forum says that at current
rates of progress it’s 217 years until
economic equity that’s a 200 year gap
that’s eight generations so the
processes that we currently have
underway at the moment gentle and
socially safe as they are don’t fit with
this bigger picture of the sustainable
development goals item number five says
economic equity the rising tide of women
and girls economically creates a massive
ripple effect across nearly everyone of
the rest of the sustainable development
goals and yet two hundred and seventeen
years on current practice so it’s
actually something where we have a
powerful place to make action and make a
difference this is what we call the
purple why we started calling it the
purple elephant of the beautiful future
it’s a big issue it’s an elephant
it’s one about who we are as men and
women how do we want to show up as men
and women as boys and girls what is the
future we want to create when I was a
kid my dad one of my other role models
he was a scientist where everyone was
mr. because everyone had a PhD mind you
most of the mothers did too so it was a
pretty weird and wonderful place to grow
up the Research Institute that I grew up
at was part of what later became known
as the Green Revolution when they were
first set up they had the vision what
would the world be like if wars are no
longer fought for food and the world is
actually fed when it started they
thought this was going to be a
multi-generational challenge by the time
I graduated from high school the Green
Revolution had peacefully completed in
less than a lifetime companies had got
together with countries and individuals
to create a change it’s possible to
create stunning changes in a very short
time what would happen if each company
made a choice to say equity is simply
something we are going to see happen
what would happen if that happened in a
decade one of the interesting truths is
that these days out of the top 200
economic entities in this world over
half of them are corporate people
listening to this talk have influence in
those corporations have relations and
parents and those corporations we cannot
just do this ourselves we can influence
those who influence creating a greater
domino effect and some of asked what is
the pathway so for those of you who have
ever done anything with Carnegie Mellon
you may have come across maturity models
this is based on that and what you what
we saw when we started looking at that
there was actually a journey in there
and business would call this a strategic
change journey acceptance is pretty much
level 3 that’s following the law equal
work equal pay for some organizations a
bit it’s a bit tougher than that they’ve
got to come from somewhere behind
maybe spaces where there is an office
equity potentially spaces where it’s
more destructive and then on the upside
it’s not just about acceptance it’s
about respect
it’s about appreciation and conceivably
even a world based on joy because the
truth is simple acceptance and fixing it
is only part of the challenge to get to
a sustainable future so I want to leave
you with two thoughts firstly as you
move forward in life as you walk in to
sit down and study or go into the office
remember the whole you there is no need
to feel shrunk girls if you’re ever in
that situation where you feel that
happening remember the moment of
wholeness and stay with it and boys
remember how it felt
shrunk and let it go bring the gift of
wholeness to adjust yourself and to the
person you’re looking at and for anyone
here who’s in a capacity to influence
and organizations speak to them about
getting the data and having the courage
to take the leadership decision to
create equity because the purple
elephant of the beautiful future can
have wings on it and this is something
that can happen in a decade not
generations you
Please follow and like us: