An Open Letter For International Women's Day By Christopher Schiavello

When considering how we could celebrate International Women’s Day, I sat down with one of my up-and-coming project coordinators, Bri, to brainstorm some ideas together. She asked me a simple question, “what do you want to get out of the occasion?”

After pointing out to me, the ridiculous fact that the most googled topic on International Women’s Day is ‘when is International Men’s Day’; I knew the celebration needed to make a difference. I spent a few days thinking about it and responded to Bri with, “it needs to be more than an afternoon tea, or photoshoot showing our female workforce. It needs to acknowledge the challenges that women face professionally, and the equity we can provide to get to equality. Because women in working environments are often unheard, undersupported, and ultimately under-represented.”

As a business leader, an advocate for change, and someone who strives for greater social equality, this day means a lot to me personally. We can, and should, all talk about our mothers, sisters, nieces, aunties, wives, or friends that we are celebrating this day for. For me, it means immersing myself in conversation with the women around me; learning more about the challenges they have faced personally and professionally, and understanding the roadmap to a future without gender bias.

Gender bias is a major challenge that women face. Overcoming assumptions placed on them, that if you don’t want a family now, you will inevitably have one. The perception that showing emotion is a weakness, and acting ‘like a man’ is often the way to be considered for a promotion. That, when a woman is assertive, she will often carry the tag of being a ‘bitch’. Whereas, a man is deemed strong when being assertive.

When a woman decides to have a family, she juggles the timing with trying to have a career. And there is a social expectation that once they do have a family, they will be a homemaker, and not the breadwinner. Yet, this expectation is not placed on men.

We need to be providing environments and leadership that allows for an equal voice. We often talk about the opportunity that exists now, that didn’t before. And, speculate about what can be. That, we should be happy for the progress that has been made, and know that equality will happen eventually, and that’s good enough. But it’s not. We can do more to help women reach their full potential in the workforce. I can do more.

I have grown up with some wonderful female influences in my life. You often hear the story of Tony and Joe. Equally as important, is the story of Elda and Maria. Wives, mothers, sounding boards, mentors, councilors, pillars of strength, and influencers. In the inspiring words of the mother from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ - "the man is the head, but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants." Elda and Maria have been the backbone to Tony and Joe. They are the reason that our family and business has successfully coexisted. They worked, ran a household, and raised their family. Strong and respected women, they helped make this business what it is today, all while providing unwavering support to their husbands.

Today, we reflect on these successes and reaffirm that a woman’s role should not always be centred around the trade-off of having a family. Their role shouldn’t always default to being the supporting cast, and just participating in the workforce.

I have three wonderful, intelligent, hardworking, benevolent sisters; all of whom are mothers, and are at different stages in their active careers. They all have supportive husbands, loving families, and of course, a lot more opportunity presented to them than most. As they have re-entered the workforce from building their families, what has amazed yet frustrated me, is just how humble they are.

Amazing, because they are selfless and will always put others before themselves. Frustrating, because they devalue their worth, are overly cautious when committing, and never want to disappoint. Ultimately, they will rarely put themselves out there and too often play down just how great they are. They will undersell their contribution, and always take a more conservative approach to their abilities. Happy in their lives – absolutely. But are they reluctant to strive for more because the life they know is to be the caregiver, and not the CEO once they have a family?

Women are often more emotionally intelligent and are more supportive of their peers. They will often listen and collect information first, thus making more informed decisions. They are often better at questioning, and as a result have a deeper understanding of the problems at hand. Not to mention, returning mums are often more efficient in their use of time, and their decision to return to a career means they are doing this with a higher sense of purpose. This ultimately drives a higher commitment and better outcomes for business.

So, I want to use this day to make sure we are having conversations of substance. That we are building greater empathy to understand the challenges for women. I make a personal pledge to all women, not just my sisters, to make sure they realise their worth and never doubt it. To ensure they never sell themselves short.  To help them find and project their voice, so they can reach their full potential.

There is equality and there is equity. Sometimes we need to remember the opportunity we have, and share some of that to provide equal footing for others. This is real equal opportunity.

Happy International Women’s Day.

Christopher Schiavello