Inspiring Inclusivity is about showing the way for others…

Lis Allen , Senior Vice President HR, Accord Healthcare

International Women’s Day is a chance to celebrate the great women in our lives, both in and out of work. As an organisation, it's an opportunity to reflect on what we're doing well and where we can do better. ?On a personal level, it is a time to look wider at the women's networks that we're all in, whether we are consciously aware of it or not; that might be at work, a family network, our neighbours, or our friends. ?

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International Women’s Day is about reflecting and thinking about the women in your life, privately or at work and the difference that they make to you. For me, as Senior Vice President, HR this year’s theme of inspiring inclusion is made up of many things:

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• Enabling women to make great choices about their careers,
• Inspiring women at the beginning of their careers to make great career choices and to be ambitious in the workplace,
• Understanding a woman's career from beginning to end and having the right interventions or thinking in place to help her.

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For many women, career progression can be quite different from a male colleague, the blessing and demands of motherhood are sometimes a challenge for progression early or in the middle of a career. Later on, caring responsibilities for elderly parents may also limit space for advancement, for example, ?Carehome.co.uk has found that out of 10,718 care seekers who enquired about a care home for their parents between May to December 2023, almost two-thirds (65%) were women.

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We need to see the whole person at work, not just the work that they do. If we do that, we can make great decisions about how we support colleagues at all stages of their lives and develop our culture, our thinking and our practices to enable women to go further.

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According to the World Economic Forum, women are still underrepresented in STEM, with women making up just 29.2% of all STEM workers. While the percentage of female STEM graduates entering STEM employment is increasing, the numbers on the integration of STEM university graduates show that the retention of women in STEM even one year after graduating sees a significant drop. This has created a gap of capable and ambitious women in science, engineering and operations across the pharmaceutical sector. It's a challenge, but by inspiring and including women more we can increase that representation. It’s about creating an environment where everyone will do well.

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Women need to be role models for other women - championing each other, inspiring confidence and advocating learning, so that our voices are heard, and understood and deliver value.

For men, it’s important for them to understand their role in this, they are allies, and they must advocate for women. At Accord we are lucky that we see a lot of that in our colleagues, but we can all of us always do more.

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Regardless of where you are in your career, whether you're at the beginning, the middle or the end of it, our job is to help you be brilliant at yours. Celebrating International Women’s Day is not just a moment of positive reflection; it is a small part of the culture of change that enables inclusivity for all.

References?

World Economic Forum report

Carehome.co.uk research