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Here's what senior leaders are sensing...
Your gender diversity conversation feels stuck. Not because people don’t care, but they are tired of:
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a rehash of the same themes
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a focus on empowerment and allyship narratives
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little changing once they return to work
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Meanwhile, the pressure to demonstrate progress continues.
This signals your organisation may have outgrown the current approach and it's time for a fresh approach to International Women's Day.
One that reflects the complexity organisations are navigating now and creates genuine engagement across the whole workforce. It could take the form of a keynote, a workshop, a fireside chat or form an alternative view on a panel.
Why a different approach is needed...​
Much corporate International Women's Day (IWD) activity still focuses on raising awareness and celebrating women.
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The challenge is that awareness alone isn’t translating into sustained change. For some people, it’s starting to feel repetitive or disconnected from the realities of daily working life.
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At the same time:
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many women feel progress is slow or fragile
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many men feel unsure where they fit in the conversation
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gender-diverse people are often left navigating silence
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leaders are under pressure to engage without polarising
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What many organisation's are now looking for is a more mature approach, one that includes women’s experiences without framing gender progress as as something that benefits one group at the expense of others.
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This is where Gender Harmony comes in.
Gender Harmony:
a unifying approach to gender progress​
Much of the work on gender equality to date has, understandably, focused on women and girls.
That focus has been necessary and remains important.
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Gender Harmony builds on this work by widening the frame.
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Rather than concentrating progress efforts primarily on one group at a time, Gender Harmony offers a unifying umbrella for gender representation, one that supports women’s advancement while also recognising the experiences, constraints and contributions of men and gender-diverse people.
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It recognises that:
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different gender groups experience the workplace differently
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progress is stronger when it is collaborative rather than competitive
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lasting change comes from whole-system approaches that reflect lived reality of people at work and integrate into everyday business practice​
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In practice, this helps women by reducing the friction and backlash that often surround women-only initiatives, allowing progress to gain wider buy-in and move further, faster. And when changes that benefit women are adopted as standard practice, women are no longer penalised for using them.
Gender Harmony shifts the focus from advancing one group in isolation to a broader question:
What needs to change so people of all genders can thrive together?
In the workplace, Gender Harmony is applied through a practical 3 × 3 model.
The 3 x 3 model looks at the experiences and needs of women, men and gender-diverse people, and examines how these show up across three levels of organisational life: systems (policies, processes and structures), culture (everyday norms, behaviours and expectations) and people (skills, confidence and lived experience).
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By looking at where these areas intersect, organisations can see what is universal, what is group-specific and where targeted action will have the greatest impact. The Gender Harmony Principles are then followed to ensure gender progress initiatives remain effective.
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This creates a more comprehensive and holistic approach, one that removes the barriers different gender groups face and provides the support each needs to thrive, strengthening gender representation and talent retention across the organisation.
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Explore whether this is right for your organisation
What this IWD sessions delivers
The session can be shaped to suit your organisation and audience, whether as a keynote-style talk, an interactive workshop, fireside chat or part of a panel discussion.
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In the session, you are guided through how the Gender Harmony framework can be used to make sense of real workplace situations, helping leaders see where gender dynamics are shaped by systems, culture and everyday decisions.
The focus is on applying the Gender Harmony principles in ways that help gender progress gain traction and endure.
​This creates a more sustainable and commercially relevant approach to gender representation, one that leaders can integrate seamlessly into how they run the business.
It helps organisations to:
+ Re-engage people who have tuned out of traditional gender messaging. By moving beyond empowerment and allyship narratives, to a truly inclusive approach.
+ Support leaders to treat gender equity as a core leadership capability. So responsibility for progress sits with leaders and decision-makers, not just DEI teams, ERGs or women themselves.
+ Reduce risk and protect organisational credibility. Through a mature, balanced way of leading on gender that lowers the likelihood of backlash, missteps or polarisation.
+ Create the conditions for higher retention, engagement and performance. By ensuring every gender group is sincerely and equitably supported, and able to perform at their.​​​
Conversations become less charged and more productive.
Women are able to use the support available to them without second-guessing the impact on their credibility.
Men have clearer permission to engage without fear of missteps.
Leaders spend less time managing tension and more time leading.
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Gender becomes part of how the organisation works, rather than something that needs to be managed separately.
Over time, these shifts change how work feels day to day
Conversations become less charged and more productive.
Women are able to use the support available to them without second-guessing the impact on their credibility.
Men have clearer permission to engage without fear of missteps.
Leaders make clearer, more confident decisions about people, performance and progression.
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Balanced gender representation becomes easier to sustain, built into how work is done rather than managed as a separate initiative
Learn more about Gender Harmony​
You can explore the thinking behind Gender Harmony in more depth in the TEDx talk "Gender equality is broken" or at the Gender Harmony website.
About Stephanie Aitken
Stephanie Aitken is a gender diversity consultant, speaker and coach working with large organisations to improve gender representation in the workplace in ways that are inclusive and sustainable.
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She works with leadership teams, L&D functions and employee networks across traditionally male-dominated sectors, supporting women’s progression while engaging men and addressing the wider systems that shape outcomes at work.
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Stephanie is a TEDx speaker on the future of gender progress and the creator of the Gender Harmony framework, which builds on her research, client work and experience in the field.
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