Today (08 March 2019) is International Women’s Day.
An annual celebration of women worldwide to celebrate their achievements and to recognise gender equality.
This year, the campaign theme is #betterforbalance. A theme aimed at raising awareness of living in a gender-balanced world. In our view, this theme couldn’t come at a better time. Not only are we headed towards the second round of gender pay gap reporting, but firms are working hard than ever to ensure gender equality in the boardroom and on the shop floor.
As a female-led organisation, this campaign is something we whole-heartedly agree with. We believe that it’s imperative to see more women challenging traditionally male-dominated sectors and we can’t wait to see what the future will bring.
In honour of this year’s International Women’s Day, we’ve asked our team to share their thoughts on who inspires them and why.
As you can see, it’s an eclectic mix of incredibly strong and inspirational women, and we hope that we can continue to inspire a new generation of young girls in the same way.
Here’s what our team had to say….
Helen Armstrong, Managing Director
“A woman who has inspired me is poet and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou. I read her works for my English GSCE. She has since had a place in my heart as someone who inspires women to be strong and proud of who they are. I can’t wait for my girls to read her books.”
Louise Bhatia, HRIS Project Manager
“My inspiring women is Dame Stephanie ‘Steve’ Shirley – because she was ahead of the curve in understanding how important women are in tech and giving them an opportunity.”
Emma Bowden, HRIS Implementation Consultant
“When I think of inspirational women, there isn’t one that stands out. Each woman I have met in my life has their own goals, talents and passions. They each inspire me in my different ways. There are powerful business women such as Ginni Rometty who has shown me that women can transform businesses and accomplish brilliant things, in any industry. The likes of J.K. Rowling has shown me that hard work, determination and passion can lead to great things. Last but not least, the likes of my own mum inspires me to look after the people around me, and to just be happy in whatever I do.
Leo Jones, HRIS Implementation Consultant
“The woman who really inspires me is the actor, Olivia Colman. Whilst she is a fantastic and compelling actor, her approach to her professional life is honest and uncompromising. She demonstrates that it is possible to be yourself and still be hugely successful in an industry which has long been dominated by patriarchal power and a prescribed view of what a ‘woman’ should be. I think this is inspirational for people in any walk of life. Often the thing which can both bring success and create positive change is daring to deviate from the established path, being brave enough to follow your own truth.”
Toby Devine, Head of Customer Engagement
“Karen Brady is certainly a big influence for me. I have attended two conferences where she has been the keynote speaker which was very motivational and inspiring. It made me do a lot of research on her and her career. She is a true inspiration to any young person in business in my opinion.”
Lauren Coldwell, HRIS Consultant
“I’m hugely inspired by Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize winner. I read her story a couple of years ago and was simply amazed by her bravery to campaign and speak out about female empowerment, knowing full well what the consequences could be. She is now a huge influence to many girls and through the Malala Foundation is working to ensure that all girls have the right to education. This is something ‘we’ in the UK definitely take for granted.”
Claire McCourt, Head of Operations
“I would like to suggest Olivia Colman as my Women of choice for 2019 – she has portrayed ‘real’ women in lots of diverse situations and gave an amazingly honest acceptance speech at the Oscars.
I’d also like to mention Helen. She is frequently faced with challenges that come with running a successful business but she’s enjoyed 100% year on year growth ever since she founded Silver Cloud HR. This to me is hugely inspirational. She works incredibly hard and is passionate and determined to make Silver Cloud HR continue to grow.”
We’ll be sharing more thoughts and conversations about International Women’s Day over on our social media channels, so why not join us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn?
