Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway thanks the University of Waterloo for being a “disruptive champion” in the movement for gender equality at UN Women’s summit
When the University of Waterloo discovered a gender pay gap among its faculty — it closed the gap and then established mandatory training for hiring committees to help prevent gender discrimination in the future, Waterloo’s president told global leaders at a UN Women’s summit in New York City.
“It was one thing for us to say, ‘There shalt not be a pay gap’ . . . We still needed to find the root cause and that pointed to our hiring practices,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo. “We really needed to revisit our hiring practices to bring conscious and unconscious bias training to every single hiring committee.”
Hamdullahpur was on a panel moderated by Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway at the HeForShe IMPACT Summit in New York City on Wednesday September 26. World leaders, CEOs and university presidents gathered to share concrete solutions towards increasing gender equality in their organizations.
During the event, the University of Waterloo was applauded for closing its pay gap for faculty. After Hamdullahpur’s remarks, Hathaway, a UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, said: “Five years ago I couldn’t imagine unconscious bias being discussed so openly. It’s a wonderful step forward.”
Hamdullahpur was on a panel that included Kevin Sneader, global managing partner at McKinsey & Company; Emmanuel Faber, chairman and CEO of Danone, Frédéric Mion, president of Sciences Po and Bruce Cleaver, CEO of the De Beers Group.
The leaders shared new programs that included everything from establishing breastfeeding rooms near mines around the world, to human resources initiatives that mandate women on hiring committees to increased parental leave for fathers.
Hathaway thanked the panel for their leadership on the issue of gender equality: “One of the hardest things to do in the world . . . is to take accountability when you know you could be doing better. One of the easiest things to do is to let the status quo continue by doing nothing."
I want to thank you all for being disruptive champions," said Hathaway. "You’re the champions we need and the champions we deserve.
In 2015, Hamdullahpur accepted an invitation from the UN Women’s HeForShe campaign to participate in the IMPACT 10x10x10 framework alongside governments, leading universities, and global businesses.
As part of the IMPACT 10x10x10 framework, Waterloo committed to boosting female student participation in STEM outreach experiences; enhancing female faculty representation and attracting and advancing female leaders into senior academic and administrative positions.
Some highlights of Waterloo’s progress include:
At the summit, Kevin Sneader of McKinsey & Company, reminded the crowd that gender equality is not just a moral issue but a business imperative. He said research shows that professional services companies that have better gender and ethnic representation are more likely to be profitable than companies that don’t.
“When you start to say that it is professional negligence or incompetence to fail in this dimension, it changes the conversation,” said Sneader.
Dominic Barton, McKinsey & Company managing partner emeritus, will be installed as Waterloo’s 11th Chancellor at a ceremony in October.
