Today is international Women’s day; something that is very close to our hearts here at Bam Boom Cloud. The IWD theme for this year is #EmbraceEquity. This is a subtle shift in the conversation – from a focus on equality to one on equity which better represents the current challenges we face.
Equity vs Equality
It’s important to understand the difference between equity and equality. Equality promotes fairness but can only work if everyone is starting from the same place. Equity recognises that we all have individual circumstances and is about providing everyone with what they need to be successful. Equity is about creating an inclusive world, and gender equity needs to be a part our DNA.
Celebrating Women in Dynamics
International Women’s Day is a celebration of the achievements of women and in today’s blog we want to shout about the amazing achievements of Women in Dynamics, the organisation chaired by Bam Boom Cloud’s very own Vicky Critchley. We sat down with Vicky to find out more about Women in Dynamics and its place in the Dynamics community.
Tell us about Women in Dynamics?
Women in Dynamics is a Not-for-Profit (NFP) organisation that was launched in 2021 with the mission of promoting inclusivity in the Microsoft Dynamics Community, and the vision of shaping the Dynamics community into the most diverse and inclusive community in the world.
Why was it launched?
The Dynamics community is historically a male-dominated one and as more women have joined in recent years, a group of us recognised that there was a real need to start championing the women in our industry and challenging some of the established behaviours that were creating barriers to inclusivity.
The overarching goals of Women in Dynamics are:
- To better identify and understand the challenges in the Dynamics community to help drive positive change.
- Increase the representation of women in the Dynamics community to 50% in each business.
- To grow all-up diversity in the Dynamics community, with an initial focus on the gender gap.
Women in Dynamics welcomes everyone, regardless of gender. Working towards gender equity isn’t limited to women alone. Allies are incredibly important for making real progress in this space and we’re grateful to have already found many supportive allies in the Dynamics channel.
What has it achieved so far?
Since launching 18 months ago, we have been super busy! We have established Women in Dynamics as an important voice in the wider conversation around diversity in the tech industry. We’ve grown into a community of over 2500 people on LinkedIn and we use social media to help spread the Diversity and Inclusion message and help to increase the profiles of the many successful women in our industry.
By helping to amplify the voices of the women in our channel, and showcasing the variety of roles available, we hope to attract more women into careers in technology.
One of our biggest initiatives has been the launch of the Partner Pledge; for Dynamics Businesses to show their support for Women in Dynamics and commit to positive action on Diversity and Inclusion. We are thrilled that almost 100 companies have signed the pledge so far.
Last October we also held the inaugural Women in Dynamics Awards to celebrate the achievements of our partners. Three categories were awarded: the Leadership Award, Rising Star Award and the Diversity and Inclusion Award. All the winners demonstrated competence, aptitude, leadership and professionalism in the diversity and inclusion space.
What’s new?
The big news for 2023 is the establishment of Women in Dynamics as an independent NFP organisation. We’ve created a brand-new website and we are thrilled to have Cecilia Flombaum, Senior Director, Scale Growth at Microsoft join our board in the role of executive engagement.
We have two new strategic alliance partners in Pax8 and Companial and we can’t wait to continue to spread our message in person at upcoming Dynamics conferences across the world in 2023.
What are the goals for 2023?
I want to focus more on tackling unconscious bias. We need to educate our teams and commit to addressing this issue to help remove some of the barriers that are preventing women from starting a career in tech.
We also want to grow our Women in Dynamics mentorship programme, which has over 200 mentors and mentees registered already. Sharing experiences, learning from each other and actively supporting the career progression of others is so important to creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
I also want to support and encourage our partners in making measurable progress on D&I. We’ve had a successful response to our Partner Pledge from partners across Europe and we now want those partners to commit to tangible activity which we can measure and report on. We also want to address the North American Dynamics channel and encourage more partners over there to sign the pledge.
We have developed five action points for our pledge partners to work towards. Keep an eye on the Women in Dynamics website and LinkedIn for more details of the three steps attached to each action.
- Track Diversity
- Immerse Inclusion
- Hire Diverse Talent
- Stop the drop-out of minorities
- Build a positive workplace culture
Show your Support!
For International Women’s Day, the Women in Dynamics team is encouraging everyone to show their support on LinkedIn. They have created a special badge for advocates of Women in Dynamics! Share your picture along with the badge on LinkedIn on 8th March and tag other Women in Dynamics supporters.
Download the badge below and show your support by reposting a picture with the badge
“On International Women’s Day this year, I want to call out my support for @WomeninDynamics and shout out to some of my favourite women and allies in the Dynamics community.”
Hashtags Suggestions:
#WID #WomeninDynamics #WomensDay2023 #InternationalWomensDay2023
