Golden Tie, a programme by multinational financial services company Wells Fargo, where male technology employees take centre stage as gender advocates in the workplace, is entering its second edition.
A voluntary programme, Golden Tie is essentially a response to the questions women in technology grapple with inevitably, says a communication from Wells Fargo.
“Women mentors and support groups are great, but with the majority of the workforce and leadership being male, that is a huge support base to leave untapped. Change cannot be effected very easily without men also becoming allies,” the communication underlines the thinking that led to the launch of the Golden Tie.
“It creates safe, non-judgmental spaces for men to have difficult conversations about bias, with the aim of reframing ideas and thoughts through guided interactions. It is organised as a series of volunteer groups, called pods, with about seven to 10 people, committed to meet for a minimum of at least six sessions. The pods mainly target male participation. The largely male groups (with at least one woman to provide the other view) have self-directed conversations about many issues, which help build inclusion awareness, identify and rethink bias. They are also encouraged to think about the many small or big ways they can become advocates or allies, even if it is something simple like just talking about or recognising how things might look like from a woman’s point of view.”
The communication from Wells Fargo notes that in India, 24 pods were held in the first edition. The second edition of Golden Tie, which is under way, has so far witnessed a little over 100 people enrolling across eleven pods, the communication says.
Topics discussed
The programme is about discussing and examining conventional ideas and “accepted” viewpoints about gender. Some of the topics in the past are “women and emotion”, “maternity leave” and “women actively participating (having a voice)”. Other notable topics include “I am afraid of giving candid feedback to a woman team member”.
Those who take part in a pod are expected to later lead other pods, thus widening the network.
