It’s (mostly) a positive time for women in business..
New power for young mothers, a review on women in senior leadership, a new leader of the Women’s Business Council and our new Female Prime Minister challenged to make the UK the best place in the world to be a woman.
3 min read.
The summer months can be a perfect time to slow down, unless that is you are involved in gender equality and women in leadership.
In May, the Equalites and Human Rights Commission launched a new campaign to address the pregnancy and maternity discrimination faced by young mothers. Following research which shows that 6 times as many under 25 yr old pregnant women than average report being dismissed #PowertotheBump unites young mothers to empower themselves and put their baby first at work.
Gareth Thomas MP led a Parliamentary debate on Maternity Discrimination. Speakers included Joeli Brierley Founder of Pregnant then Screwed who was sacked from her job when she was 4 months pregnant with her first child. Ever since she has been on a mission to raise awareness of discrimination and to help other women who are victims of discriminatory behaviour.
The Women and Work APPG led by a cross-party team of officers and headed by Group co-chairs, Flick Drummond MP and Jess Phillips MP met in a very hot and crowded room to discuss Agile Working. Speakers included Mumsnet, The 30% Club, Caroline Dineage MP and Working Families.
Top leaders from some of Britain’s most influential and successful companies were rallied to help deliver the new progress for greater female representation in business, backed by government support. At an event, hosted at KPMG’s offices in London, Sir Philip Hampton, Chair of GlaxoSmithKline, and Dame Helen Alexander, Chair of UBM, announced plans to lead a team of influential leaders from a diverse range of industries to undertake a new review on improving female representation in leadership positions of British business, broadening the ambition to the entire FTSE 350 and raising the target to 33% of women on boards by 2020.
The review will focus on ensuring the very best of female talent make their way up the pipeline by removing barriers to their success, and continue to drive forward the momentum from Lord Davies’s work – which pushed the numbers of females on FTSE 100 boards up from 12.5% to 26%.
The ‘Women in Finance Charter’ asks financial services firms to commit to implement 4 key industry actions. Following on from Empowering Productivity – Harnessing the talents of Women in Financial Services led by Jayne-Anne Gadhia of Virgin Money, the Government backed Charter unveils its first round of signatories who have committed to work together to build a more balanced and fair industry. Firms that sign up to this Charter are pledging to be the best businesses in the sector.
Fawcett, with the support of many other women’s organisations, launched a campaign to come together to present a positive vision for women in the UK. The campaign is fighting for women’s rights to be protected post-Brexit. The #FaceHerFuture coalition is demanding that current rights are not weakened either directly or indirectly as a result of the Brexit negotiations.
The Women’s Equality Party launched #100daysofMay calling on the new Prime Minister to show her commitment to equality in her first 100 days at number 10.
More to read..
Why 2016 was always the year women would take over the world: It’s not just strange coincidence: education, politics and The Pill are all responsible
The debate about Gender Diversity “is all over” according to the Chairman of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi who is now on leave. Oh No it’s Not.
There are now more women on FTSE boards than ever before but we still need to go further, particularly when it comes to paving the way to the executive level. The Hampton Alexander Review is here.