Future Women Innovators¶
Goals of the get-together¶
The aim of the workshop was to bring together people whose profession and experience in the workplace would give insights on the local situation as an indicator on where to act upon. The second goal was to let people know of the SHEMAKES initiative and how we approach this in Greece by the curiosity workshops all around the country for kids 8-18 years old.
Additional discussion topics
What do you find the most important & valuable topic in the gender discussion?
Do you think that in your country women have the same opportunity as men in terms of access to management positions, technical occupations and/or higher expertise?
Do consider that the spirit of innovation is stimulated in society (through non-formal, atypical education, lifelong learning programs etc) for women and men alike?
From your point of view, are women given the same opportunities as men to contribute to a more sustainable future for the communities they belong to?
What are the challenges right now in your organisation regarding gender equality?
Is there an action you could do to reduce the gender gap in your organisation?
How would you want the gender situation to be in 5 years?
What would be your advice today to the women of the future?
MATERIAL AND TOOLS¶
- Projector and screen
- Sticky notes (used also as name tags)
- Sticky dots - 4 per person (tip: different colour dot for each person if you want to track their answers)
- Pens, post it notes
- Questions printed out and stuck on the walls (blue tack or similar: we used sticky dots - 2 per sheet of questions so 16 sticky dots in total)
TEAM ROLES¶
One person to lead this workshop (moderator)
Three facilitators, one for each table: one of the facilitators can be the moderator mentioned above)
Documenting the process: pictures & videos : This can be done by the people renting out the space to you, or someone observing or a person you hired to do this(don't forget to have the consent forms signed)
PREPARATION¶
- Drinks & snacks
- Print outs: questions were printed out on A3 transparencies and were stack on the wall. Feel free to use any other way that suits you, to present the questions.
- Room preparation : Participants are seated according to their type of organisation. There are three tables with chairs around them: technology, education and business. Each table has enough pens and post it notes for all.
DOs AND DON’Ts ?¶
Some participants may wish to change tables after hearing the questions, finding the topic of another table more relevant. Don't pressure them to stay! This should be a relaxed and safe environment for them to express their views. The more relaxed and flexible you are, the better the results you will achieve.
Do not try to stir the results in one direction: you may find that despite your thoughts of gender bias, there may not be any according to your participants. You need to respect this and to understand their points of view. You may want to rephrase your questions.
TIPS AND TRICKS¶
Questions can be presented on the wall in whatever format you like. They can be printed out and stuck on the wall in normal A4 paper etc. We used acrylic sheets (A2 size) and placed the printed out transparencies onto them (the transparencies stick to the acrylic with electrostatic forces so no glue or similar is needed). Translucent acrylic of different colors makes the questions stick out and they add a creative touch to the space. Sticky dots: each participant gets 4 sticky dots to use in session 3. We advise to keep a note of the name of the participant with the color of the dot they have, in case you want to trace their answers
Brief your facilitators well before the workshop, and ask them to take notes especially at the very end, when the final discussion/networking takes place. What matters were discussed the most?
AGENDA 2H SESSION¶
- Welcome (15 min)
- Shemakes Intro (15 min)
- First round of questions (30 min)
- Second round of questions (40 min)
- Conclusion, Reflections and Networking (60 min)
1 - Welcome (15 min)¶
When participants arrive (before they get seated) they will be asked to:
- Get sticky notes to use as name tags and write down name + organization
- Fill in consent forms
- Choose a seat according to their type of organisation. THere are three tables: technology, education and business. Participants get to introduce themselves amongst them
- Once they are seated, they are given the consent forms to fill in.
2 - Shemakes intro (10 min)¶
Shemakes introduction & goal: Empowering future female innovators of the sustainable fashion industry through inspiration, skills and networks. Within the shemakes project we use a three-pronged approach to reach our goals. We provide innovative learning paths for girls and women of various ages, concrete business support and connections, and inspiring stories of female role models.
What has Shemakes done so far at a local scale? Presentation of the Shemakes work in your Lab and also the projects you have so far accomplished.
Goal of the day - Identify the current situation in our country, regarding gender bias in the workplace. How would we want the situation to be like in the future in order to prepare the ground for future female innovators?
3 - First round of questions - (30 min)¶
4 questions (with multiple choice- answers) about gender and gender bias in their workplace are presented to all participants regardless of which table they are sat.
The questions are printed out and stuck on the wall.
Participants choose one answer only.
The questions are presented on the wall and the participants have to stand up regardless of their tables and choose one answer.
We used sticky dots to choose the answer. Since there are 4 questions, they will use all 4 sticky notes handed to them at the beginning of the session.
STEP 1: Read the 4 questions out loud;
STEP 2: Invite them all to stand up, ask them to bring their sticky dots and ask them to choose only one answer to each question: the one they mostly relate to. This shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes;
STEP 3: while you keep the time, you remind them they have 5 min left, then 1 min left;
STEP 4: You all observe which answers got the most hits: you read them out and ask why people thought so. Encourage participants who answered to elaborate.
STEP 5: OSummarise this session after the most popular answers have been discussed and see if a workplace gender bias status can already be drawn up. Could we generalize it? Could we assume this is a good sample of people to take their answers as a typical situation?
Here are the questions we propose:¶
What do you find the most important & valuable topic in the gender discussion? 1. Equal payment 2. More women in leading positions 3. Revalue of the type of work usually performed by women 4. Different way of working culture/specific working environment
Do you think that in Greece women have the same opportunity as men in terms of access to management positions, technical occupations and/or higher expertise? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Definitely not 4. I don’t know
Do consider that the spirit of innovation is stimulated in society (through non-formal, atypical education, lifelong learning programs etc) for women and men alike? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Definitely not 4. I don’t know
From your point of view, are women given the same opportunities as men to contribute to a more sustainable future for the communities they belong to? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Definitely not 4. I don’t know
4 - Second round of questions - (40 min)¶
The second round consists of 4 open questions, the answers will be discussed between the participants at each table.
A facilitator (member of the organising team) will be needed at each table to moderate the discussions.
The answers will be written on post-it notes and placed under the corresponding question on the wall.
There is no limit to the number of post-it notes per table.
It is recommended to allocate 10 minutes for each of the 4 questions.
STEP 1: read the FIRST question out loud.
STEP 2: invite them all to discuss this amongst them in each table. The facilitator keeps the time (7-8min), and helps the conversation going.
STEP 3: Invite them all to stand up and to place their post it notes underneath the question.
STEP 4: Repeat this for all 4 questions.
STEP 5: While the participants are busy discussing the 4th question, you read through the post it notes from the previous 3 questions and try to find patterns/ things in common in their answers. Once all answers are in place, you discuss the answers you thought stand out. This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.
STEP 6: You encourage everyone to stand up, to get a refreshment and snack and to join you on the wall where all answers are to discuss them and reflect upon it all together.
Here are the questions we propose:¶
What are the challenges right now in your organisation regarding gender equality?
Is there an action you could do to reduce the gender gap in your organisation?
How would you want the gender situation to be in 5 years?
What would be your advice today to the women of the future?
As the format of the second round invites participants to open discussions, which may even represent personal experiences, it would be advisable to consider/focus on the following: * No names, no personalization, no judgments, no rights or wrongs. * The concrete/abstract action that empowered or hindered her/him. * Context (familiar/unfamiliar/unfamiliar/comfortable.) * Participant's feeling - not someone else's, or why they did or might not. * Happened during - training/learning, work, personal life, public/social.
5 - Conclusion, discussion and networking- (60 minutes)¶
STEP 1: Ask the participants to check the similarities and differences in the answers both on the acrylic sheets and the post it notes, and to discuss them with each other. This is when the participants from each table get to mingle and discuss. The facilitators are going around encouraging conversation and note anything interesting.
STEP 2: group photo
STEP 3: contact details to those who want to keep in touch
STEP 4: thank them all and keep networking and conversations going.
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