Celebrating International Women’s Day 2025: #AccelerateAction

Taking positive steps to enable continued and greater progress to ensure there is gender equality.

That we're still "not there" in terms of gender equality and we need to make fast decisions to progress gender equality as quickly as possible.

Accelerate Action in gender equality means we can't wait. It's about urgently driving real, measurable change now, not later. This requires dismantling the systems that hold women back, holding everyone accountable for progress, and ensuring that all women, especially those facing multiple forms of discrimination, benefit from these changes.

Being bold about the actions we can take to make a difference. Even small changes can make a big difference.

Accelerate Action, in the context of gender equality, means taking deliberate, urgent, and impactful steps to break down the barriers that still hold women back. As a male, who runs a business that is powered by 77% women, a father to three daughters, and someone raised by a strong single mother, I see first-hand the power, resilience, and capability of women. But I also recognise the systemic challenges that persist. For me, accelerating action means ensuring that our business is a space where women thrive, not just in numbers but in leadership, decision-making, and opportunity. It means actively addressing pay equity, flexible work arrangements, mentorship, and professional development to help women advance in their careers. It’s about calling out bias when we see it, advocating for policies that support working mothers, and fostering a culture where gender equality is not just a goal but a norm. On a broader scale, it’s about using my platform and voice to push for real change beyond my workplace, whether that’s supporting female entrepreneurs, investing in programs that empower women, or challenging outdated stereotypes in my industry and community.

Ensure that there is no inequality in opportunity or pay. Taking steps to mentor those who may need more encouragement or support to achieve their potential.

Workplaces should have more understanding about the extreme difficulty for women when returning to work after having a baby. Options in place such as job sharing, working fewer days a week (perhaps just when the child is very young), unpaid leave if follow up health appointments are needed, having someone to provide emergency cover if nursery calls to collect the child and general attitude from colleagues etc. would ensure women come back to the workplace after having a baby and feel fully supported. This would mean women's careers wouldn't suffer from having children and women wouldn't feel guilty about not immediately performing brilliantly at work alongside juggling childcare (and sleep deprivation!).

Workplaces can significantly advance gender equality by prioritising transparent pay equity audits, establishing clear promotion pathways, and enforcing antidiscrimination policies. Offering flexible work arrangements and inclusive parental leave is crucial, as is cultivating an inclusive culture through training and employee resource groups. Setting measurable goals, tracking progress, and mandating gender equality training for managers, coupled with actively recruiting diverse candidates, will further solidify meaningful change.

Once we acknowledge that we don’t all start from the same place, we can create an equitable workplace through identifying the barriers that exist within our own systems and processes, developing programmes and policies that generate equal outcomes, and leading the change in our industry.

1.Eliminate Pay Gap: We conduct regular salary audits to identify and eliminate gender pay disparities and we ensure transparent salary structures and equal pay for equal work.

2. Promote Women into Leadership We already have 3 women on the board of 6 (plus me as MP). We need to offer better leadership development programs, mentorship, and sponsorship for women.

3. Inclusive and Flexible Work Policies: We offer paid parental leave for both men and women and provide flexible working arrangements (remote work, part-time options, and job sharing). We need to do more to support parents returning to work through re-entry programs and career coaching.

4. Zero tolerance of Bias and Harassment: We have implemented zero-tolerance policies for discrimination and harassment. We train our employees and leaders on unconscious bias and inclusive leadership. We encourage an open culture where employees feel safe to speak up.

I have been fortunate on an number of occasions to have been encouraged to step into roles or groups that were not gender diverse.

A previous workplace started offering the same paternity leave as maternity leave so when hiring a new employee, the employer knew there was just as much chance as the father being off work for 6 months if they hired a man rather than a woman. This "equal footing" seems like a good step forward.

In previous employment I've seen first hand how traditional interviews can be swayed by subjective impressions, potentially influenced by unconscious gender biases. To combat this, at TWM we use structured interviews. By using pre-defined questions and scoring rubrics, we ensure every candidate is evaluated fairly and objectively, based solely on their qualifications.

Organising community outreach programmes to involve young women and girls in STEM activities. This is a powerful way to introduce them to a future career that may not otherwise be considered or encouraged.

Do not be afraid to embrace diversity. Everyone wins from including a wide range of talents.

Always try not to make assumptions or judgments and embrace all the ways that someone is unique.

If I could give my younger self one piece of advice about embracing and celebrating diversity, it'd be: go out of your way to find people who think differently than you. That's where you actually learn stuff - don't just put up with differences, get excited about them!

Support each other in the workplace. Mentoring, coaching and encouragement are not only vital to an individual's success but benefits society as a whole.

I would tell my younger self: Recognise progress, but never stop pushing for change. "If I could go back, I’d remind myself that embracing and celebrating diversity isn’t just about acknowledging differences, it’s about actively creating opportunities for everyone to thrive. I’d encourage myself to challenge unconscious bias sooner, having witnessed the old school male dinosaurs of the 90s and 00s to ensure there is no place for bias dressed up as banter.