Pink October: How companies can collaborate with women

The month of October is almost over, but there is always time to talk about a campaign as important as Pink October. 

Most of the time, the approach taken regarding Pink October is about women, themselves, understanding that it is important to take care of themselves. This approach is interesting and extremely important! 

But we cannot forget that when we talk about women's health, we need to mobilize an entire support network that actually provides support in the case of a breast cancer diagnosis, for example. 

In short, you can't just ask a woman to handle it alone!

When we talk about Pink October, we need to understand everyone's responsibility, including companies and their employers, and the way these leaders act in the face of this initiative. 

Let's talk about it, then?

In this post, you will see:

• How important is the Pink October campaign within a company?
• What can employers do for women in Pink October?
• Why employers can't ignore the Pink October campaign

How important is the Pink October campaign within a company?

As stated in the introduction, we need to understand everyone's responsibility in the Pink October campaign, and not just women's. And why does a company need to pay attention to this importance?

Why companies, employers, and leaders need to step up and provide space for these women to have the time and conditions to take care of themselves! 

Yes, this seems like something that doesn't even need to be mentioned, but unfortunately, the reality of the job market for women is still not entirely conducive to them being able to seek prevention. 

When the woman is the family provider

If you still don't understand, let's give an example: a woman who needs to work 8 hours a day, take care of her children, take care of the house and often earn extra income to help with family expenses, will hardly think of herself enough to set aside a few days a year to do routine exams, such as going to the gynecologist, which is so important. 

How many women do you know who live this reality today?

And in most of these cases, the woman is responsible for providing part of the supplies that the family needs, or even she is the one who maintains her home. 

Closing your eyes to this reality is ignoring the Pink October campaign, and thus, it completely loses its meaning. 

A woman's health ends up being a reflection of the life she lives and the people around her. And how can the people who live with a woman help her take care of herself? 

That's what we're going to talk about in the next topics. 

What can employers do for women in Pink October?

But after all, what can these leaders do for the women who work at their company?

The first thing to do is to encourage internal public policies to show employees the importance of taking care of their own health. This can be done in a number of ways, such as:

• Lectures with health professionals;
• Printed materials in common areas of companies;
• Gifts as a souvenir of this campaign, such as a bow-shaped button, for example;
• Infographics teaching self-examination;
• Some weekly reminders about the importance of the Pink October campaign. 

This type of attitude encourages women to increasingly feel the need to consult a specialist, perform self-examinations and maintain their health. 

In this context, it is also important to highlight the importance of maintaining healthy habits, drinking enough water every day and practicing physical activities frequently. 

But that's not enough

However, we know that when it comes to the job market, not everything is very favorable for women. 

So, we know that even if all these measures are taken, it is possible that the employer will not allow her to take a day off work, for example, to take these exams. And that is where the reason for this text comes in. 

Internal awareness policies need to be connected to a coherent organizational culture, which provides space and support for employees to feel comfortable exercising their right to take care of their own health. 

The reality is different

In this month of Pink October, a post on Linkedin caught the attention of many users on the network. In this post, a young woman said that she was fighting cancer and decided to resign. 

She said that as soon as she received the sad news that she was sick, she told her employers and felt supported at such a delicate time, when she really needed that support. 

The issue is that over time, and with the treatments causing very strong side effects, she realized that the organizational climate was no longer the same and that the demands continued to be such that she felt bad about being there, believing she was bothering others. 

Finally, she resigned to focus 100% on her health and realized that, unfortunately, all the overtime she had worked and all the extra time she dedicated to the company were not compensated at this time when she needed more time for herself. 

So, the lesson is that the Pink October campaign and many others are often beautiful in theory, but in practice they are very different. This shows that most institutions are not prepared, in fact, to defend this initiative. 

Why employers can't ignore the Pink October campaign

Leaders cannot ignore the fact that women are increasingly independent, freed from an oppressive past and are often the family breadwinners. This means that they represent a large portion of the workforce. 

Ignoring this means leaving aside an important workforce that makes a difference in all institutions. That is why the Pink October campaign is so important: attention is turned to them and issues in this niche come to light, so that they can be resolved and corrected over time. 

How about now giving the necessary value to this cause?

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Take the opportunity to read too How to plan your day's activities in 5 tips. 

Nathalia Silva October 21, 2021