“We need to ensure that we are asking the right questions to seek understanding.”
Maggie Alphonsi, former international women’s rugby champion and speaker with The Motivational Speakers Agency, talks to Megan Lupton about the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion – both on and off the field.
We have progressed significantly in terms of achieving equality in rugby and sport in general, but we’re not quite there yet. There are still areas of inequality with regard to pay.
For rugby in particular, when I came into the sport in 1999, women’s rugby wasn’t very popular. It wasn’t common for girls to take up rugby in school or for women or girls to play the sport in general.
Fast-forward to 2023 and that has changed. Rugby clubs today are much more equipped for women and girls taking up the sport as well as being far more welcoming. There was a stage when you probably would say that women and girls wouldn’t play football. Now? It’s a dominant sport for them, and women are getting paid to play.
Still a work in progress
We are now starting to see sponsors focused on sponsoring the women’s teams, whereas previously it would just be the men’s sides. And while this is definitely moving in the right direction and represents a massive progression, it’s still not where we want it to be yet.
In the wider picture, diversity and inclusion are important to a workplace because they are an opportunity for people to bring their whole selves to that workplace. We need people to feel like they can be acknowledged and recognised within the business environment regardless of what is perceived to be their differences. This includes gender, race, sexuality, faith, disability, or whatever else it might be.
Leading from the front
Research has shown that greater diversity in leadership roles, in particular, creates better businesses. In terms of creating a more inclusive team, I think it’s important that these leaders make sure they hear different perspectives from different people within the team.
When we talk about diversity and inclusion, they say diversity is inviting people to the dance, but actual inclusion is about inviting people to dance. And that’s really important.
As leaders, we can tend to hear different perspectives but then just make our own decision. So we need to ensure that we are asking the right questions to seek understanding. How do we ensure that everyone’s voice is being heard, to provide the right answer to a question? It’s important that we actually do seek – and listen to – the views of those around us to be fully inclusive.