International Women's Day 2023 - Anthony Goodmaker
To celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2023, Forsters is delighted to be releasing a series of Q&As with some of our partners and employees who go above and beyond to champion equity across our business.
We hope they will provide an insight into what drives those individuals who are really pushing the equity agenda forward.
Anthony Goodmaker is a Partner in our Commercial Real Estate team and member of our Working Parents & Carers network. Anthony was the first male employee at Forsters to take shared parental leave in 2017, and did this again in 2019. Read more about Anthony below:
1. Tell us a bit about yourself.
I'm a partner in Forsters Commercial Real Estate team, having trained at the firm and have now been here for over 10 years. I am a member of our Working Parents and Carers group, and I am particularly passionate about the role that men play in supporting gender equality through taking on a bigger share of parental or caring responsibilities.
2. Tell us about your most inspiring female role models (whether at Forsters, clients, or beyond).
My wife. She has to deal with the all too common conundrum facing working parents with young kids (and particularly mothers) – how to be an engaged parent while meeting the demands of a busy job. Is it possible to do both without making huge sacrifices? Do financial considerations (such as the cost of childcare and living) mean that parents even have a choice about the direction of their careers, one way or the other? How can society better help women to have a family and a successful career (if that is what the individual wants)?
3. What do you think are the most effective steps men can take to help achieve gender equity in the workplace?
Embrace childcare and push employers for greater entitlement to paid parental leave for dads.
4. In what areas do you feel there is work to be done?
I think there is a danger that mothers can feel pressure to both be a great parent and also achieve real, professional success (i.e. parent like they don’t have a job or work like they don’t have kids), or put their career first because of the idea that this is what being a progressive woman is all about. Society shouldn't stigmatise people who drop out of professional services because they don't want to have to balance a high-profile job with being a parent. Separately, too many men still see childcare as the mum's main responsibility, which puts huge pressure on women. Time for men to grow up and share the role!
5. What benefits do you feel working at a firm with a gender balanced partnership?
Gender equality is not just about having an equal number of male and female partners, although this is a big step. What I find particularly inspiring at Forsters is that we promoted two female senior associates to partner in 2022 who have young children already, rather than following the more typical route of delaying having a family to make Partner first. That helps model an alternative pathway to promotion that might have previously been lacking.
6. Do you think of embracing equity at work, and pushing forward the equity agenda, falls equally on both genders? If not, what impact do you think this has on women?
My thoughts on this mainly concern equitable treatment around parenting. It's so important that men support women having kids whenever they choose to do it. Don’t belittle the impact on someone’s career, and support people through this (as managers, and partners!). People must also be free to make these decisions without ridicule that has sometimes been part of workplaces – those snide jokes about having a second or third child etc. The impact of these comments should be understood and not minimised.
7. Are we doing enough to support women in the workplace?
I don't see many, if any, female (or male!) lawyers at Forsters working a 3-day week or doing a job share arrangement. Perhaps just having a 50% female partnership and a low gender pay gap isn't enough anymore, and we need to look at other inclusive and progressive ways to support our most talented female lawyers to juggle work and life after having children.