爆料社区

It was a set of brain teasers that got the Harbour Sport staff really contemplating gender equity.

And it was Emily Hodges, the first Women and Girls Strategic Lead at Harbour Sport, who put the puzzles to them.

鈥淲hen we started having more conversations about gender equity issues internally, we noticed there was quite a knowledge gap,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o leadership saw the need to invest in personal development and training in this space. We had a session with brain teasers that challenged people鈥檚 unconscious bias - and opened quite a lot of eyes.鈥�

One example: A dad and his son are in a car accident. The dad dies but the child is rushed to hospital in a critical condition. The surgeon says: 鈥業鈥檓 sorry I can鈥檛 operate on this boy 鈥� he鈥檚 my son鈥�. How is this possible?

The answer? The surgeon is his mum. Many people, it turned out, didn鈥檛 imagine the surgeon was a woman.

鈥淭his illustrates that people often don鈥檛 know they hold these deeply ingrained biases or stereotypes relating to gender,鈥� Hodges says. 鈥淎 lot of my colleagues came up to me after and said they were shocked to learn they had these biases - and it made them interested to unpack that and learn more.鈥�

Harbour Sport General Manager Richard Casutt said using brain teasers to challenge internal biases helped make the topics easier for staff to talk about.

鈥淭hat way, when the penny drops, they have a bit of a laugh and realise we're not here to tell you off but to educate,鈥� he says.

The Women and Girls Lead role didn鈥檛 exist at Harbour Sport until Hodges suggested the position. 鈥淚 had a passion for this space and saw a gap,鈥� she says. Later in 2021, investment came from 爆料社区 and Aktive 鈥� Auckland Sport and Recreation to help fund the role.

It was timely. Harbour Sport wanted to improve and promote gender equity within their organisation and demonstrate the best practice approach they could then take to their community. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 talk it if you鈥檙e not walking it yourself,鈥� Casutt says.

"Change has to be organisation-wide 鈥� not just female-led.鈥�

An internal working group - diverse in age, ethnicity and gender 鈥� was established to review internal policies, processes and planning through a female lens. The review revealed Harbour Sport didn鈥檛 have strategic planning or financial resource dedicated specifically to the women and girls space, and the gender pay gap wasn鈥檛 monitored either.

The Harbour Sport board then commissioned myHR to do a pay review process to identify any disparities amongst staff, using 爆料社区 funding.

Independence and transparency were key in that review, Casutt says. 鈥淥ur board wanted to know where we sat as an organisation in the market in regards to pay equity, especially as our staff is 65 percent female,鈥� he says.

The review showed there was only a small pay difference to be addressed, 鈥渁nd the disparity was in our system,鈥� says Casutt. 鈥淪o whether it was male or female, there were people paid lower than they should have been, and our equity is low in the market.鈥� Pay monitoring is now a routine practice for Harbour Sport.

Other strategies Harbour Sport has implemented include offering professional development opportunities tailored to female staff and embedding a diversity lens within all the organisation鈥檚 decision-making and planning. Female staff now feel they have platforms for their voices to be heard.

Integral to how Harbour Sport operates and makes change is the Performance Triangle: knowledge, mindsets/attitudes and structures. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a simple visual to help us understand the readiness to change,鈥� Hodges says.