2019 Male Allyship to Advocacy: Advocating for Women in the Workplace

In our mission to close the gender wage gap in Boston, on thing is very clear: we simply cannot do this work without the partnership of Mayor Walsh and the Boston business community. One of our goals with 100% Talent Compact members, is to host events that surface solutions to help close the wage gap, including male allyship.

On July 16th, in partnership with the Mass Convention Center Authority (MCCA), we hosted a special bonus event: Male Allies in the Workplace - From Allyship to Advocacy. Our featured speaker, Jeffrey Halter, President of YWomen, discussed the business, moral imperatives and practical steps men AND women can take in advocating for women’s advancement in the workplace. In addition, we asked the men in the room to sign a pledge committing to taking everyday actions in the workplace. Catch the recap below:

Announcing the 2019-2020 BWWC Male Advocate Goals

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the BWWC are asking male leaders in the 100% Talent Compact to put their allyship into action and advocate for women in the workplace every day.

Based on the Innovative Initiatives Award Categories - Decreasing the time to promotion for women; Advancing women of color; Closing the gender-based wage gap; Increasing the ratio of women on board and c-suite - and on Jeffery Tobias Halter's work, we’re asking men to commit to five goals:

Seek to Understand their Experience

Become a Mentor
Support Other Women in Work Projects
Learn Gender Pay Equity at my Company/Organization
Encourage and Sponsor Women to be Hired/Promoted

View Pledge Form

Taking Allyship to Advocacy in the Workplace

With practical steps towards advocacy in hand we took a deeper dive into what it means for business strategies to include gender diversity and equity with Jeffery Tobias Halter, President of YWomen a gender diversity strategy consultant.

According to his research, top performing companies have:

Vocal/visible c-suite commitment;
Progressive corporate policies; &
An approach to gender equity as a change initiative.

They are also measuring, tracking, and and improving based on data.

“We have to get from values to action.”

— Jeffery Tobias Halter, President of YWomen

Want to learn more about gender diversity in your company? You can reach Jeffery Tobias Halter directly here.

What’s Next

We were encouraged to not only see the number of male allies in the room, but the engagement of male leaders in wanting to learn how to be be active allies and advocates in the workplace demonstrated in their day to day actions. To keep the momentum going, we will host another event in 2020 to discuss the progress on the male advocate goals and raise wins, challenges, and growth areas. Here some immediate action steps you can take to turn your allyship into action: