CREATING greater impact
THROUGH GENDER EQUALITY
Looking at issues through an intersectional gender lens is key to unlocking the competitive advantages of gender equality and equity.
WORKSHOPS
We tailor our workshops to our client’s needs. If your organization is new to gender mainstreaming, we recommend a 4h workshop for groups of 15-20 people.
The case for gender-responsive road maintenance.
Karlskoga (Sweden) is one of the first cities in the world to find that women's and men's travel patterns affect how they benefit from road maintenance services.
While men tend to drive to and from work, women take public transportation multiple times per day. Not only to work, but to drop off children at school, take care of elder relatives, buy groceries, and more. Globally, women are responsible for 75% of the world's unpaid household and care work, and this affects how they travel.
When streets are covered in snow, pedestrians - a majority of which are women - have a harder time getting around. In 2011, Karlskoga changed its road maintenance services to prioritize pedestrian areas, which led to a decrease in pedestrian accidents, especially among older women. As the number of accidents declined, Karlskoga spent less on healthcare bills and gained more productivity hours.
Workshop Content
Workshop Design
Losing female talent is costly
Diverse talent is key to success. Gender and racially diverse organizations perform better and are more profitable than their national industry medians (McKinsey). Yet, women continue to face numerous barriers in the workplace - barriers that prevent them from meeting their full potential, make HR budgets swell, and compromise company growth.
Losing female talent is expensive. The costs for recruiting, re-hiring, re-benefitting, and re-training a replacement amounts to an estimated 1.5-2.0x of your previous employee’s salary, and this does not include the lag time in productivity associated with on-boarding. According to 600 CEOs surveyed by Harvard, mid-level managers take up to six months to break-even (UMA).
Who survives a natural disaster?
Women and children are more likely than men to die or be injured during a natural disaster. Due to socio-economic factors and social norms, women are more likely to live in poverty and have less access to basic means. This means that women are hit harder when droughts, floods, and deforestation break down our environmental, economic, and social systems. When resources are scarce, women are often forced to spend more time on domestic tasks, such as collecting water, and eat less to ensure other family members are fed. If a conflict breaks out - which often happens when a society's core systems no longer function - women and girls also face a higher rate of sexual violence.
Bathroom lines & women's health
Can we fix the bathroom line? Yes! We can design plumbing codes and bathrooms based on needs, shorten lines, and improve women’s health. Historically, plumbing codes require male and female public bathrooms to have equal floor space, but this doesn't make much sense based on our different needs, and the fact that you can fit both urinals and stalls in men’s bathrooms.
Although we are working towards shared responsibility for unpaid care work, women are more likely to be going to the bathroom with a child or an elder relative and need more time. Women also represent a majority of the elderly and disabled and have bigger needs when they are of childbearing age and pregnant.
Menopause and productivity
Menopause - the transitional phase in women's life we never talk about.
Menopause often hits women in their mid-40s, lasts for years, and comes with physical and psychological symptoms that affect their overall well-being and productivity. When we support women through flexible work arrangements, educational resources, and staff advocates, everybody wins. According to the University of Leicester, absenteeism caused by severe menopause symptoms can cost employers $9.5+ million/year. Continue reading.
How we get around
Public transportation plays a fundamental role to our access to jobs, education, healthcare, childcare, and other amenities.
Compared to men, women have different mobility patterns as described above. Women also experience more harassment and discrimination. A recent study found that women in N.Y. pay a pink transit tax. as they rather opt for ride sharing services instead of public transit to get home safely. But this is not an option for everyone. Lack of safe, affordable, and accessible services isolates women from opportunities and prevents social and economic development, with women of color taking the biggest toll.
Women's role for lasting peace
Peace processes lay the foundation for peace and the structure of society, such as our government institutions. But peace processes rarely include those who didn't partake in the conflict and whose priorities might differ. Of the peace agreements signed between 1990 and 2010, only 7% referred to gender equality or women’s rights despite women making up half the population. Research shows that there is a positive correlation between women's
participation in and influence over peace processes and lasting peace agreements. In Somalia, Northern Ireland, DRC, and Liberia women's groups played a key role in the process, e.g., by building broad coalitions and securing public buy-in.
Send us a message at hello@refolda.com to set up an introductory call and learn how we can tailor
our services to your needs.