Stop Empowering Women. Start Retraining Men

Dilpreeta Vasudeva

CMO at FirstLiving Spaces

Linkedin ; Website; Instagram

We’ve spent years talking about inclusion like it’s a checklist-

Maternity policy?

Women in leadership?

Diversity ratio on slides?

And yet, in boardrooms and backchannels, the jokes are still sexist,

the power structures still patriarchal,

and the energy? Still deeply masculine.

We’ve painted inclusion in pastel-delicate language, soft interventions, optional workshops. Most “gender inclusion” programs still centre around helping women adapt: build confidence, network better, negotiate harder.

That’s not inclusion. That’s assimilation.

Inclusion isn’t about helping women fit in. It’s about remaking the system so they don’t have to.

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Women don’t need fixing. Organisations do.

If >75% of employee base is still male,

why is 100% of “inclusion training” still aimed at women?

This isn’t ideology.

It’s ROI.

Workplaces with high gender inclusion see:

➤ 21% higher profitability

➤ 27% more value creation

➤ Significantly lower attrition

(McKinsey, 2023; Catalyst; HBR)

But metrics don’t create momentum.

Mindsets do.

And the real shift?

It happens when men stop being observers of inclusion-

and start being owners of it.

You don’t change the game by fixing the ones who were never allowed to play.

You change it by retraining the ones who wrote the rules.

Still Training Women? You’re Doing It Wrong.

She’s already adapted.

Already leaned in.

Already held back tears in the loo and self-doubt in the boardroom.

Stop handing her another toolkit.

The problem isn’t her ambition.

It’s your assumptions.

If she walks in with ideas and walks out unheard,

if she’s praised for being “aggressive enough to make it,”

you don’t have an inclusion gap-

you have a culture one.

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Train the Men.

the performative behaviours.

the ego that talks over her in meetings,

the silence that lets bias slip by,

the insecurity that rises when she shines,

the bro-code that masquerades as “culture fit.”

Untrain the entitlement.

Rewire the room.

Break the rituals of exclusion that tradition protects.

Because the Future Isn’t Female. It’s Evolved.

This future won’t be born in pink-toned campaigns.

It’ll be forged in uncomfortable boardroom conversations.

In leaders who don’t just nod at change—but become it.

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To the Men Who Lead: This Is Your Work Too.

If you’re not calling out bias,

if you’re not listening to understand,

if you’re not sponsoring power-

then don’t call yourself an ally.

Allyship isn’t a sticker you wear.

It’s a stand you take.

And if you’re not risking comfort or credibility,

you’re not leading. You’re blending in.

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To the CXOs and HR Heads:

Don’t add another “women in leadership” workshop.

Don’t throw us flowers on Women’s Day.

Don’t check your box and call it equity.

Ask the real question:

What are you doing to retrain those who’ve always held the room?

Because if you’re still asking how to empower women,

you’ve already missed the point.

Let’s stop asking women to be resilient.

Let’s start asking men to evolve.