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Season 3 Episode 24:
#BreakTheBias with Jessica Clark

Our viewpoint

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This week we’re joined by Jessica Clark, a Consultant in LCP's Insurance Consulting Team and fellow podcast show host on LCP's Insurance Uncut. On the week of International Women's Day, Jessica joins us to discuss what IWD means to her, her experiences of being a woman in the industry and the importance of allyship.

Links mentioned:

We discuss:

What IWD means to Jessica

  • Remember, acknowledge, thank trailblazers that came before. Recognising there is no “stereotypical woman”.
  • Recognising there is still an issue, taking a step back and thinking about what needs to happen next.
  • It isn’t about bashing men! And shouldn’t be confined to one day, but a named day perhaps gives the prominence it needs and deserves.

Jessica's experiences of being a woman in the industry

  • The difference between being consciously aware of biases vs “the way things are”.
  • The bad: being spoken over in meetings (yes, this still happens), more diminutive actions like adding to an answer a female colleague already gave, not seeing obvious role models / pathways to a successful career.
  • The good: women’s networking events (run by women, but open to all) – showcasing more different paths to a career and a “safe place”.
  • The Importance of calling out – but not telling off. Definitely a role for men / others in the room, not just calling out others but catching yourself (particularly on some of the more diminutive actions).

Any barriers

  • Noting most of these apply across diversity issues, not just to women, and can be magnified for intersectional groups.
  • The lack of network / role model – don’t underestimate the power. It's a complex area when some senior women (country leaders, Sheryl Sandberg) are criticised.
  • The lack of engagement at senior levels – the rise of women is not the fall of men!
  • Promotion and recruitment criteria – being specific about the skills you require, not the person you have in mind that you expect to have those skills.
  • Children - parental leave is still skewed towards women, so they’re out of work and potentially out of mind?

Hybrid working – does it make things easier?

  • It can be good, but does it reinforce the idea that women need to “do it all”? Maybe there’s a solution that doesn’t require women to work flexibly to continue with childcare, but for parents to balance the responsibility more equally.
  • It does start to remove some barriers we discussed above, which must be a good thing. And potentially levels the playing field between different companies (all will offer some flexibility) so you can choose from a wider group of potential firms to work for.
  • Generally, it should help attract and retain a diverse talent pool, including those who just want a bit more flexibility.
  • Is it easier or harder to speak up? You can probably argue that both ways…

Best piece of advice received

  • Mary: in the context of confidence – being told that if someone asked you to do something, they have faith you CAN do it.
  • Jess: to stop saying sorry (it loses its strength if you say it all the time, and a lot of the time it’s not your fault).

Allyship

  • The importance of allyship from non-minority groups – observation that many allies for women are other women.
  • Don’t assume you know what an individual wants from an ally.
  • It's not a tick box exercise – it needs to be lived and breathed (“Allyship is not about you!”)
  • Share the inside track / open up your network to people / use your platform.

What's one thing to take away

Think about ways to positively challenge people and call out.

The most underappreciated thing about investing?

Understanding what is actually meant by “experience”.

Recommendations:

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