Meet the creators: Tabi Eleanor Haller-Jorden

We believe that the world’s greatest challenges will never be solved by one person or organization alone. We need to work together! In our series #MeetTheCreators, we present you one of our members, showing his/her impact and work for reaching the sustainable development goals.

Meet our SDG this month: 

The Sustainable Development Goal Nr 5 wants to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Meet our creator this month: 

Tabi, how long have you worked on gender equality?

I would estimate close to 30 years. After working for an environmental advocacy organization as an undergraduate, I developed a real appetite for driving social change and impact. Following graduate work in labor law, industrial relations and organizational psychology, I was hired to head up the consulting arm of Catalyst (New York) where our focus was to help organizations realise the business benefits of gender equality. Catalyst published a number of studies at the time that confirmed the business benefits of women’s representation; increasingly, gender equality was recognized as a business imperative. I think companies suddenly realised that the issue of gender was not simply about good social responsibility but rather, driving business value. That realization was a tipping point for many companies and launched my own work in the gender space.

30 years is a long time - you have a fantastic overview over the issue. What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities?

Sadly, a number of corporate initiatives have stagnated in recent years simply because they have not been particularly innovative or impactful in their approach. The business motivation remains, but many companies are struggling with the “how”. Additionally, and against the backdrop of significant increases in demographic diversity, management is now more fully appreciated as a social competency. Traditionally, we have put people in management positions assuming that technical competencies were sufficient. What companies now acknowledge, is that we won’t realize the business benefits of gender diversity unless managers understand how to effectively leverage that diversity. This gap is reflected in many of the requests we receive from our clients tied to developing more relationship management skills, inclusive leadership behaviour and storytelling proficiency. Additionally, enhancements to performance management systems as well as accountability for results are necessary.

What positive change have you noticed in the conversations about gender parity?

I think it’s encouraging to see that we are now moving well beyond men versus women binary thinking. Previously, companies asked – “Tabi, what will the women in the company say about this?” In turn, my response was always "What women are we talking about?" Historically, we have been guilty of conflating gender with biological sex. Gender is a social construct. As gender-related definitions increase, companies are realising that gender parity is definitely not a one size fits all proposition. We have to become much more attentive to the "diversity within diversity" and recognise that a formulaic response is no longer appropriate or adequate.

Could you share an example of what results binary thinking creates and what challenge it poses?

Years ago, I consulted for a global law firm that had quite a number of women who were managing partners. I was invited to speak to a group of new associates and made the off-handed comment, "Oh, you must be encouraged to see this number of women in the senior ranks". My comment was initially greeted with stunned silence. A brave associate then spoke up and said: "Tabi do you know these women? None of them has a partner, none of them has children and none of them even has a parakeet! They are absolutely conveying the message to us that sure, you can become a managing partner but the following requirements are implied: no outside life, no partner, no children." In short, the numbers in and of themselves were impressive but the story behind the story was unrealistic and non-inclusive. While the company was applauding their numerical success, the employees at large were bemoaning this group’s monolithic profile. In short, it’s not enough to get the numbers right if it means compromising on inclusion. You have to look more deeply at the lived experience of that corporate culture as well as be attentive to the range of individual talents and requirements.