After 15 years of focusing internally and providing support and mentoring to its members, the Outdoor Industries Womens Coalition is launching an advocacy program to improve womens treatment and compensation in the outdoor industries.


The OIWC was formed in 1995 and now includes 1,500 members in the outdoor, snowsports and bicycle industries. In the coming six months it will launch a new advocacy program to let companies know how it will be identifying and tackling  gender issues in the industry. In the first phase, which will kick off next month at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, the program will seek to raise money from companies to help fund employee surveys and other research to confirm the most pressing gender-related issues in the workplace.


OIWC expects to conduct research starting next year and then serve as a venue through which individuals and companies can ask questions, build a network, and find solutions to these issues, creating open and honest dialogue around sensitive topic.  In the final phase of the program, OIWC will work with the industry to implement solutions by showcasing best practices and case studies; hosting workshops, forums and keynote speakers, helping companies build Womens Leadership programs, and more.


Based on past OIWC studies and research from outside of the outdoor industries, we do know that while women have made great strides in the workplace, the vision of Respect, Inclusion and Gender Equality has not been reached, read the statement issued last week by OIWC.


That research and OIWCs own experience indicate the new advocacy program will focus on equal pay for equal work, under-representation of women at higher-level and higher-paying jobs, sexual harassment, the need for workplaces to provide support and flexibility so working mothers and fathers can stay in the workforce (and be supported) after having children and communication/leadership styles of men and women.