He has lived and breathed the military for almost 60 years. He is the son of a late Army General, he’s the father of three sons himself and he’s now the head of the army. On paper it’s hard to imagine a more unlikely hero for gender equality than Lt General David Morrison which makes his status all the more compelling.
What prompts a man like Lieutenant-General Morrison to become a globally-recognised advocate for women?
My Agenda coach Avril Henry, who coaches the Army’s senior leadership group including Morrison, says sitting in a room listening to individual women describe the various experiences which had prompted them to leave the armed services and the ongoing impact such experiences had on their lives was pivotal.
“As part of The Review into the Treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force, Liz Broderick put the heads of the navy, the armed services and the air force, in a room with women who had left service,” Henry says. “He found that extremely confronting. Personally I think as a military man he’d had limited exposure to what women face. It was a major ‘aha’ moment for him.”
Its impact has been far from fleeting. He resolved to stamp out sexual harassment and discrimination and remains zealously committed to the objective.
Henry, who is distinguished for her work with organisations and leaders to create change, says she hasn’t seen a transformation like it.
“He’s very genuine. I’ve done this work for 20 years and I can tell the difference between people doing it just because and those who do it because they believe in it,” Henry explains. “I did a ministerial review of the Army in 2005 so I have been involved with the armed forces for eight years. It’s the most significant cultural change I have seen in any organisation and he is the key to it. You only get transformational change when the leader in chief is personally committed to leading by example.”
His first public address on this topic took place in 2013 and was a video message imploring sexist members of the Australian Defence Force to “get out”. The clip has been viewed by 1.5 million people around the world. As a result of this he received a personal invitation to share a stage with the UK’s foreign secretary William Hague and Angelina Jolie at a four-day Global Summit to End Sexual Violence.
He used the opportunity to address the gender disparity in the armed forces, and encouraged militaries around the world to open up all areas of service to women as a means of stamping out sexual violence in the military and changing the culture.
“It wipes away the barriers to achieving potential and sends a clarion call to all who serve that talent will prevail, not gender.” He continued: “I’m no sociologist, I have no anthropological training but I’m certain of this … we live in a world where the squandering of women’s talent, the traducing of their potential, is a global disgrace.”
The four-day global summit in London ended with 155 countries signing a declaration to end impunity for rape in war.
But perhaps the most powerful point Morrison made in his London speech is this. When it comes to sexual violence he said a soldier only has two choices: to protect or perpetrate.
“I have deliberately excluded a third choice, to be a bystander while others commit sexual violence. There are no bystanders — the standard you walk past is the standard you accept,” he said.
Whilst he is referring to sexual violence in war, his message applies equally elsewhere. When it comes to sexism and sexual harassment each of us has two choices: to perpetrate or protect. Watching harassment or discrimination take place in any setting and not acting is tantamount to perpetrating.
Henry says there is one disclaimer, though, and it requires positive intervention. Individuals need to be able to recognise what constitutes discrimination and harassment.
“I coach lots of men of different generations and cultures on effective communication in the workplaces and many are ignorant and not aware of the challenges women face in workplaces. It’s not necessarily intentional but as I work with them they have these light bulb moments where suddenly it makes sense,” she says.
How can we ensure more leaders have light bulb moments?