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DISCUSSION
GROUP
What's on your mind?
Packaging Horizons
From Where I Sit
Making Progress, Making Change
By JoAnn R. Hines
Founding Executive Director, Women in
Packaging
Progress (n.) 1. moving forward; movement forward nearer a goal. 2. advancement toward maturity or completion; gradual development.
Have we made progress? Is Women in Packaging (WiP) moving forward toward our goal? I began WiP to develop and promote diversity. WiP certainly aids the industry in its progression toward becoming more diverse. The organization's progress directly impacts many trade shows by offering a non-technical, professional, development agenda to their events. Numerous members attribute their career advancement to their membership. Yet, something is missing. Where is the change?
After five years of information gathering, relationship building, and specialized education, the time has come to make something happen and effect change. WiP is 800-plus members strong. With 100 corporate partners and sponsors one would believe change is taking place. That we, as an industry, are more diverse. Think again.
WiP recently cemented a new partnership that will make a real dent in the way diversity is approached in the U.S. packaging industry. With the guidance of Catalyst, WiP will set a standard which the industry must recognize. Catalyst is a national, nonprofit organization with a dual mission: to help women achieve their professional potential, and; to assist corporations in capitalizing on the talents of women. This internationally recognized organization urged WiP to develop a Best Practices and Initiatives Task Force to establish the benchmark for diversity issues in the packaging industry. Million-dollar companies need to do more than say they are diversity oriented. The Best Practices and Initiatives Task Force will highlight who does what, not who says what. It is about change.
Simply being diversity oriented or having a diversity awareness program does not change things. Establishing the Best Practices for increasing understanding and awareness will! When I call upon a company to stand in partnership with WiP, they readily embrace our mission. "We are committed to diversity and support women and minorities in our management programs." Really? What are the latest figures on women in management positions in this industry? Record numbers of women are graduating from our universities' packaging programs. Are we seeing them in senior- and executive-level management? Are they in the boardroom? Not yet!
The same companies who yell sanctuary from atop their diversity awareness programs must actively demonstrate a commitment to it. Only when this happens, will they have progressed. Policies alone do not effect change. The action that supports the policy is what changes things. WiP receives requests from around the globe from companies who want to know how to effect the changes necessary to increase diversity. WiP can produce the statistics that show what the U.S. packaging industry looks like. That still does not answer their question, what makes the change? I believe the answer lies in our Best Practices Task Force. As we get closer to our goal and promote diversity within our industry, it is action that speaks louder than words. Progress waits for no one!
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