Creating cultural shift against misogyny

The culture in the police won’t be changed by only dropping in a programme covering misogyny and sexism. Whilst awareness can help people notice harm, on its own it’s flawed. A #SundayThread on why and what is needed. Now I know headlines hide a reality but let’s take this headline and apply the evidence of what works. The headline to spot and “call out” misogyny if true is not a helpful response. If a system aims to just weed out the 'bad apples,' employees won't feel safe speaking up, and bigger issues in the work culture go unresolved. Policing code of ethics already impose a duty to report certain behaviours. The question must be why don’t people report. If a system aims to just weed out the 'bad apples,' employees won't feel safe speaking up, and bigger issues in the work culture go unresolved. Policing code of ethics already impose a duty to report certain behaviours. The question must be why don’t people report. My flippancy above to suggest simply dropping in a diversity programme won’t work isn’t my words. It was used by Harvard a few years back. They provided ways that cultures can address harmful behaviours. Their focus was on male cultures which I feel is relevant here. They suggest organisations like police need to go back to basics. What’s your values, your mission. Next work to keep harm doers in check. Work to dispel perception that people actually support certain behaviours when they don’t. Work to help dispel perception that speaking up is a bad thing. It can actually be a supportive thing for individuals, communities and the organisation. What the above do is keep harm doers in check. Those who commit harm begin to see the healthy norms in the setting. When people dont speak up the harm doers feel they are the majority and are supported. This needs to be reversed. Don’t think I’m dismissing awareness I’m not. I just know from my own work and research that a simple focus on vawg won’t address deep rooted issues that exist in policing. I should know I was part of this for 30 years. Some hope - working with Niven Rennie Gerry Campbell MBE FCMI AFHEA MSyl we’ve had chance to work with hundreds of officers. Their responses to the AS1 curriculum suggest a workforce who want to help. As said the headlines will mask the true response from Met but I do hope that they aren’t just doing the same old reactive programme. Work needs to reflect the reality of the job. This will only include both content and delivery method. I wish them well. All officers, staff and indeed the public deserve a policing culture that fits for purpose. If not we will keep seeing the harm at the extreme end of the continuum https://lnkd.in/eSJMx2NB

There has been so much media attention on violence against women and girls this week while those of us in this field just crack on with the work tackling what we’ve always known is an emergency. I’ll continue to work on creating safe spaces for women to reduce male violence by providing: 👩🏫 Education: for adults, for leaders, for children, for teachers, for parents 📣 Training: Active bystandership training (SPECIALISING in anti-sexism and misogyny) for leaders and peers to have the confidence and tools to step in and speak out 📖 Research: to constantly review how we create safe spaces through the latest attitudes, resources and academic research 🧠 Consultancy: to advise organisations on how to use my model of Culture, Policy and Design to create and maintain safe spaces for women It’s not a flash in the pan for us when the media interest peaks - we are doing this 365 days a year.

As the Presiding Officer of the Internal Committee and a certified POSH trainer, I recently conducted a Gender Sensitization and POSH Awareness Training for my corporate colleagues. With nearly two decades of experience in the social development sector, much of it focused on women’s issues, I have witnessed first-hand the deep impact of patriarchal mindsets. These don’t just limit women — they also burden men with unrealistic expectations about their roles as providers and protectors. My journey began as a Women & Child Development program in-charge for tribal women in Udaipur. Over the years, I have worked with women in rural areas, urban slums, garment factories, and now with professionals in corporate settings. What strikes me is that, across all these contexts, the core challenges remain similar. Since enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, most of the activities focus on making women aware of their rights — which is important and necessary. But what often gets overlooked is the sensitization of men beyond the provisions of the Act. In my view, POSH by itself is a compliance tool. To create genuinely safe workplaces, we need to go beyond compliance and focus on mindset shift. Gender sensitization workshops help dissolve barriers, foster mutual respect, and build trust — making workplaces healthier for all. #POSH #GenderSensitization #SafeWorkplace #DEI #GenderEquality #EquityAtWork #SDG5 #Leadership #Training #CulturalShift #ESG #SocialCompliance #Sustainability

To move people from performative to genuine allyship, to create genuine cultural change in organisations, look at what's going on outside the work place just as much an issue and influence, as what's going on inside. Nothing exists in a vacuum. To me it seems obvious that there are links between systemic misogyny and the patriarchal paradigm, and why companies struggle to retain women and have a gender pay gap. It also seems clear why the world is struggling to do anything meaningful towards equality, and to reduce or end male violence against women and girls, given the way that women are represented so often in the media, and especially in pornography, given how much of it is consumed by so many. No matter how much unconscious bias and allyship training is given in the workplace, when people are bombarded by counter messaging in the wider world and perhaps deliberately engage with media or behaviour that denigrates women, it's impossible to create true corporate cultural change. Companies cannot create cultures in the workplace where women are safe and valued, if many of their male staff are engaging in behaviour that is harmful to women outside work. It's simply impossible for someone to claim to be a gold star ally to women in the workplace if they are watching porn and/or using prostitutes outside of work, or at the lighter end, if they join in with sexist banter. When I worked in investments, it was normal some guys to go to strip clubs, to boast about their escapades with women they paid for sex. It was also acceptable to objectify female colleagues. Things may have moved on in some companies in terms of what's out in the open, but I don't think things have moved on as much as people think when it comes to what's still going on outside work or, only spoken about in permissive company. Many only pretend to respect women when their career is on the line, temporarily saying or doing the right thing in certain company. Violence against women is a continuum; from inappropriate comments ('only joking though!), to touching on the waist as you pass, to Luis Rubiales forcing an on the lips kiss on winning goal scorer Hermoso just yesterday, to assault, rape and so on. To tackle the lighter end that is most likely to show up in the workplace, it's essential to see this as a continuum, and to accept it exists in a permissive culture where it is normalised to one extent or another. Daniele Fiandaca and I gave a webinar recently on countering the sexualisation of women in the workplace, and I'm working on new material on the culture and allyship angle of sexual harassment. As part my allyship offering, I also offer training on the Psychology of Victim Blaming of Women Subjected to Male Violence. For anyone interested in all of this, join me at Nordic Model Now's event Breaking The Cycle: the links between male violence, porn and prostitution. Link below. #genderbalance #diversity #genderpaygap #allyship #leadershipdevelopment