Key takeaways
Your CSR programs are a powerful lever to support gender equality — many of your people are already thinking about it and ready to act.
Belonging is the crucial “third piece” of the D&I puzzle, and it’s only recently being recognized as foundational to workplace culture.
Staying different has value — Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer at Benevity, shares how she learned to embrace it in the tech world.
At Benevity, we work toward gender equality, because when we all belong, we all succeed. Here’s how to join the movement to make the world more gender balanced.
Your guide to creating and promoting a culture of gender equality
Find four effective ways to connect your CSR efforts to the gender equality cause and empower your people to work toward positive change.
Your programs are a powerful lever that you can use to support and amplify the passions of your socially conscious workforce. Many of your people are already thinking about gender equality and are getting together to take action towards solutions. — Your Guide to Creating and Promoting a Culture of Gender Equality
Diversity, inclusion … and belonging?
We often talk about D&I, but belonging is the crucial third piece — and it changes everything. The guide draws clear distinctions between the three:
Diversity refers to any dimension that can differentiate people — ethnicity, gender identity, age, disability, sexual orientation, religion and more — and the appreciation of those differences. No single person is diverse on their own.
Inclusion is about ensuring the right conditions are in place for every individual to have a seat at the table and achieve their full potential.
Belonging is the feeling of security and “psychological safety” that comes from being accepted as your authentic self — and in the workplace, those bonds extend to the company, its values and the work itself.
The stakes are real: when a workplace doesn’t foster belonging, employee engagement suffers by up to 30%. But when it’s present, people perform better, stay longer, and are more motivated than financial incentives alone can achieve.
The need to belong doesn’t stop at the bounds of our personal lives. The desire for belonging is equally as strong in the workplace—but it’s only recently being recognized and embraced as a foundational component of culture that helps businesses and their employees thrive. — Belonging: The Third Piece of the Diversity & Inclusion Puzzle
When we listen and celebrate what is both common and different, we become a wiser, more inclusive, and better organization. — Pat Wadors, former SVP Global Talent, LinkedIn
Go beyond the surface
Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer at Benevity, shares how she — a woman and a visible minority — learned the value of staying different in the tech and business world.
Despite outward appearances, Sona describes herself as fitting in to the typical tech company mold in many ways — a nerd who loves data, metrics, and coding. Yet something more complex is at play, captured in a phrase that cuts to the heart of surface-level diversity:
I’m deceptively the same, despite outward appearances. — Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer, Benevity
Looking different but sharing so much — this paradox is exactly why surface-level diversity initiatives often fall short. Sona urges going deeper, to the places where real differences actually live:
I would also urge us to go deeper. We need to recognize where our biggest differences may lie — not in the colour of our skin, our gender, our age, or our sexual orientation — but in our psychology, our upbringing, our experiences, our beliefs, our values, and even our traumas. — Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer, Benevity
This is the foundation of a more meaningful approach to D&I:
We need to recognize that diversity stems from the outside AND the inside. — Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer, Benevity
When Bryan de Lottinville gave Sona just three words — “Keep being different” — it marked a turning point in how she understood her own value at work:
For the first time in my career, I felt like the things that made me really different were acceptable — even encouraged — at work. It was profoundly humanizing. — Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer, Benevity
That kind of culture is what makes diversity truly transformative:
The diversity we need is one that empowers us to use our differences to create something better, together. — Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer, Benevity
Find out how Benevity can help
Find out how Benevity can help amplify your CSR programs around gender equality — and all the other causes that matter to your people. Request a demo.
