This Father’s Day Give Your Daughter A Gift
It’s time for more men to advocate for women in the workplace.
Women’s advancement is stuck. A sense of urgency will never take place until fathers of daughters realize the responsibility they have to be change agents.
We can talk about the business case, strategies and talent initiatives but without a personal connection, men will never feel the true need to be committed to advancing women in the workplace.
Simply stated, men rarely make a connection between advocating for women in the workplace and the impact this will have when their daughter enters the job market.
My generation of men wanted to raise strong daughters. Whether it was sports or the arts, we supported them. We encouraged them to go great schools and seek meaningful careers. But when they graduate and are only offered 79 cents for the same job as our sons, we choose to do nothing. This is why men need to stand up today. We owe it to our daughters.
According to a report by the National Women’s Law Center based on today’s wage gap, a woman starting her career now will lose $430,480 over a 40-year career. For Latinas, this lifetime wage gap totals $1,007,080, and for African American women, the losses are $877,480.
If fathers don’t act to close the wage gap, our daughters who are starting their careers stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their careers, undercutting her ability to provide for themselves and their family.
The lifetime wage gap alone should propel more men to ask how they can help bring about pay equity – today.
Based on current rate of change, women will not reach true pay equity until 2059. The same is true for moving women ahead in companies. Change has to take place now as it will take YEARS to get close to parity. We need real commitment and real commitment will drive change when fathers of daughters realize the unique responsibility they have to lead this change.
I believe up to 30% of men in the workplace do want to help but don’t know what they can do on a daily basis. This is where the idea for Father of a Daughter came in. I created this initiative as an easy-to-do opt-in program. You commit to doing a minimum of one thing (hopefully more) to advance women.
Take the YWomen Father of a Daughter pledge and share with others
Read it, print it and sign it, post it in your workplace and you immediately demonstrate to you are advocating for women because you understand the responsibility a Father of a Daughter has. What better gift can a father give his daughter than a shot at a brighter future?
The Father of a Daughter Initiative is a roadmap for men to make the connection between women at work and their daughters and to stand up for the women in their lives.
To drive real change please consider sharing this with every father you know!
To find out more about the Father of a Daughter Initiative and see how you can be part of this movement, click here.
Jeffery Tobias Halter is a corporate gender strategist. The country’s leading expert on engaging men to advance women, Jeffery is the President of YWomen, a strategic consulting company. The former Director of Diversity Strategy of The Coca-Cola Company, Jeffery has worked with leading companies including McDonald’s, Deloitte, Publicis Groupe, GE and more. Jeffery’s latest book WHY WOMEN, The Leadership Imperative to Advancing Women and Engaging Men, is the first business book written by a man on how companies can advance women to enhance the company. A highly sought-after speaker, Jeffery is a TEDx speaker and frequently talks at industry and corporate events.
Father of a Daughter Initiative © 2015-2016 Jeffery Tobias Halter