HOME > BLOG 02 MARCH 2020 By Ian Wishart, The Fred Hollows Foundation
The Fred Hollows Foundation is committed to achieving gender equity through our sight-restoring work because the burden of blindness is higher for women with the global number sitting at 20 million – that means 55% of the world’s blind are women. We are also working to ensure there is gender equity within The Foundation. Because when it comes to disparities, women are disadvantaged in every facet of life – education, career progression, health and wellbeing, as well as overall quality of life. Gender equity is an issue that I have always been very passionate about. One of the proudest achievements during my time at Plan was the ‘Because I am a Girl Campaign’, a global movement to highlight issues of gender inequality, and create a world where girls everywhere have the opportunity to learn, lead, decide and thrive. We were successful in having the United Nations recognise, for the first time ever, a special day for girls – International Day of the Girl. Joining The Fred Hollows Foundation in 2018, I knew there was a strong commitment to gender equity and inclusion within the organisation already. And I wanted to continue to champion this crucial cause, which is why I am committed to tackling inequity head-on by building on the work that has been done in the past with even more constructive change. Achieving gender equity is something we all must take part in, whether you’re an individual, an organisation operating within the non-government and not-for-profit sectors, a corporate business, or a government body. That’s why I am working together with our team to ensure The Foundation is geared to support and encourage a diverse and inclusive workplace. COVER PHOTO: Cataract patients waiting for surgery, Massawa, Eritrea | Lannon Harley (2010)
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The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum saw Australia ranking at 44th place among the 153 countries featured, dropping five places (39th) from last year. According to the report, ‘women’s participation in the wider labour market has stalled and financial disparities are increasing… which in time represents a massive 257 years before gender parity can be achieved.’ That’s a huge disparity that needs to be addressed globally and within all economic sectors. The gender breakdown at The Fred Hollows Foundation sits at 57% women and 43% men. The Foundation continues to employ more women than men globally. Our organisation’s leadership sits at 47% women and 53% men. Studies reported by The Peterson Institute for International Economics have demonstrated that the most successful organisations have a culture of diversity with at least 30% of women in decision-making roles, which is the case at The Foundation. The Foundation is also doing better than the Australian average gender pay gap, currently sitting at 12%. We have also reduced the pay gap by three percent in the past few years. But we know there is more work to be done, and we aspire to achieve a zero gender pay gap.
We are driving gender equity within our own workplace at The Foundation. We know that successful organisations have a culture of diversity and gender equity. A diverse and inclusive workforce attracts better talent, and makes decisions that better represent the communities they serve. This is backed by a report called ‘Delivering Through Diversity’ from McKinsey & Company that ‘reaffirms the global relevance of the link between diversity — defined as a greater proportion of women and a more mixed ethnic and cultural composition in the leadership of large companies — and company financial performance.’ There are four key aspects of our approach in attaining gender equity:
As part of The Foundation’s gender equity strategy, we consulted with our staff and more than half of them consider it extremely important for The Foundation to focus on gender equity. The five reasons they gave included:
In order to address the above as part of achieving gender equity, The Foundation has already made the following organisational improvements:
In every region of the world, women are more likely to be blind than men. Right now, there are 20 million women in this world who are blind. Four out of five of these women don’t have to be. According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), there are several barriers that make receiving surgery more difficult for women, including (but not limited to):
Read more about how blindness discriminates in this article I wrote for The Ophthalmologist. The Foundation set up the She Sees initiative as our public commitment to addressing gender disparity in blindness as a key global health issue. She Sees aims to make affordable, accessible eye care for women and girls a reality. We want to empower women with sight and end gendered discrimination in eye health. And over the next five years, we are working to raise $15 million to tackle avoidable blindness and its impact on women and girls. Read more about She Sees in the article I wrote for the Ophthalmology Times.
Ian Wishart is the CEO of The Fred Hollows Foundation. He is one of Australia’s most experienced international development leaders, having spent the past 30 years involved in every aspect of aid and human rights operations, including emergency relief, long term development programs, and policy and advocacy initiatives. Gender equity is a cause close to Ian’s heart – prior to joining The Foundation, he was the CEO of Plan for 16 years. Plan is the charity for girls’ equality. Ian has also contributed to World Vision Australia – a children’s charity – in various capacities, including emergency relief officer, humanitarian response manager, country director (Laos), and advisor to the CEO. “In my travels I have so often seen the blind person led by a child to the passing car at the traffic lights or brought out from the village hut by a daughter who cares for them. I always thought there must be a better way to help these people. I am now delighted to be able to continue my life's work in the development sector and have the opportunity to help build real solutions for those trapped in poverty by preventable blindness.” - Ian Wishart
People often say health conditions don’t discriminate. But that’s not true of blindness. Blindness is a gender issue. An estimated 32 million people in the world are blind and two thirds are women. See more of the work we do around the world on our YouTube channel.
