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8 March 2021Influential Women in IPMuireann Bolger

INTA’s mission to advance women in IP

This year’s International Women’s Day, Monday March 8, comes in the wake of a turbulent year for women worldwide, as COVID-19 dealt a blow to the advancement of gender equality in the workplace.

The pandemic will cast a long shadow for women—even once its threat subsides—according to the 2021 president of the International Trademark Association (INTA) and assistant general counsel at Oracle, Tiki Dare.

“COVID-19 has been devastating for women globally; it has had a disproportionate effect on women, and I expect it to have a long-tail effect,” Dare says.

“There is going to be a big impact when it comes to attracting and keeping women and any under-represented persons in a profession—and it’s going to keep women out of the graduate-level education that enables them to develop careers in IP,” she adds.

Dare’s fears are borne out by research. More than one in four women are considering downgrading their careers or leaving the workforce as they struggle to balance childcare and work commitments during the pandemic, according to the “ Women in the Workplace 2020” report, published by McKinsey and LeanIn.org in September 2020.

As the challenges to women escalate, it is timely that Dare will make the promotion of women up the IP career ladder a priority during her term.

“COVID-19 has been devastating for women globally; it has had a disproportionate effect on women, and I expect it to have a long-tail effect.” Tiki Dare, Oracle

On International Women’s Day 2020, INTA launched the Women’s LeadershIP Initiative, which aimed to examine and address the under-representation of women in leadership roles in IP.

The scheme generated “ The Women’s LeadershIP Initiative Report and Best Practices Toolkit”, and recommends strategies to foster career development opportunities for women.

This year, Dare will steer a presidential taskforce that will focus on diversity and inclusion (D&I), building on the work of the initiative.

In an exclusive interview with WIPR, Dare joined 2020 INTA president, Ayala Deutsch, and Deborah Hampton, officer at INTA’s board of directors, to reflect on the initiative’s findings.

A focus on gender diversity and equity

“We wanted to understand, for the sake of our members and the community at large, the gender issues specific to IP and what role INTA could play in helping women navigate those issues,” explains Deutsch, who is also senior vice president and chief IP counsel at NBA Properties, and the initiative’s founder.

The project also stemmed from INTA’s own stellar record in promoting and advancing women into leadership positions. Since 2000, 11 INTA presidents have been women. In other parts of the organisation, women comprise five out of six officers of the board of directors; 14 of the 30 members of the board of directors; and 31 of the 70 committee chairs and vice-chairs.

“We have a good track record of women in leadership positions, but I think that is reflective of INTA’s focus on gender diversity and equity, and more broadly its mission to build brands for a better society. That’s been in the DNA of the organisation for a while, so now it’s being expanded and amplified,” says Deutsch.

The figures across the rest of the US legal sector are less inspiring. According to the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) 2020 a nnual diversity report, women and people of colour remained markedly under-represented within the partnership ranks of US law firms. In 2020, women comprised 25% of all US partners in 2020, an increase of less than 1% compared to the year before.

Only 4 % of all partners are women of colour, while black and Latina women each continue to represent less than 1% of all partners in US law firms.

A hunger for a community

Given these lacklustre statistics, coupled with the effects of COVID-19, the initiative was well-timed to address the pressing issues facing women in IP.

Notes Deutsch: “There is a hunger and desire among women to have a community that’s focused on their professional path to have initiatives, tools and programmes in place to help them advance in their careers. That desire spans the globe and the different IP functions.”

As part of the initiative, the association conducted workshops and a survey leading to its report and toolkit, released on February 23, 2020.

Based on data collected from INTA workshops that included 135 women in IP across the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America regions, the report outlines key findings and recommends strategies that can foster career development opportunities for women.

Leadership models

The workshops revealed that many women still struggle to advance in IP firms, finding it necessary to start their own firm to attain a leadership position or a better work-life balance. Deutsch argues that this finding prompts vital questions around popular perceptions of what makes an effective leader.

“The fact that a lot of women start their own firms or companies shows that they don’t see a viable path forward in big law firms. We definitely need to address that by expanding our models of successful leadership—but it’s also good news because it reflects women taking control of their own destiny,” she says.

Hampton, who was the first woman of colour and the second non-attorney to become an INTA officer, believes that the initiative’s findings underscore the resilience and fortitude of women when confronted by obstacles.

“The fact that a lot of women start their own firms or companies shows that they don’t see a viable path forward in big law firms,” Ayala Deutsch, NBA Properties

“The research showed that if the support isn’t there, then women will invest in themselves or they’ll band together to achieve their goals as a group,” she says.

While the level of female entrepreneurship in IP is inspiring, the research also reflects the outdated attitudes in the legal sector, says Deutsch.

“Some law firms have been slow to recognise alternative forms of leadership. They still have very ‘male’ perceptions of what makes an effective leader, whether that’s a focus on physical presence, or forcefulness, or other characteristics based on such antiquated perceptions,” she says.

These deep-rooted biases have created problems for women lawyers, leaving them with a dearth of role models to emulate. Dare says she experienced this conflict at the start of her career when she felt that women were expected to conform to polarising leadership styles—with little room for manoeuvre.

“One option was a ‘Margaret Thatcher style’ with the goal of competing as hard as men. I remember one woman partner saying periodically: ‘you have to say the smartest thing in the room, that's how you participate’,” she says.

While the pandemic has been devastating in many ways for women, Deutsch is hopeful that it has highlighted the advantages of different leadership styles.

“Some of the leadership skills that women demonstrate perhaps more than men are becoming increasingly valued in the age of COVID-19, including compassion, consensus and team-building, and the ability to form personal connections,” she says.

In another key finding from the initiative, the majority of workshop participants worldwide recommended measures such as open dialogue and policies to address gender issues, rather than enforced workforce quotas.

This highlights the inadequacy of quotas when promoting D&I, reflects Dare.

“Ultimately, we’re here to change minds and a quota doesn’t do that. A quota lets you tick a box, but it doesn’t necessarily change how you do your day-to-day work. Promoting D&I can’t be a bolt-on or an extra—it has to become integral to the way we work.”

COVID-19’s pressure on costs

Deutsch believes that the pandemic could adversely affect D&I budgets. “One of the consequences of COVID-19 is economic, and D&I budgets are often the first to go when times are economically hard,” she says.

“We have to identify low-cost tools and solutions that will have a positive impact.”

She points to the report’s best practices toolkit, which offers 19 recommended initiatives. These include implementing a D&I council, an internal reporting requirement, coaching circles, and formal flexible working arrangements, as well as engaging with several campaigns and groups addressing these issues.

“We wanted to give organisations that want to facilitate the advancement of women some tangible things they could consider implementing—and many of them are not that difficult or costly,” Deutsch explains.

She refers to the stark figures from McKinsey’s survey showing that 25 percent of women in the labour force may shortly pull out of working. “These women are not necessarily losing their jobs but confronting a professional environment that’s so overwhelming for them that they're stepping away,” she adds.

“The BLM movement is a moment in time; it’s another link in the chain towards achieving gender equity and inclusion.” Deborah Hampton, INTA

“We have to tackle some societal and cultural phenomena that curtail women: one is finding better support for working parents—generally mothers—who, more often than not, are the primary caregivers.”

Dare insists that she is committed to assessing and addressing the spectre cast by COVID-19 on D&I goals during her term as president and will adapt the toolkit accordingly.

“We’re going to see if there are ways we can start compensating for the pandemic’s effects, to understand them more, and make a difference that way,” she says.

BLM momentum

All three executives are acutely aware that this initiative has been carried out amid the fallout from the tragic death of George Floyd and the increased prominence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

Hampton is hopeful that the momentum created can be maintained. “The BLM movement is a moment in time; it’s another link in the chain towards achieving gender equity and inclusion,” she says.

“George Floyd’s death shone a spotlight on work that’s been going on for more than 100 years. I don’t think it will go away because so many people, within INTA and brand owners, are invested now.”

According to Dare, the urgent dialogue around equality sparked by these events created an “incredible momentum”, driving an increased commitment to promote D&I.

“We have to ensure that all of our efforts become sustained and permanent. That’s why the presidential taskforce this year is focused on diversity. We can never lose sight of women but now we have to look at these other aspects of diversity and do so in a global way,” she explains.

The INTA president describes the trend of large companies insisting that their external law firms show evidence of diversity as “encouraging”.

“They want their suppliers to show a commitment to diversity. If suppliers need to meet certain diversity targets, that’s the kind of thing we can build on. In this way, we’ll see a real sustained change—it could be a game-changer.”

Dare concludes: “We will discard a tremendous amount of talent and life experience if we do not create a diverse workforce, equitable circumstances and true inclusivity.”

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