International Women’s Day: Our Inspirations from the week that was….



This global event celebrates achievements of women to date and challenges us to all to do more to achieve gender equality.

In our workshops this week,  we discussed ways in which we can all play our part in promoting equality – some of our participants came up with a list of things they would like to do themselves, for example:

  • Inclusion in team dinners, lunches etc
  • Help promote senior women to help junior generations
  • Talk to managers to ensure there are no differences for female employees
  • Showcase successful senior women/managers as role models for working mothers and how they balance motherhood and a demanding work schedule
  • Speak more openly with male colleagues /senior leaders about the challenges of childcare/parental leave and work/life balance when looking after children. This would help lift the burden from women
  • Volunteer to be a mentor
  • Have lunches and drinks with other women
  • Help managers to understand how to manage employees through maternity
  • Push towards gaining mandatory flexibility for all women while pregnant – not just at the manager’s discretion
  • Join Women’s Networking groups
  • Encourage dads to do more parenting
  • As a working parent, share my return to work experience with others

Earlier in the week we attended the Cityparents’ Speaker Series event with guest speaker Karen Blackett, OBE.  Karen is chairwoman of MediaCom and champions diversity throughout the advertising and media industry.  Karen has won many awards and has most recently been appointed as one of four external advisors to help diversify the Civil Service, and as a UKTI Business Ambassador for No 10.  Karen spoke about her background and her desire to succeed, the importance of role models and having a support network.

On Tuesday we took part in a virtual coffee morning on gender parity, hosted by Ontrack International.  Liz Codd, Fidelity Investments, spoke about how we can accelerate gender parity through coaching and Kate Gibbs, Ontrack consultant, outlined how unconscious bias can affect women in the workplace.

Overall, a great week, with inspiration for us all to keep engaged in continuing our efforts to support gender equality.


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