Women in Action Lead to Balance in the Workplace and Beyond

In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8, the team at Equinix is embracing this year’s theme “Balance for Better” — and encouraging women around the world to take action to promote gender parity, celebrate the achievements of women, and push for the success they desire.

“Balance for Better” is when women are given the opportunity to create a gender-balanced workplace. The organizers of International Women’s Day got it right: “Balance is not a women’s issue, it’s a business issue.” Business leaders need to create an environment where women can push to their limits and are given equal opportunities to achieve their dreams – whether in the boardroom, courtroom, newsroom or classroom. Achieving balance makes the workplace, and the world, better.

Let’s be clear on one thing: seeking balance and gender parity in the workplace is not a one-day event. It needs to be woven in the fabric of the business and in the mindset of every employee. The tipping point isn’t a day of reflection and celebration; achieving gender parity will only result from action from business leaders around the globe. Equinix has joined Paradigm for Parity, a coalition of business leaders dedicated to addressing the gender-gap in the boardroom, to create an action plan to realize our commitment of achieving gender-parity.

Bringing that action plan to life is exactly what I am going to do. As the Chief Human Resources Officer and the Chief Legal Officer, I have a broad perspective that allows me to deepen my insights on what’s happening across the business. There’s also complementary goals across these two talented teams, and our deep partnerships across the business afford us the unique opportunity to connect dots, solve problems, bring people together and drive results. The people and the culture are what’s kept me here for more than a decade; now it is my privilege and great responsibility to act as the steward of our culture to team members around the globe.

Here’s why this is important: balanced and diverse views drive business results for our business, our customers and our partners. Buyers are men and women, therefore a company’s engineers, sales team, marketers and executives should reflect all customers. I put this challenge squarely on tech leaders around the world. If they want to drive results, they need to ensure unique, balanced and diverse perspectives are in the room.

If you are a woman in the room, you need to grab that opportunity to impact outcomes, speak up and use your voice — it’s offering value to the business that only you can provide. Equally important, once you’ve secured that seat at the table, look around to see who you can bring with you.

International Women’s Day is important to Equinix. It’s a direct reflection of who we are and who we want to become. If you want to learn more about Equinix, please visit our Culture and Values page on the website.