International women day

 Tuesday 8 March marks International Women’s Day – a global day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality. 

At M&S, we aim to make sure we have 30% female board members and 35% females in senior roles. We’re pleased to have made a lot of progress and today 43% of our senior roles are filled by women and 38% of our board are female. Even from our beginnings we were committed to gender diversity. The first official staff training role went to a Miss Gibbs in 1909 and her role was to train a number of female assistants to become staff manageresses.

However, there is still lots to do and the issue of gender equality remains an important global challenge. 

The Inspiring Women’s Network was launched two years ago. It’s there to help inspire, support and enable women to reach their full potential and, ultimately, to help support the ongoing pipeline of women into senior roles. We’ve had some fantastic speakers during this time, including Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Katie Piper, Karen Brady and Bonita Norris (the youngest person to summit Mount Everest and the North Pole). Over the last four months we have been evolving and refreshing the network so this International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to reflect on what we’ve achieved and what more we want to do. 

We have a week of activity planned for our colleagues including debate sessions on topics including the barriers women face when progressing into senior leadership and the role of men in the solution to gender balance. During the week we will hear from women throughout M&S sharing one thing that has helped them in their career and what they’d like to see more of. Our key event is a panel discussion - ‘What I Wish I Knew Then’ – hosted by Louise Court from Hearst Magazines and will explore the career highs and lows, opinions and suggestions of M&S leaders for improving gender balance. We’ll also use this week to re-launch the network to our members.  The M&S Company Archive in Leeds will be hosting an event for International Women’s Day exploring how female employees made their mark on M&S and shaped the future of this 130-year-old retailer.

I’m thrilled to be one of the new co-chairs of the network along with Sharon Peters. Gender equality is something that we both feel passionately about and it’s brilliant to see that our chairman, Robert Swannell, is actively engaged in the work of the Inspiring Women’s Network.

We’re proud to be working alongside a strong group of M&S women from different parts of the business to lead the network. Our next big thing is to roll out a female mentoring programme. We have a long tradition of supporting career development through mentoring relationships at M&S and we have heard from M&S women that they want more of this. We’re working to showcase the tools available and to establish a new female mentoring programme to match up even more mentors and mentees across the business. 

So this International Women’s Day we’re looking forward to getting women and men from across M&S involved and talking about gender equality through the events, and we’ll be challenging our teams to think about the small things they can do to improve gender balance. It’s great to look back and see how far we’ve come but we’re even more excited about the difference we can make in the year ahead💖☺International Women's Day: Celebrating Women's Achievements and Fighting for Equality

march 8 is commended overall as Global Women' Day (IWD). It is a day to commend the social, monetary, social, and political accomplishments of women and to consider the headway made towards orientation uniformity. It is likewise a day to bring issues to light about the difficulties women actually face and to call for activity to propel women' privileges.

The beginnings of Worldwide Women' Day date back to the mid twentieth hundred years, when women in numerous nations were battling for testimonial, better working circumstances, and a finish to separation. The main Women' Day was seen in 1909 in the US, following a statement by the Communist Faction of America. In 1910, the possibility of a worldwide Women' Day was proposed at the Global Communist Women' Gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark. The next year, on Walk 19, 1911, the principal Worldwide Women' Day was commended in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.

From that point forward, IWD has been commended every year on Spring eighth in numerous nations all over the planet. The day has turned into a significant event to perceive the accomplishments of women in different fields, including legislative issues, science, expressions, sports, and business. It is likewise a day to feature the continuous battles that women face, for example, orientation-based brutality, separation, inconsistent compensation, and restricted admittance to schooling and medical care.

International Women's Day

is "Decide to Challenge." The subject urges people to challenge orientation predisposition and disparity in their own and proficient lives. It likewise features the significance of aggregate activity and fortitude in propelling orientation uniformity.

Women's Achievements

Throughout the long term, women have made huge commitments to society in different fields. From governmental issues to science, from sports to human expression, women have broken generalizations and defeated hindrances to make progress.

In legislative issues, women have taken notable steps. Women have filled in as heads of state or government in nations like Germany, New Zealand, Norway, and Taiwan. Women have likewise assumed a pivotal part in molding strategies on issues like conceptive freedoms, equivalent compensation, and orientation based brutality.

In science, women have made historic disclosures and headways. Women like Rosalind Franklin, Marie Curie, and Ada Lovelace have made significant commitments to fields like science, physical science, and software engineering. Today, women are breaking hindrances in generally male-overwhelmed fields like designing, innovation, and science.

In sports, women have accomplished momentous accomplishments and broken records. Competitors like Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Marta Vieira da Silva have become symbols in their separate games and have motivated young women and women all over the planet to seek after their fantasies.

In artistic expression, women have made strong works that have affected and formed culture. Authors like Toni Morrison, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Virginia Woolf have made scholarly show-stoppers that have tested and extended how we might interpret the world. Specialists like Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama, and Cindy Sherman have utilized their imagination to communicate their exceptional points of view and to ignite discussions about character, orientation, and power.

These accomplishments are a demonstration of the ability, assurance, and versatility of women. They are likewise a sign of the significance of separating obstructions and setting out open doors for women to flourish.

Challenges Confronting Women

In spite of the headway made in ongoing many years, women actually face critical difficulties in many areas of the planet. These difficulties include:

Orientation based savagery: Women are excessively impacted by viciousness, including aggressive behavior at home, rape, and illegal exploitation. As per the World Wellbeing Association, one of every three women overall has encountered physical or sexual savagery in the course of their life.

Show some love ☺