Has your outdoor business taken the OIWC pledge?
Thirty outdoor CEOs have made the pledge to foster better workplaces and paths to leadership for women in the industry.
OIWC Director Deanne Buck at the organization&apos;s CEO Pledge event at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market - Photo by Jenny Jakubowski.
Thirty CEOs have signed an Outdoor Industry Women’s Coalition pledge to foster better workplaces and paths to leadership for women in the industry.
Supporters of the OIWC CEO Pledge met at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market to celebrate the growing numbers of women joining the industry’s ranks. But more than that, the event seemed to be a forecast for rising bottom lines and a healthy, sustainable industry, overall.
Part celebration and part call-to-action, the night recognized the outdoor brands that have to-date signed onto the CEO Pledge, thereby committing to promote the participation of (and leadership opportunities for) more women in their companies — and in the industry as a whole. It also acted as a reminder not to get complacent with the work that has already been done.
“I ask you to find a colleague in the industry who has not signed the pledge and explain to them why this is important for this industry and why it’s important for their businesses,” said Jill Layfield, CEO of Backcountry.com and OIWC board member.
The only national organization of its kind, the OIWC is dedicated to expanding opportunities for women and companies in the outdoor, snow, run and bike industries. And it’s doing so with gusto. It’s most recent charge, the CEO Pledge, was announced at last January’s Outdoor Retailer Winter Market by way of REI CEO Jerry Stritzke, himself a key pledge supporter whose company donated $1.5 million to show its support.
And showing that growth is among OIWC’s raisons d’etre. “We’re providing more resources for individual members and upping our game for the rest of the companies in the industry,” said Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin, recently appointed director of people and culture for the OIWC. Thanks to data that will be collected from participating CEOs (e.g., male-to-female ratios at different position titles), the organization aims to have an even more solid base for its claims that including women among the outdoor industry ranks makes solid business sense.
But, the OIWC plans to give as much as it takes. Companies that sign onto the pledge receive a host of resources to help explain the commitment both internally among current employees and externally to the public. The OIWC will also help the company make itself more appealing to future female employees in a variety of ways, including by providing programming to attract, retain and promote women; appointing a dedicated point person to help the signer-on find relevant information, connections and advice; and helping members to design high-impact strategies to improve workforce diversity and organizational well-being.