Balance for Better - Do Something

So... in February this year, I asked Angela what she was doing for #IWD19, because I couldn't find anything business related that was open to all. 10 days later, with help from Andy, Halina, Dion, Jon, Robyn, Elizabeth and Oren, we had 75 people in the Harbour Hotel talking about balance for better.

What was supposed to be a one off, became a series of 5.

Iona Martin, Sarai Powell and Olivia Miller hosted us at KPMG, where Finn debunked the myths of feminism and challenged us on accepting the status quo

Jonathan, Fiona and Krishna hosted us at WBD where Charles and Fidel gave us the male perspective on gender parity

Sophie hosted us at the Square Club and Avivah talked us through the challenges that longevity in life and careers poses to both genders, totally disrupting the systems that have hampered us all

And finally returning to the Square Club, Fidel, Finn and Dion challenged us to open our eyes, our hearts and our intentions to our biases and to be brave to challenge historic, systematic barriers

Thank you to over 130 people who have turned out to the events and to many more beyond Bristol who have reached out with support and encouragement.

Thank you to One25 for their untiring effort to support the most vulnerable women in our community, with love, compassion and practical support. The ticket sales are donated to the charity and have raised over ￡2300. Support from the group has seen fundraisers do sleep outs, marathons, sponsorship and practical donations, totaling thousands more.

Whilst this series is now over and the theme for IWD2020 becomes #eachforequal, the conversation around #balanceforbetter and #genderparity continues.

Wherever we sit in life, in organisations, in our communities there is something that we can all do to raise the flag on improving #genderparity

For those that know the story already, a reminder – ‘Get a life, get a job, do something’ ~ Auntie Hya 1933 - 2019