50/50 Day And Take The Lead Move to Action Pledges For Parity
“Action!”
Tiffany Shlain, co-founder of 50/50 Day, plans for this year to involve action pledges
It is what a director says to the crew to start filming a scene. It’s what 50/50 Day organizers are urging the hundreds of thousands of participants around the world to take.
The second annual 50/50 Day on April 26, 2018 and the #GettingTo5050 Movement are catapulting into action pledges and resources to make the necessary changes to get “to a more gender-balanced world that’s better for everyone across all parts of society, from the economy and politics to culture and home,” according to 50/50 creators.
“Last year we provided the model free films, discussion materials and more in 11,000 events globally,” says Sawyer Steele, senior producer and co-founder of 50/50 Day with filmmaker Tiffany Shlain.
“The second annual 50/50 Day on April 26 this year and the #GettingTo5050 Movement are catapulting into action pledges”
Read Take The Lead’s profile of Tiffany Shlain.
This year triples that effort with more than 32,00 events worldwide and an effort in schools K-12, says Steele, who co-founded Let it Ripple: Mobile Films for Global Change as well as the company’s Character Day.
The defining mission this year for 50/50 Day is action and that is why Take The Lead is partnering again with 50/50 as Take The Lead’s mission is gender parity in all forms of leadership by 2025.
The quest for 50/50 gender parity is the driving force for Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead.
According to Feldt, “ This is most far-reaching because it affects literally everyone — the female half of the population because we are, well, female, and the male half because social status is always relational. A change in one role changes the other.”
Feldt continues, “Most importantly, those definitions morph quickly into how social power is distributed. And nobody relinquishes power voluntarily. But the good news is no one has to. Because it turns out that power isn’t a finite pie after all. The more there is the more there is, and the greater the human capacity for creativity and innovation.”
This year on 50/50 Day, 50 Action Pledges provide anyone with tailored, specific resources on what to do to make parity happen in your home, family, corporation or workplace, society and media.
“This year on 50/50 Day, 50 Action Pledges provide anyone with tailored, specific resources on what to do to make #parity happen in your home, family, corporation or workplace, society and media.”
Once you identify your persona as a CEO/Leader, parent, educator or youth, you can design your own action pledge over five topics connected to where you are in your own life, Steele says.
“You are able to select from each bucket however many you want,” Steele says, “and you will get a reminder in your calendar.”
Three months after 50/50 Day, you will get an email asking how many of your action pledges you have completed, so there is accountability, Steele says.
The free events scheduled for April 26 in companies, schools, classrooms, museums, and homes were given a boost when earlier this month the California Department of Education sent a dedicated letter from the State’s Superintendent urging all schools to participate, Steele says. The events can include showing of films, discussion materials and a full day of live-streamed programming on Facebook with speakers, live events and more.
Tom Torlakson, state superintendent of public instruction for the California Department of Education wrote to all state schools: “What would the world be like if it were more gender balanced? How would it change our schools, homes, our communities, and even our planet? The California Department of
Education and I would like to participate in a free global initiative called 50/50 Day, on April 26, 2018, that will cover these important questions. 50/50 Day is committed to helping students and everyday people become champions and active participants in the changes our world desperately needs.”
Free toolkits are available for K-12, Universities, Corporations, and Ambassadors. The film screenings include 50/50: Rethinking the Past, Present, and Future of Women + Power (20 mins), a new three-minute film that will premiere on 50/50 Day that explores the importance of having elected officials that reflect the diversity of our population, as well as curated films from partners. Discussion materials are for four different age groups, beginning with ages 7-9.
Major 50/50 Day partners include British Airways, United State of Women, ERA Coalition, Global Fund for Women, Take The Lead and more than 80 organizations worldwide.
This year, 50/50 Day has a three-pronged mission, Steele says. The first is “to include all genders (men, women, and everyone in between), all races, and all issues. Gender equity is an everybody issue.”
Secondly, the goal is “to bring the change where it needs to happen: in our actual companies, governments, schools, and homes across the country and around the globe.” The third point is “to invite everyone, wherever you are on the issue of gender equality. Our action pledges are designed to meet anyone, whether you’re a CEO, employee, teacher, student, parent, man, woman, you’re part of this.”
The decisive intention of action around this 50/50 Day has perfect timing, Steele says.
“The first 50/50 was before #MeToo and#TimesUp. We saw the need for a global conversation on what is needed and now people are looking for tools,” Steele says.
Steele acknowledges that the day after 50/50 gender balance will not be the reality.
“But we can imagine what gender balance looks like. And it’s a critical mass. If everyone does small actions, and does hundreds of actions that leads us to 50/50.”
About the Author
Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldonwww.micheleweldon.com