International Women’s Day – Inspire Inclusion
Today marks 2024 International Women’s Day.
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘inspire inclusion’ which encompasses the importance of diversity and inclusion in all aspects of society. This is also not something that only applies to one day but throughout the whole year and in all walks of life.
One important aspect of inclusion is gender equality, and whist the inclusion of women and girls has improved over the last 100 years, research shows that there is still a lack of female representation in all aspects of society.
In 2022, the United Kingdom was marked as being 15th on the Global Gender Gap Index which benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health based criteria. Similarly, less than 10% of FTSE 100 companies had female CEO’s and less than 20% had female executive directors.
Although the statistics may have improved slightly over the last 2 years, the research shows that more can still be done to ensure that women and girls are included and their contributions are valued. It is of course still great that so much has already been done and that the majority of businesses are working hard to ensure equality at all levels of their business.
What can organisations do to promote inclusion?
There are many steps that organisations can take to promote inclusion. Some key examples are:
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training – implement mandatory equality, diversity and inclusion training for all members of staff to attend at all seniority levels.
- Recruitment and retention – actively taking steps to internally promote female members of staff into more senior positions.
- Promoting positive work life balance – supporting female members of staff with childcare and other family orientated responsibilities.
- Provide access to education and training – ensure that access to training and education is equal for all members of staff.
What are the benefits of inclusion?
Inclusion and diversity bring many benefits to the table, one of the main benefits being the ability to access a variety of different perspectives, experiences and talents that can help when making key business decisions.
Women can often offer unique opinions and viewpoints on different matters which is why it is important to ensure that they are included and involved.
Research also suggests that greater gender equality and inclusion can improve Company performance as Companies with the highest number of female board members outperformed those without.
What can you do to support inclusion on International Women’s Day 2024 and Inspire Inclusion?
The International Women’s Day website includes lots of ideas on how you can help promote and inspire female inclusion. Take a look at their website via the link below for further information.
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/2024theme
Together we can all work together to inspire inclusion in the workplace but also outside of work.
If you need any policies to help ensure equality and diversity in your workplace please contact our Employment Team.
Amy Hallam
Head of Employment
t: 01246 564012
e: amy.hallam@brmlaw.co.uk
Ellie Leatherday
Associate
t: 01246 564002
e: ellie.leatherday@brmlaw.co.uk
Georgia Jeonney
Trainee Solicitor
t: 01246 564035
e: georgia.jeonney@brmlaw.co.uk
Jade Taylor
Paralegal
t: 01246 560587
e: jade.taylor@brmlaw.co.uk
