From crisis to recovery: achieving an equal future in a post-COVID-19 world

Simon Gallow

Advocate for UK UN Women

Abstract

This International Women’s Day, we must celebrate the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Women stand at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, as health care workers, caregivers, innovators, community organisers and as some of the most exemplary and effective national leaders in combating the pandemic. The crisis has highlighted both the centrality of their contributions and the disproportionate burdens that women carry. Now is the time for women, and for all genders as allies, to come together and take robust, evidence-based action to rebuild a more gender equal future. Join us to explore these issues further, and begin the conversations about EMBL’s contribution to this more equal future. 

Key messages

1. Global to Local. To address equality challenges, we must share ideas, learnings and resources across regions and departments – but we must deliver our action plans locally, all managers know their teams best, and this is how we drive inclusive cultural change.
2. See the Bigger Picture. You must influence change across the ‘value chain’ for your staff, but also for your clients, partners and the communities within which you serve. Structural problems like barriers to women’s progression, require a structural mindset – and EMBL must play its role in changing this.
3. See Inclusion as Business Critical. Diversity and inclusion should not be seen as an HR problem to fix, but should be an integral part of your organisational strategy. This is to ensure a more productive, innovative workforce – but crucially, it is to ensure your research and services are fully representative.

Biography

Simon Gallow is an Advocate for UN Women UK, having been Development Director, and a Policy Analyst in the UN Women Economic Empowerment Division in New York. He is also a Strategist for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and holds a Masters in Public Policy (MPP) from Cambridge University, having started his career as a Management Consultant at Ernst & Young.