Clifford Chance

Amy Bird, co-chair of the UK chapter of Clifford Chance's Gender Parity Network Accelerate>>> (and a senior associate in the London Employment team, and a member of the firm's ESG Board) marks International Women's Day 2022.

Last International Women's Day, we published a blog article written in the context of a global pandemic. This year, it is written in the context of the shocking and appalling war in Ukraine. In both cases, the potential for a gendered impact is yet fully to be seen. The pandemic warned us of the backsliding of women's rights and an increase in domestic violence; the Ukrainian conflict is showing a family refugee position and gender-based violence risk which, for many, is too shocking a new reality to process. Clifford Chance has committed to help and support colleagues wherever it can, and is using its skills and resources to provide pro bono and significant financial support in response to the humanitarian crisis in the region. As a global gender parity network, Accelerate>>> continues to find ways to provide support, and we have held calls with colleagues internationally to see how we can be united in our actions.

A call to action

"Let’s all take everyday steps to improve our working lives for wellbeing and equality." That is the rallying call to action that Clifford Chance's Gender Parity network has addressed to all colleagues and supporters this International Women's Day. This was originally conceived to focus on workplace actions, and adopts the universal IWD theme of #BreaktheBias. We are continuing to proceed with that approach, but in parallel mindful of the UN theme for International Women's Day of “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow," intensifying our pro bono and financial efforts to support women impacted by the conflict in Ukraine and surrounding areas, and also wider gender justice.

Within our offices, we are focusing on practical, day to day steps to operationalise change. At a time of pandemic and conflict, these changes can rightly seem less existentially material. However, maintaining the pace of change in our own space is the key component here: whether that space is the response to Russian state entity mandates, support of Ukrainian and Russian colleagues, or within our daily office lives. At its heart, it has a message of communication, collaboration and support, which is more important than ever.

We have deliberately taken a practical focus. At a time when in office environments seemingly nebulous concepts of psychological safety, wellbeing and microaggressions have gone mainstream, brought forward by our collective experiences of pandemic, we have seen in clients and our own firm a desire also to have concrete steps that people can take to accelerate the pace of change – and to #BreakTheBias.

#BreakTheBias

The #BreakTheBias theme sits at the crux of our work for colleagues, clients and our wider communities in a core plank of sustainable or responsible business. Clifford Chance and many clients have taken important actions to drive forward goals on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Our recently published Inclusion Report highlights some of the steps the firm has taken from a gender parity perspective. This includes working towards gender targets, extending the scope of the Mansfield Rule in female shortlisting, and living its Code of Conduct.

Accelerate>>> has worked with the firm to drive forward key initiatives, including: New Parent Leave, an enhanced payment for time off for birth or adoption that applies regardless of gender to support our shared parenting culture; sustained smart agile working and inclusive approaches to hybrid working (and, critically, networking); and its reverse mentoring scheme.

While many of these steps are taken with a gendered lens, they allow colleagues of all genders to be their best (whole) selves and achieve their best careers at the firm. As ever, actions geared at a particular protected group are so often really about the wellbeing of all people.

Supporting clients to #BreakTheBias

Now that employees are increasingly recognised as powerful stakeholders, and DE&I metrics and KPIs are fundamental to ESG credentials, the moral and economic drive to #BreakTheBias has never been higher: indeed, our ESG Board identified this as featuring in one of the top ESG themes of 2022. No doubt, work by regulators to drive for greater inclusion and diversity (including in the UK FCA, PRA and Bank of England in respect of listed companies and financial services) will make this even more fundamental from a compliance perspective. I've been privileged enough to work with major global clients looking to protect or enhance their DE&I and wider workforce narrative, from navigating Equality Act considerations of positive action campaigns to guiding on global frameworks for social due diligence.

Operationalising change – practical steps

We know from our work with clients that DE&I architecture (including appropriate governance frameworks, understanding metrics and talent pipeline development programmes) are key to maintaining and improving the DE&I legend of an organisation. However, they alone are not enough in the face of internal and external stakeholder scrutiny; without true cultural change whistleblowing complaints will still ring true, investigations will cast light on inappropriate practices, and reputations (and market share) may be damaged. 'Grass roots' education and engagement, owned by the workforce, are what is important in driving a common purpose: where everyone can understand the steps we can all take to achieve true change. As we say at Clifford Chance: change the rules, change the culture, change the lived experience.

Accelerate>>> therefore (in collaboration with our Tech group) created a series of practical tips along 10 key themes with accompanying guidance, which are being spread around the firm's common areas and shared in team meetings. These range from giving access to networks ('Next time you have a networking opportunity, take along a colleague who may not usually have the chance to attend'), to Embrace Shared Parenting and Caring Culture ('Set up new parent buddies') to Enable a voice in the (hybrid) room: (Before a key meeting pre-agree who will cover which topics and share out the opportunities (and where appropriate encourage participation outside that).') At the heart of this, communication and collaboration are, as ever, key. None of it is about tokenism; it’s about talent and avoiding groupthink. 'Discuss, don't assume' is a core point; and with the situation in Ukraine, all must be increasingly mindful that when dealing with surrounding areas we do not know their lived reality.

Wider gender justice – sustainability in global communities

Given the scale of change in the world, we are not just focused on guidance for office professionals. The pro bono pillar of the UK Accelerate>>> network, currently led by members of the firm's L&DR practice, actively campaigns for gender justice, working with colleagues globally. As noted above, the UN theme for International Women's Day is "Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow". While that can resonate in an office environment, it resonates even more in the context of the Ukraine conflict, and in the gender parity-related pro bono projects that our team is involved in. Many of these projects draw on the connection between climate and gender justice, and related actions from COP26 focusing on sustainable development. Examples include our work with the International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD), where we are supporting ICAAD's partnership with the Makefu Village Women's Council in Niue which is developing an internal relocation policy, and a project with the Center for Reproductive Rights on the intersection between climate change and reproductive health. We act as ambassadors for change in our own space, but also within our wider global communities. This includes collaborating with and supplementing the work undertaken by NGOs.

International Women's Day reminds us that we are all each other's supporters globally, in the maintenance of sustainable development goals and a 'just' transition.  We are still yet to see the full extent of how much allyship may be called on this year across the globe.

For progress to be made and a consistent narrative to be maintained for internal and external stakeholders, steps must be are continual. Operationalising practical steps (as well as larger policy and institutional shifts) to #BreakTheBias are a key part of that.

Next International Women's Day we hope to have a true celebration, tempered with neither pandemic nor conflict. However, we will still have the gendered impact of climate change. I think it very likely we will still not have a world free from bias, but we can hopefully say that we have all made affirmative steps to improve the position.  This is, after all, for all of us, for every day, not just for International Women's Day.