The CFD created the Allies-in-Action initiative in 2022 to promote and develop a culture among our men colleagues to be active, reliable allies for our women colleagues. Given the documented effect of men driving gender equity and institutional change on the advancement of women’s careers, the goal of this allyship is to encourage greater support and collaboration across genders and a commitment on the part of men colleagues to enhance their advocacy and sponsorship as well as to drive for systematic changes in the workplace culture to nurture more women leaders.

34 men faculty across all MGH departments received training by Workplace Allies W. Brad Johnson, and David G. Smith, authors of Good Guys: How Men Can Be Better Allies for Women in the Workplace. The training included expanding gender awareness, validating and normalizing women’s experiences, and concrete steps in how to be an active upstander for women as well as the the crucial role of sponsorship. The goal after this training has been for these men to share what they have learned with both men and women in their departments, identify and train other men to be better allies for women, and with them grow advocacy for departmental and organizational change. The men allies meet regularly to share challenges and successes; they also meet with women peer mentoring groups to learn about women’s challenges.

Allies-in-Action is one of the many initiatives of the CFD to support and promote women and works in close conjunction with them. Other initiatives include but are not limited to academic promotion and CV support, leadership training, invited speaker opportunities, and peer mentoring cohorts with over 200 women currently involved.

If you want more information on Allies-in-Action, please reach out to us directly and we can connect you with one of our men allies: womens.careers@partners.org.

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