By Rasesh Mohan and Eric Macias
“Because it’s 2015.” That’s how Justin Trudeau, the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, responded when asked why he had selected a gender-balanced cabinet. In his short response, Prime Minister Trudeau not only affirmed the importance of gender equality but also highlighted its urgency.
Gender equality is an issue of social justice. We are confident, given the arc of history, that we are making slow progress towards achieving gender equality. However, slow isn’t good enough. The only way to turbo-charge this progress is to go one step beyond the social justice conversation (although it’s certainly important), and appeal to people’s self-interest. We need to convince people, particularly men, that gender equality truly is good for us all, especially in the workplace.
The Wharton 22s, with support from the Return on Equality Coalition, Wharthogs Rugby, Out4Biz, Wharton Boxing, Wharton California Club, and the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project, are excited to bring Michael Kimmel, a leading scholar on gender and masculinity issues, to Wharton to discuss the topic “Why Should Men Support Gender Equality at Work?”
Widely known for his TED Talk which has more than 700,000 views, Michael Kimmel has also written a number of books on gender issues, such as Angry White Men and The Guy’s Guide to Feminism’ In his Ted Talk, Kimmel uses a data-driven approach to provide three reasons on why gender equality is good for us all:
It is good for countries – Countries which have higher levels of gender equality have higher levels of happiness.
It is good for business – Companies with high levels of gender equality have higher rates of attrition, productivity and job satisfaction. Research has shown that a lack of gender equality is what costs companies money, rather than vice versa.
It is good for families – Children from families in which men share childcare and housework responsibilities equally with their wives perform better in school and have better health outcomes. In such families, husbands and wives are healthier and happier – and also have a better sex life!
To learn more about why “gender equality is in the interest of countries, companies, men, their children and their partners…and a win-win for everyone”, we hope you will join the discussion with Michael Kimmel on November 12th at 12:00 PM in SHDH Room 351.
http://whartonjournal.com/2015/11/09/join-us-on-nov-12-for-a-discussion-on-why-men-should-support-gender-equality-at-work/