Rinse, 'Femwash', Repeat is the Life Cycle of Women in Leadership
Written by Kathleen Johnson, Coach/Consultant/Educator
Kathleen Johnson is a well-known coach, consultant, educator, and internationally certified in Diversity Inclusion Service Management (DISM). She is the founder of Kreativ Culture Strategies, a creative engagement and solutions firm, author of the book Thinking Outside the Boardroom: Creative Solutions in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and host of The Kreactivators Podcast.
The presence of women in leadership roles ticks a diversity box but does not automatically mean there’s equality in the workplace. Are organizations genuinely advancing gender equity, informed by women, or do they purposely put women out front while leaving systemic barriers intact, then scapegoat them when initiatives fail? There are two main things you can do to shift your organization toward gender equity for real.
The new “F” word
“Feminism” has become the new “F” word. Once proudly claimed by our mothers and grandmothers, it is often now shied away from in its traditional form. It’s a movement that has had divisions within it from the very beginning. What was empowerment and advancement for White women often did not translate into what it looked like for women of colour, immigrant women, 2S/LGBTQQIA+ women, disabled women, poor women, or women who are in a few of these groups at once. Organizations typically do not look at women as a dynamic group, but as one type of woman qualified to represent and speak for all women.
Representation is not equity
Representation and equity are not the same thing. Representation refers to the visibility of women in leadership positions. Equity involves creating fair systems, opportunities, compensation structures, and workplace cultures that allow every type of woman at every level to succeed. If the higher up you go in the organization, the fewer women and the less diversity of women you see, it is often an indicator that barriers may be actively at play.
Organizations may proudly appoint women to executive roles while maintaining gender pay gaps, limited maternity and caregiving support, poor or nonexistent mentorship, employee resource groups with no advocacy power, workplace cultures that tolerate sexism as “jokes,” lack of support for marginalized women, minimal investment in leadership development for women, and an unclear or absent stance on women’s issues.
“Femwashing”
Many women leaders find themselves in what scholars describe as "token" positions. They are highly visible, allowing an organization to “femwash” inequitable policies and practices while lacking intention to shift corporate culture. Sometimes women who get into these positions were chosen because of their dedication to the status quo. Their compliance with racism and discrimination gives organizations a veneer of progressiveness, while preserving the same dominant group in leadership. This is not what a functional meritocracy looks like. Some believe that touting you have a merit-based system means you have one. It is a cheat code of sorts that, should it exist, would inevitably result in fewer women or other marginalized people. However, a meritocracy would result in more nontraditional hires, not less.
Two main goals for organizations
1. Name it and claim it
Recognition that women experience workplace barriers differently based on race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic background, and country of origin is otherwise known as intersectional feminism. It is more unacceptable than it is “radical” that women are still fighting for equity in the workplace after three waves of feminism. Name and claim that your organization unequivocally supports all women. That is what feminism is.
Collect quantifiable disaggregated data, hold interviews with leadership on the issue, and have key decision makers complete a comprehensive questionnaire to ensure you know what the gaps are. This will show where to concentrate your efforts, which can later be mapped out for quick wins and long term gain. The system I use that treats DEI as a system and business process is ISO 30415. It is the international standard of DEI work.
2. Consult, consult, consult
Ensure that, every step along the way, women’s needs are front and centre. If you do not have access to a diverse feminine-presenting population, do your due diligence in conducting a literature review and environmental scan. This will help you determine what has worked well in the best possible match you can find for your type of organization in your industry.
Build an external advisory group if the diversity among women and allies in your organization does not exist. Members of such a group can come from all across the world, if need be. They can provide good, evidence-based support to inform your plan, so that one day your organization will have this representative lived experience and knowledge base to draw from internally.
“Too many rights”
Nobody can have “too many” rights or “too much” access unless they mean harm to others. There can also be more than one minority group at a time on an initiative, board, or in a department. No two people think exactly alike because they share factors like race, age, sex, or gender. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked how many women she felt should be on the Supreme Court, she said “9,” and why not? If it would not be considered too much for White males, then why should it be considered “too much” or too many for anyone else? Challenge your thinking!
Resistance to equity work or collusion with policy that harms marginalized groups surfaces because our privileges can make us feel someone’s gain is our loss. The reality of life, and of our species as diverse, is not divisive; the maintenance of unequal systems is. Systems and organizations are not accidentally exclusionary; therefore, we must be intentional in our pursuit of fairness.
Read more from Kathleen Johnson
Kathleen Johnson, Coach/Consultant/Educator
Kathleen Johnson is an award-winning thought leader and strategist focused on creative engagement in helping people from all backgrounds come together around social justice issues in a corporate setting. Experiencing racism and discrimination from a young age and seeing her immigrant parents build community instilled a deep sense of wanting to work towards more fairness in institutions. Kathleen is also a leader in healthcare, a sessional instructor with Simon Fraser University's Equity in Healthcare program, one of Canada's Top 100 Black Women to Watch in Canada for 2025, and a mother of 5 children with disabilities.
