{"id":19501,"date":"2017-08-25T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=19501"},"modified":"2021-06-03T14:51:32","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T21:51:32","slug":"womens-equality-the-outdoor-industry-can-be-a-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/womens-equality-the-outdoor-industry-can-be-a-leader","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Equality: \u201cThe Outdoor Industry Can Be a Leader\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deanne Buck of Camber Outdoors talks women\u2019s leadership and the influence of the outdoor industry on the nation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing up in rural Nebraska, Deanne Buck never felt a division between the indoors and outdoors. \u201cWhen I think about my childhood, I was always outdoors. We were swimming at the lake. We\u2019d go for bike rides. In the winter, we\u2019d go ice skating,\u201d Buck said. \u201cThe outdoors was just part of who I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t until a friend introduced her to climbing, at a YMCA in Omaha, Nebraska, 25 years ago, that she started to make life decisions based on her love of the outdoors. As her passion grew, it even informed where she went to law school\u2014the University of Colorado Boulder, naturally, because of its proximity to climbing.<\/p>\n

Over the years, she\u2019s worked as a river rafting guide and at a climbing gym. She\u2019s advocated for conservation and access to public lands during her time at the Access Fund and the American Alpine Club. Today, her goal is to achieve equality for all women in the outdoors, from the backcountry to the boardroom, as the Executive Director of Camber Outdoors<\/a> (formerly the Outdoor Industries Women\u2019s Coalition).<\/p>\n

\"Deanne

Photo Credit: Nicole Friend<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt all ties back to sharing my love for being outdoors with others, and a desire to drive and sustain an industry that supports my passion, as well as a lot other [people\u2019s passion],\u201d Buck said.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Women\u2019s Equality Day, August 26, we caught up with Deanne to talk about gender equity in the outdoors and the work Camber Outdoors is doing to accelerate women\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

What does the current landscape look like when it comes to women\u2019s leadership in the outdoors?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women\u2019s leadership, in general, is evolving on a national level, and the outdoor industry is fairly in step with the evolution. The outdoor industry is doing some hard work right now, which is looking at itself and looking at the current makeup of where women are in the workforce. I\u2019ve seen many of our member companies take some very active, thoughtful and deliberate internal steps to understand why there aren\u2019t as many women in leadership as there could be.<\/p>\n

How does outdoor recreation participation among women compare to the percentage of women in leadership roles in the outdoor industry? <\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not reflective. Women make up 46 percent of all outdoor participants, according to the Outdoor Foundation\u2019s 2017 Outdoor Recreation Participation report<\/a>. When I look at the silhouette of women\u2019s participation in the workforce from entry-level to the CEO, the outdoor industry mirrors the national silhouette: Women come in at about 50 or 60 percent of entry-level. As we start moving up the leadership ladder, it\u2019s anywhere from approximately 10 to 20 percent of women in the C-suites (top senior executive positions).<\/p>\n

\"Mountain<\/p>\n

What do you think is notable about that gap between participation and leadership roles within the industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our industry is not atypical of other industries where we see a drop-off of women from the manager and director levels to the next level of the workforce. Lean In released a study last year <\/a>\u00a0that reported for every 130 men who get promoted out of manager, 100 women get promoted out of manager. When we start thinking about a pipeline of talent, there are two ways to look at it. One way is that we can recruit talent into our industry at the executive level to ensure leadership teams more accurately reflect the consumer and participant experience. We can also look at how our companies are developing talent to advance current women into more leadership roles. There are a lot of reasons why women aren\u2019t equally represented in the leadership teams as they are in participation. Our goal is to understand to those and to help create a collective knowledge base on how we can start changing that.<\/p>\n

You said the outdoor industry is starting to take the right steps and move in a positive direction. Can you share a specific example of that progress? <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Camber Outdoors CEO Pledge<\/a> that we launched two and a half years ago is a great example. When we launched it, we had 12 companies that signed it. Now we have 70. CEOs are committing to women\u2019s leadership as a strategic priority for their business. The CEO Pledge provides a platform for CEOs and leaders to elevate talent. They\u2019re considering women\u2019s leadership as important as other the strategic priorities to which they hold themselves and their company accountable. It\u2019s not a quota. But what it says is that CEOs are committed to examining where there are biases in processes.<\/p>\n

In our<\/strong> National Study on Women and the Outdoors<\/strong><\/a>, 70% of women reported being outdoors is liberating and more than 85% agreed the outdoors positively affects their lives in many ways. But 6 in 10 women said men\u2019s interests in outdoor activities are taken more seriously and 63% couldn\u2019t think of an outdoor female role model. What role can the outdoor industry play in addressing this disconnect?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ensuring that women\u2019s voices are at the table when decisions are being made will be the fastest way to make sure women\u2019s experiences are taken into consideration at every level of business decisions. And that\u2019s not just for women\u2019s-specific product; that\u2019s for all product. This feeds directly into how the outdoors gets represented. When the people who are making decisions, whether it\u2019s who gets highlighted in an article or what gets made or how it gets made, if those people have a singular point of view, then the decisions aren\u2019t going to be relevant to the widest swath of people.<\/p>\n

How could gender equity in the outdoors impact gender equity in general?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The outdoor industry can be a leader in positioning women\u2019s leadership and gender equity\u2014and being successful with it. One of the biggest opportunities for companies is supporting employees during transitional times, specifically for women as it relates to family. As an industry, we already give space for more dimensions in our lives and in our work because of our shared passion for the outdoors. Can we lean into that to be successful and to understand how to work with people during transitions in their lives? My hope is that as we\u2019re accelerating success around women\u2019s leadership, we become the example for the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give women who are interested in turning their passion into their profession?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of things women can do. Our Camber Exchanges<\/a>, hosted by our member companies, are a great way to start learning about company culture, what\u2019s available and who is hiring. Our Career Center<\/a> consists of companies who are committed to ensuring women are able to pursuing their career goals. Camber Outdoors has created a guide to getting into the industry<\/a>. It helps to translate skills that people have and also what to expect. Volunteering for a nonprofit is another great way to start learning about the landscape. It\u2019s really around connecting with people, getting to know some people who can vouch for or who can make an introduction for you. When you\u2019re applying, let people know that you have that passion. It seems really obvious, but I can\u2019t tell you how many cover letters and resumes I get where people don\u2019t share why and how they like to get outdoors.<\/p>\n

\"A

A Camber Exchange event hosted at Wheelie Creative (Photo Credit: Wheelie Creative)<\/p><\/div>\n

What does success look like for Camber Outdoors?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I always say that success is when we put ourselves out of business. I think success is when the diversity of our leadership teams and our employee base reflects participation in the outdoors\u2013our current and future participation base.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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