Webinar #StOpE : Relive the #StOpE webinar and get some clues on fighting sexism in an international setting
On the 11th of october, the AFMD through the #StOpE initiative organised the webinar "Taking Action Against Everyday Sexism in an International Setting".
Every year, the AFMD co-organises the SERI (Responsible and Inclusive Employers Week) with the MEDEF. This event, free and accessible to all, is aimed at employers and their colleagues, stakeholders who make up the CSR, diversity & inclusion ecosystem as well as the general public. For more information, visit the SERI's website.
As part of the SERI, the StOpE initiative, coordinated by the AFMD, held a webinar adressed to an international audience with three main objectives :
Explore the different issues related to everyday sexism in France and abroad;
- Identify the levers and obstacles to the deployment of policies to fight against everyday sexism in an international setting;
- Share best practices put in place by the #StOpE signatories in order to fight against everyday sexism.
Sexisme à la française, a french exception ?
The webinar started by a quick overview of sexism in France. It is essential to state from which cultural background we are speaking from when we discuss sexism, particularly in an international setting. The cultural context has a great influence in the way we approach these issues.
In 2017 the #MeToo movement spread in several countries across the world. Thousands of women decided to share their experiences of ordinary sexism, sexual harassment and sexual aggressions at work on social media. France was no stranger to the phenomenon, only the hashtag used in France was not “me too” but “#DenounceYourPig”.
The arguments used by French intellectuals and professionals hostile to this wave of women sharing their stories exposed to the world the main aspects of a sexism “à la française” (or French sexism). French sexism is based on the confusion between sexual violence and sexual liberty. This confusion is detrimental to the understanding and thus to the fight against gender-based violence as a whole.
To hear our full explanation of this very specific form of sexism, watch the replay of the webinar online.
The #StOpE signatories best practices to tackle sexism in an international setting
After setting the context, we held a roundtable with several signatories of the StOpE initiative to discuss their actions to fight against sexism in their branches abroad.
Soraya Khadir, French and International Director at Me and You Too allowed us to understand how service providing companies adapt their services and tools to fight against sexism in different cultural contexts.
Sandrine Flimon, Deputy D&I Director from the Bouygues Group, shared with us the result from a questionnaire inspired by the resources of the StOpE initiative. This questionnaire was shared by their gender diversity networks in all the countries where the group is based. It allowed us to underline some common traits but also some differences in the way sexism women experienced sexism in different countries.
Hélène Cambournac from Wavestone gave us some precious insight on their companies’ approach to fight against sexism internationally through working groups with representatives from all the countries where Wavestone is present.
Finally, Anne-Sophie Béraud SVP Global lead Diversity, Inclusion & Social Care at Accor presented their ERG global networks of more than 20 000 employees and their ambitious training program to raise awareness on everyday sexism in the world.
Resources and Replay
For more insight on the discussions of this webinar :
- Read the recap of the webinar for more details on the discussion during the round table, and an overview of the bibliography used for this webinar
- Or you can re-watch the whole webinar !