Gender equality is not about “women winning and men losing”, delegates at the BCO conference in Berlin heard today in a gender diversity keynote speech delivered by a man.
Michael Kaufman, author and the co-founder of White Ribbon – a network of men working to ending violence against women – urged men in the audience “not to be scared of powerful women” before arguing that gender equality was a dialogue for men as well as women.
“I can see the men in the audience shrinking back in their seat with their arms crossed thinking ‘oh god, I’m going to get abused for the next 40 minutes’. That’s not the case,” he said.
Kaufman urged men to think about the imbalance of the world in which we live and work and the difference between sentiment and action when it comes to addressing the problem.
“Too many people say to women ‘just lean in. That’s how you make it in a man’s world’. What we need to do instead is change the world. We need widescale transformation.”
He added: “We [men] make, on average, 150% more than women. Most of our political leaders are men. Men control our economies. We live in a world where the most celebrated athletes are men. And our women athletes are paid less. We live in a world where men sexualise women to sell products. Where there is still an outdated expectation that women do the lions share of housework.
“As men, we have to be strong and we have to change this.”
He pointed out that men and women largely want the same thing in he workplace: to be equally rewarded for their work; to be in a healthy, fair environment; and to feel respected.
“Women and men can benefit together from change,” he said. “The only difference? Us men won’t run the show. We will share the show.”
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