Title: What Works: Gender Equality by Design

Author: Iris Bohnet

Suggested by: Callum Thomas

A mini-review by Callum Thomas:

"The book is primarily about gender diversity, but is full of relevant information and examples across many other areas of diversity

It struck me hard that we have decades of successful (and unsuccessful) efforts to learn from - we believe we really have a responsibility, and a huge opportunity, to learn from what has been done before.

A quote from the book that stuck with me is ''If you are going to advocate for diversity, be prepared to define it, simply''. I absolutely agree with this!

There are some great examples of when quotas have worked and when they have not, the effective use of mentoring and sponsoring, the power of visible examples that others can follow, accountability, gathering data and many others

There are some great practical tips - such as hiring in batches makes diversity easier to achieve that hiring in series, and how to create signposts and steer behaviour through design of processes and workflows

A powerful message to take away from it: if the ''privileged'' see D&I initiatives as a zero sum game (meaning that the pie stays the same size and their share will get smaller), then it is hard to get their buy in."

Don't just take our word for it, though!

Compelling, lucid, and filled with actionable insights, What Works draws from a deep well of research to explain how we can end gender inequality.”―Adam Grant, author of Give and Take and Originals

“A pathbreaking work, packed with insights on every page… The best book ever written on behavioral science and discrimination.”―Cass Sunstein, coauthor of Nudge