International Women's Day 2021

So, the amazing team at British Chambers of Commerce asked us a while back to answer some questions for a big campaign they were working on for #InternationalWomensDay2021

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. 

The campaign theme for International Women's Day 2021 is 'Choose To Challenge'. A challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change. So let's all #ChooseToChallenge.

Today I'm raising my hand high to show I'm in and that I commit to choose to challenge and call out inequality.

So here's my answers:

Q: Looking back, what advice would you give your younger self?

To believe in your gut instinct and always keep learning. Change is ever present and how you cope with that will give you confidence. 

Q: What was it like ‘starting again’ when you returned to work after having a family?

I didn’t have much of a break at all after having my son.

Due to changing job and the maternity rules in 1999 I was only paid for 14 weeks, so I was back working full-time when my son was 12 weeks old.

I was enormously grateful for family who helped with childcare and being able to send him, when he was a little older, to a nursery that my sister worked in.

Juggling having a young baby and a job is very difficult - it wouldn’t have been possible without my husband & I working closely together as parents, and with the great support from our families.

Q: Why is supporting the women in our Networks (be they colleagues or members) so important?

We all need role models and positive examples of people that we can look to to inspire us. We need the diversity of views that different genders bring to a discussion, to a community and to our teams. 

Q: What does your Chamber do to support women in your teams?

We support women in our team to work part-time which helps with their choices around childcare and balancing family/work life. We encourage women to invest in themselves, to consider developing new skills and to take leadership roles in our team.

Q: What skills do you feel are our biggest asset as women in the workplace?

As a team we use a tool designed in Dundee and informing millions of people in global businesses called Insights Discovery, which gives every team member a unique personal profile to help us understand ourselves and others, and the attributes we bring to the workplace. It uses a simple four colour model: Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green and Cool Blue energies.

We find that there are several of the woman in our team who give us our Earth Green energy: they are focused on what’s best for the people in the team. They want to ensure everyone is comfortable with conversations in the team, they are encouraging & supportive colleagues and reliable and loyal. 

Q: With the challenges we have all faced this last year, what would you say has been the most challenging part of living during a global pandemic, be it work/ business, personal or family related?

My biggest challenge has been in supporting our team, in an incredibly uncertain economic business environment, as we work hard to cope with all of the business challenges around us.

Leading a virtual team is a significant challenge - looking beneath the surface and checking that people are ok is really difficult without seeing the body language we can normally pick up on.

I’ve been so impressed by the resilience of our people in the face of all the challenges they face: home schooling, juggling pressures of remote working and the rapid changes that are going on all around us.

What does our team at Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce look like: an inclusive place where women lead; women work in flexible roles which let them juggle their different responsibilities but doesn't stop them carrying out significant and valuable positions in the workplace; we have women starting out in their careers - taking on Apprenticeships; women gaining hugely valuable work experience skills and making a huge difference to our workplace. We have women who volunteer their time, skills and energy to be a part of our Board of Directors. We are champions of paying the Real Living Wage, of flexibility in the work that people do and above all a business that places Choice at the heart of what our team does.

I choose to be surrounded by a team, a board, a network and my many many friends who inspire me, motivate me to do well and who hold me up if I need it. There are so many people who I could tag in this post...too many to do so - and I'd invariably forget someone really important so I won't name names. But on this day and every day, remember to be grateful that you have Choice - and don't ever waste the opportunity that you have. #ChooseToChallenge #ChooseToSupport #ChooseToInspire