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Episode #66 Equality Pays with Michelle Gyimah

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Today I have the very lovely Michelle Gyimah with me on Financial Fluency. Michelle is a tech gender equality consultant, a tech startup improver, trainer, and speaker. She worked for over six years at the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK, helping employers work within the bounds of equality law, especially in regards to maternity leave. In the midst of her own maternity leave, she decided that she wanted to strike out on her own and provide consulting for businesses and employees as an entrepreneur.

In our discussion, we cover in depth the feelings of vulnerability and fear that women encounter when revealing their pregnancy to their employer. We talk about how women might choose to become self-employed because of how their employers treat them around pregnancy and child care. We talk about how startups can provide a safe and comfortable culture for women.

Quotes

  • “Even though my employer was quite amazing, when I was pregnant I had this sense of vulnerability, thinking ‘I hope I’m able to keep my job because I really need to keep it.’” – Michelle
  • “Even though the legislation in the UK and the US is on polar opposite ends of scale in terms of leave, many of the social issues are the same.” – Michelle
  • “Even if you can take 12 weeks of unpaid leave, what if you can’t take 12 weeks of unpaid leave? What if you need the money?” – Jen
  • “The message is you can have a career if you don’t have a baby, which is wrong.” – Michelle
  • “It’s like we’re telling women from a young age that they can be anything, but as soon as they decide they want to have a family we’re like ‘Oooh, we forgot to tell you, you can’t mix the two.” – Michelle
  • “It’s only a short amount of time that you are going to have a young family that’s going to depend on you in terms of time. That’s a very limited way of looking at people.” – Michelle
  • “[In startup culture], we want to view women as more than consumers, we want to view them as creators too. Women need to feel safe, valued and wanted. It’s not just a boys club for start-ups.” – Michelle
 To connect with Michelle and learn more about her advice for employers and employees alike, check her out on LinkedIn and at www.equalitypays.co.uk.

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michelle2Michelle is a tech gender equality consultant, startup improver, inclusive business builder, speaker, and trainer.

She’s passionate about working with tech companies (whatever their size) to help them improve their gender diversity, specifically how to attract and keep female staff and working mothers and how to save their organization money by not ending up in employment tribunal.

Through customized company assessments she can identify problem areas and produce a customized plan of action that will dramatically improve your gender diversity and your return on investment.

She’s dedicated to partnering with UK and US Women in Tech thought-leaders to mainstream the improvement of gender diversity in tech.