Bits + Pieces 020
Meet Roxanne - Creator of Paratize, a tool to improve transparency of gender equality in the workplace
For the 20th edition of Bits + Pieces, I had the pleasure of chatting with Roxanne Balfe, diving into gender diversity within corporate management and executives. It’s my intention to uplift and amplify voices in my community who I feel we could all learn a thing or two from.
Diversity sits on action plans because it reads good, but it takes effort and intention to be aware of and make progress toward change. I acknowledge that diversity is a range of human differences including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical ability or attributes, religious or ethical values system, national origin, and political beliefs. In this discussion, we focus on gender diversity.
“I believe it’s morally right to have a gender diverse workforce” - Roxanne Balfe
However, creating a diverse and gender inclusive workplace is more than this. If we’re looking at the bottom line, it makes sense from a business perspective. In a study published in the Journal of Leadership and Organisational Studies, they found that companies that had higher-than-average gender diversity and employee engagement also had 46% to 58% better financial performance than companies that were below the median on diversity and engagement (source).
Also, a review of 353 Fortune 500 companies showed that companies with high representations of women in their senior leadership teams had a 35% higher return on equity and 34% higher total shareholder return than male-dominated firms (source).
But it doesn’t stop at a gender diverse staff–in order to create sustainable and impactful change, it’s about having fair representation amongst the C-Suite and senior leadership positions so women have real decision-making power.
Enter Paratize–a tool to improve transparency on the topic of gender equality in the workplace, encouraging fairer, more productive, and profitable outcomes for individuals and businesses.
Roxanne’s resume is impressive. She studied BSc Biomedical Science, graduating with a 1st class, and then studied an MSc in Management of the Bioeconomy, Innovation, and Governance, which she describes as “a long-ass name”.
With that said—let’s get stuck in!
Thanks for being here,
Tish x
You created an app–that’s SICK, give us the deets…
Thanks! I mean, when I say I created it, I did the whole thing. Concept, front end, back end, and logic. I graduated from a coding course this April and it’s safe to say coding was one the hardest things I’ve learned.
But, I’ve officially built Paratize so I’m feeling really great about that.
Where did your passion for this start?
I grew up in social housing with just my mum and siblings. My dad was born in Mexico and was a punk with a “fuck the system attitude”. My mum came to England from Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, and my parents met here, in the UK. My grandparents played a large role in raising me too, and my grandfather was an incredible person who was a civil engineer focusing on developing nations, and had a very strong moral compass.
With my background I am the outlier amongst children that come from lower income backgrounds that receive free school meals (FSM)— many don’t go on to higher education and earning gaps later on are staggering between kids receiving FSM and their ‘more affluent’ counterparts.
I’ve experienced inequality in my life, so it’s no surprise this is what I’m doing and creating. Whether it’s having witnessed or been on the receiving end, there’s lots of judgments on a social, economic, or systems level. I look back on my experiences and understand why people made these judgments but these days I’m more interested in understanding how we can prevent this from happening in the future.
Right, so back to Paratize–tell us a bit about the app
Every employer should strive to be the employer of choice, and I created Paratize to take you there. It’s a tool that anyone can use to measure gender diversity within organisations. Measuring where people sit within the org chart is important for many reasons. Not only does it show the split and disparity that exists between senior level and junior employees, I want to use it to go one step further—for example, I want to understand why there are less women in leadership positions and see where the drop out occurs and in turn, how we can address that piece in the puzzle.
And what’s your hypothesis here?
One hypothesis is women’s health. There’s a complete lack of understanding around women’s health and this directly affects women’s professional lives in the workplace. Just look at England’s recent women’s health strategy which outlines the gender data gap. Even research published this week on 1 in 4 women think of quitting their jobs during menopause– and the list goes on and on.
I also think the traditional 9-5 office structure is a reflection of a man’s workplace and one that does not take women’s health into consideration. Many women work differently to men. One example is our hormones—they fluctuate throughout the month and can massively impact how your brain works and productivity. And women’s cycles in general, with at least 10% of women affected by health issues like endometriosis which can be crippling and obviously affect ‘normal working hours’ when it happens once a month, every month. Achieving gender diversity in the workplace is not just about total head count, it's about the whole design– organisations need to take a systems approach when developing a complete strategy.
We need to embrace our differences and co-design our workplaces. So much more is brought to the table when everyone is involved—that means more productivity and more innovation with many different and brilliant minds at the table.
What’s the plan for Paratize now you’ve built it?
I’m currently connecting with people in the industry so I can spread the word. I’m open to investment, starting a not for profit organisation or I can even see it being used like glass door as a tool for anyone to use- it’s very much still in MVP stage. I’d also love to take the data one step further– in companies where we see a huge drop out in women, I’d love to reach out to those people and interview them to ask what the reasons are for them dropping out. Is it health, pay, enjoyment in their position? I want to understand why they’re dropping out. My bet (other than pay) is that it’s health, as workplaces don’t tailor for that and there’s not a lot of research there.
Want to connect with Roxanne?
Linkin here
Email roxannebalfe1@gmail.com
Paratize website here
Loved this one Tish & Roxanne!
Considering’s women’s health needs in the workplace is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately! From pregnancy, miscarriage and menopause, to monthly hormonal imbalances! Would love to hear if Roxanne has any examples of companies that are implementing tools/support structures around this!
Go Roxanne! Another great interview. Love the mission, you both leave me feeling inspired.