Women’s Agenda, February 10, 2023

When we talk about women’s career advancement and success at work, the conversation often gets caught up in the ways we can “fix” individual women. 

It’s a lazy trap that doesn’t acknowledge the pervasiveness of gender inequality in the workplace over decades, nor does it help dismantle the systemic and behavioural barriers that can hold women back at work.

While we’re starting to see some shifts in the way we have these conversations, many workplaces are still far away from real change.

Cultivated in the right way, workplace sponsorship has the potential to be an effective game-changer, not just for women facing entrenched structural barriers at work, but also for leaders to really step up and start thinking deeply about the ways gender equality can be improved in their workplace.

Take engineering, architecture, environment, and construction services firm GHD, which has engaged in an intentional sponsorship program with Cultivate Sponsorship, as they look to better attract and retain female talent in a sector that is heavily male-dominated.