18 Sep 2024

Mark Freed: When Work Meets Passion, Challenging Assumptions and Building a Fair Culture

Many of you know me here for my work promoting gender equality and inclusion, but fewer may know about my other passion—water polo. I started playing over 50 years ago and recently took on the role of chair of my local club.

For those unfamiliar with water polo, it’s a full-contact sport—tough, fast, and exciting. One of my goals when stepping into this role was to expand the club and form a women’s team. Over the past year, most of our new recruits have been women. The men in the club welcomed and supported them, and now we proudly have a women’s team.

Then came the question: Should we mix teams? Can women join the men’s matches?

My first reaction was to say no—typical of outdated stereotypcial thinking. But then, I remembered the values I champion—equality and inclusion – and my day job at Men for Inclusion and E2W . I dug deeper into the rules, similar to those of all team sports, and saw that selection for competitive matches should be based on skill and desire, not gender – as in any workplace.

I had to confront my own protective instincts—fearing women would be more prone to injury, that they would not be strong enough or good enough. I had not given a moment’s thought to these same challenges when considering whether our younger male players of similar skill levels, strength, and stature should be invited to play competitive games. It was a moment of self-reflection, realising that our fears can often be rooted in sterotypical old-fashioned thinking.

I am delighted that tonight, women will be joining us in a competitive match – on merit, because we want them there and they want to be there.

Growth means challenging assumptions, and I’m proud to say we are building a culture where everyone has a fair shot, regardless of gender.

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