Unily and iSAW use the power of technology to advance gender equality

iSAW launch on International Women’s Day

When Nancy Speidel discovered that the World Economic Forum predicts achieving gender parity will take a minimum of 99 years – and for some countries over 200 years – she was unwilling to accept this fact. Instead, she decided to use her experience driving D&I initiatives for large corporations to launch iSAW. iSAW's mission is to challenge the gender equality timeline, using technology as a vehicle for advancing change and connecting women around the world. Nancy and her team wanted to use technology to connect women, their employers, and their male colleagues to the people, resources, and knowledge needed to accelerate positive change.

A powerful partnership

With a compelling mission to hand, iSAW sought a technology partner to bring their vision to life. Having heard of Unily's power to connect and engage global workforces, Nancy and her team reached out for help. LIFT is the result of this powerful partnership – a community extranet platform designed to support women from all regions with the insights and networks to challenge gender parity and exercise their personal power in the workplace.

“We all know the power of technology can change the world.” explains Nancy, “We knew from the outset that Unily’s platform had the capabilities to connect people with knowledge in a way that could bring about real change.”  

The team behind iSAW

Alongside Nancy in the fight for gender equality are co-founder Ebtehal Alrewaily, an international scholarship recipient with a masters in Physics, and Lynn O’Connor, a Global Diversity and Inclusion Director with a background in FTSE 100 organizations. The foundation is also chaired by Martin Elliot, VP of Information Technology, who brings experience championing IT projects for major corporations to champion gender equality through LIFT.

Introducing LIFT: the vehicle for change

LIFT is the vehicle for advancing iSAW’s mission and the jewel in the iSAW crown. An acronym for Learning and Intelligence For Tomorrow, the LIFT platform utilizes the latest advancements in communications and knowledge sharing technology to connect women and corporations with the people and resources needed to speed up gender parity.

In addition to making the information easier to digest, an important function of LIFT was to put information in context. LIFT offers members a host of ways to engage with the resources that will support them. Through regional, industry, role and interest-based lenses, users can see the information that matters to them and put it in a context that makes it actionable. 

Using Unily’s next-generation targeting features, traditionally used by business enterprises to drive employee engagement, LIFT leverages the same technology to give members access to the specific knowledge and expertise they need to make a difference in their arena. 

The LIFT platform uses Unily’s technology to target members’ professional interests, providing interactive access to international thought leaders, subject matter experts and global networks to enhance their career fulfilment and raise their awareness on gender parity opportunities across the globe. iSAW also holds local and global events and workshops to engage with its international audience. 

Connecting people and knowledge: 3 platform highlights

The purpose of iSAW and the Unily-powered LIFT platform is to strengthen the position of women globally as a strategic talent pool and enhance each individual’s career. This is achieved by providing awareness on gender equality at a local, regional, and global level; arming members with the latest business knowledge in their industry and function; building their personal power; and creating an expansive international network for women to succeed in a bold new world.

iSAW members will enhance their professional and personal power through interactions with each other and thought leaders, primarily via LIFT, nurturing a local and international iSAW community.

The learning experience is underpinned by data analysis, insights, and benchmarks to highlight what ‘good looks like’ in gender equality, to shine a light on those organizations which excel, and illuminate the path to take for those wishing to improve.

#1. Engaging users with personalized content through Habitats 

Habitats are a unique way for members to search for and find content specific to the topics they are passionate about. The habitats are split into categories such as by industry, function, personal interests and location, and are an easy-to-navigate way of filtering through information to find relevant content to consume. There is so much content out in the world that it can become difficult to know where to begin, and how to get the most beneficial information for you. iSAW’s habitats breaks down this information into bite-size chunks, making it easy to find and digest the information you specifically need to further both your career and self. Each habitat focuses on a different subject area, and provides a deep dive into the topic. From articles, to videos, to podcasts, the different ways to learn and absorb the information is varied and will ensure you come away from your search with all the knowledge you need to make a change.  

#2. Igniting knowledge with a learning hub 

The learning hub holds a plethora of videos and materials for members to learn in a visual way. All members are driven by a values-based culture of constant striving to learn, lead and lift others, and are provided data and insights to build their own personal, professional and positional power.  

#3. Uniting a community with a member's directory 

The member's directory has all the information of every member of iSAW, in one, easy to search guidebook. LIFT enables you to search for specific thought leaders by region, industry, or skill-set, to communicate and collaborate with like-minded people across the globe.  

An extranet to change the world

If you would like to become a member of iSAW and look how you can better enhance your career, please visit https://isaw.org/.

iSAW’s LIFT platform is just one example of how Unily’s technology can be used to power global initiatives in an innovative way. Get in touch with us today to see how our technology can help drive communication and knowledge sharing for your organziation.