At The Hive, Culture, Diversity and Inclusion are issues which are not only important to us, but underpin the core values upon which we were founded.  As a women's network, we exist to support ALL women in our local community.  We recognise that there is underrepresentation of certain voices within our group and  we have made it our mission to address this.  

 

Triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement, we are ready to do the difficult and uncomfortable work which must be done to dismantle systemic inequality.  Our approach is outlined below, but we welcome ideas and suggestions, so please reach out if there is any way we could improve.

 

1) Sharing and empathising

 

The most important aspect of our strategy on the subject of Diversity and Inclusion is that we hear more stories from those who are underrepresented within our community.  We believe that this process fosters empathy and understanding of different lived experiences. 

 

With permission, we will be promoting the narrative of the underrepresented women within the local community.  Sharing their experiences in the hope that it inspires others.  

 

2) Learning and supporting

 

We will be encouraging our members to actively consume recommended content on the subject of being anti racist. We will also facilitate conversations which force us to examine our own privilege in light of the lessons learned.  

 

We recognise that producing this content is a burden for underrepresented communities and we intend to not only support the creators of this content, but to help them in their mission by supporting causes which are focused on creating equality.  

 

3) Promoting and changing 

 

The third pillar in our approach really comes as a result of the first two.  We will offer reduced membership to POC in order to actively promote diversity within our peer group.  Additionally, we intend to be instrumental to genuine change within our society by actively backing any legislation which dismantles white privilege. For more information please contact Jess@themamahive.com

 

With special thanks to Trish Champaneri for her support in putting this together.