1. Exploring the Gender Gap
Fumbling towards equity
(does anyone know the reference?)

2. Grounding Assumptions
The work of equity and diversity is about creating community, which involves building trust through careful listening, respectful disagreement, and taking risks
• We will do our best to be present & minimize distractions
• We respect each other’s confidentiality; pay attention to what is yours to share – and what is not
• We are all doing the best we can
• Growth and learning can be uncomfortable; remember it’s ok to make mistakes - we all do
Individuals and organizations can – and do – grow and change, but it doesn’t happen overnight
•We always need to practice self awareness:  Think about when you’re speaking up; Think about when you’re not speaking up
•This work is everyone’s responsibility; every person is capable of making equity and diversity a core value in their life
•There are no “quick fixes,” and we don’t have to fix everything
•It’s ok to take care of ourselves; practice forgiveness and letting go, so you can sustain yourself in this work
Adapted from Jamie Washington, Washington Consulting Group

3. The University has made a clear and dedicated effort to diversity and inclusion. As such, the Arboretum is dedicating resources to give you the tools to succeed in a rapidly changing world.
Discussions around equity, diversity, and inclusion can be difficult, especially if we’re not all using the same language or phrases.
The Arboretum’s mission declares that we are “To welcome, inform, and inspire all through outstanding displays, protected natural areas, horticultural research and education.”

4. We must first understand:
There are more than two genders
Those who exist outside of the binary face greater risk and higher rates of discrimination
Intersectionality is part of every equation – remember context

5. Gender identities
Gender identity [jen-der - ahy-den-ti-tee] | noun (gender identities)
A person's internal, deeply held sense of their gender. For transgender people, their own internal gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. Most people have a gender identity of man or woman (or boy or girl). For some people, their gender identity does not fit neatly into one of those two choices (see non-binary and/or genderqueer). Unlike gender expression, gender identity is not visible to others.
Gender non-conforming [jen-der nohn-kuh n-fawrm-ing] | adjective(gender non-conforming people)
A term used to describe some people whose gender expression is different from conventional expectations of masculinity and femininity. Please note that not all gender non-conforming people identify as transgender; nor are all transgender people gender non-conforming. Many people have gender expressions that are not entirely conventional – that fact alone does not make them transgender. Many transgender men and women have gender expressions that are conventionally masculine or feminine. Simply being transgender does not make someone gender non-conforming. The term is not a synonym for transgender or transsexual and should only be used if someone self-identifies as gender non-conforming.
Gender normative/gender straight [jen-der - nawr-muh-tiv] [jen-der - streyt] | adjective (gender normative people, gender straight people)
A synonym for cisgender, gender straight people are those whose gender identity matches up with expectations of their sex assigned at birth.
Gender-fluid [jen-der-floo-id] | adjective (gender fluid people)
Someone for whom gender identity and presentation is a spectrum. A gender-fluid person doesn’t confine themself to one gender, or even a few. Instead, they may fluctuate between presenting as feminine, masculine, neither, or both.

6. Women At Work
IWPR tracks the gender wage gap over time in a series of fact sheets updated twice per year. According to our research, if change continues at the same slow pace as it has done for the past fifty years, it will take 41 years—or until 2059—for women to finally reach pay parity. For women of color, the rate of change is even slower:
Hispanic women will have to wait until 2233 and Black women will wait until 2124 for equal pay.
Institute for Women’s Policy Research

7. Those Inequities add up Over time
National Women’s Law Center

9. Women At Home
According to the Pew Research Center, among working parents that don’t share the load equally, women are primarily responsible for at-home labor.

10. Gender non-conforming
AT WORK:
After transitioning from male to female, most individuals earn an average of 33% less than their
former salary
For those whose physical identity does not match the identity on a Social Security card
or other official documents, securing a job may be difficult.
Violence against transgender women has been on the rise for several years, with 2018 being
among the deadliest. Non-fatal violence often affects a person’s ability to get or hold down a job.

13. What can you do today?
Contact your local representatives to let them know how important pay equity is to you and your community
Whenever it is safe to do so, stand up for yourself or others when you see incidents of bias
Consider frequenting businesses owned and operated by women, women of color, trans women, and
gender fluid individuals.
Support businesses that offer fair hiring and employment practices.
If you like a business and they don’t fit that description, try to instigate change. A very large group and a certain Senator recently affected change with Amazon, who will now be paying $15 an hour to over a quarter of a million employees.