Winston Celebrates Women and Presses for Progress

Women’s History Month 2018 comes at a time of unprecedented global movement for women’s rights and equality. Campaigns such as #MeToo and #TimesUp have helped advance the fight for women’s rights worldwide. 

The highlight of Winston’s Women’s History Month programming was a March 23 presentation by veteran journalist Joanne Lipman, author of the critically acclaimed new book, That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell them) about Working Together. Drawing on her experience in such positions as editor-in-chief of USA Today and deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, Lipman’s extensive research for the book uncovered the origins of systemic issues for women in the workplace as well as concrete steps everyone can take to recognize their unconscious biases and keep them in check.

With the #MeToo movement, Lipman said, “we are in a singular moment in history where men are willing and eager to join this conversation with us, and we don’t want this to go to waste.” The genesis of Lipman’s book was a WSJ article she wrote, “Women at Work: A Guide for Men,” which grew out of a conversation she had with a man who felt beat up after attending his company’s diversity training. The message of her article—that men should be brought in as allies, not alienated—went viral. “If we ever want to get to a solution, we need to take away men’s fear of joining the conversation.”

Joanne Lipman, Sylvia James, Paula Hinton, and Eva Cole

Lipman expressed optimism at seeing so many men in the room, and emphasized that organizations’ efforts to raise awareness must start at the top. Program attendees, who included firm members, clients, and alumni, received an ERA button to signify Winston’s involvement in the push to make Illinois the 37th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which states that civil rights may not be denied on the basis of sex. A year ago, when Chairman Tom Fitzgerald learned that two more states needed to ratify the ERA to make it part of the Constitution, he asked the firm to form a committee to work on this issue.

As part of the effort, we hosted a screening of Equal Means Equal, the important documentary film about gender inequality in the United States and the modern fight for equal rights under the Constitution. Winston attorneys, clients, alumni, and friends attended this event on March 14, which featured a discussion with Kamala Lopez, the film’s director/producer, and Natalie White, artist and ERA activist.

Learn more about our commitment to secure equal rights for women through ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Many firm members wore purple to signify the United Nations’ #PressforProgress on International Women’s Day, celebrated each year on March 8 to recognize women for their achievements without regard to nationality, social-economic status, race/ethnicity, culture, or position. Our Diversity & Inclusion Committee featured profiles of a cross-section of Winston women in a special global internal communication spotlighting their female role models and views on the changing role of women in the workplace.