Tag Archives: Pay Gap

Q&A With Antoinet Van Dalen On How HR Departments Can Support Women’s Day

As everyone into the topic of Gender Equality knows, March 8th is Women’s Day. This annual event is dedicated to spreading awareness about gender equality and women’s rights around the globe, and as every Human of HR knows, it’s a great day to reflect on the issues women have faced throughout history in the world of work.

We had recently spoken to Antoinet Van Dalen, Founder of Fireside, on how we are supporting women’s employment and about the importance of Digital Entrepreneurship in times of Covid-19. Knowing she is an advocate for Gender Equality in European workplaces, we thought we would catch up with her again and ask her how Human Resources Departments around the world should support women at work on March 8th (and beyond) after a turbulent year for gender equality. Read the following Q&A to find out how you can take action.

Women, Work, and COVID-19: Why We Need To Rely On Sisterhood More Than Ever

2020 has been a year unlike any other. While the impact of the COVID-19 crisis is horizontal in a certain way (United Nations, 2020), as it affects the worldwide population from an economic, social and political aspect, it’s abundantly clear that it hits each one of us differently.

The impact of Covid-19 turns out to be worse for those who simply belong to certain categories: students of any age, fresh graduates, people living in underprivileged contexts, jobseekers, women (UN Women, 2020a). Being part of some of the above categories myself, I would say that I am quite used to feeling uncertain. We, people in our almost thirties (Hoffower, 2019) are living one of the hardest crises the world ever faced in the last few decades. But we also happen to be familiar with changes, agility, precariousness, not having long-term expectations: it’s just the ordinary for us. And yet, it is still hard to find daily motivation and cope with all of this. In many ways, knowing that we’re all in this together consoles me, and relying on people around me, especially other women, makes me feel better.