On the 26th January we hosted our first Speakers Event to discuss 3 discussion topics: the impact of COVID-19 on women’s careers, the importance of male allies: gender imbalance in senior positions and CEDAW- what changes are required domestically to implement improvements.
50 people attended the virtual event to watch the insightful Nicola Rabson, Sahar Farooqi, Angela Han and James Allen discuss their experiences as professionals and where change can have a big impact.
The session started off with Nicola giving her experience as a Partner at Linklaters LLP. Nicola drew upon the importance of the right partner in life and the impact that support system can have on your career. Not only through both parties pulling their own weight but also through not compromising your values, finding balance in a relationship is key. On the topic of allies, Nicola advises women to not be afraid to seek help by asking for advice, speaking to male colleagues and keeping in touch with old ones before moving on to discuss how people at the top are essential for change.
Next, Sahar, a Barrister and Partner at DAC Beachcroft LLP, spoke on his involvement with the bar council to help change the current male-dominated space. His experience in this field comes from his training from female barristers, who made him realise the barriers many women come across when rising to the top. Sahar commended education in the workplace for being a marker for a time where excuses are no-longer acceptable and is hopeful for this to drive change in the future. He then discussed the way women have been conditioned to feel as though their “work is never done”, leading to a great deal of internalised guilt whether that comes from parenting or their careers. This can be helped with the support of both male and female allies and a strong network of communication to ensure all voices are heard.
Angela admirably shared her recent experience with both herself and her child having corona virus and the stress that has accumulated through isolating whilst parenting, managing her career as a Lawyer and running her life-coaching business. She explained that compassion needs to come externally and from within for us to get through these tough times in our lives. Angela echoed Nicola’s point on not compromising our values by advising that speaking up and leaving companies that don’t share our values as a way of taking responsibility of what’s happening in our own lives.
James’ said that his 27 years of experience as a Solicitor (now Executive Coach at Unbeatable Mind) has highlighted to him the apparent “boys club” that has a hold on the legal profession and spoke on the need to make some drastic changes now in order to drive substantial change. He discussed the concept of hybrid working and how people should be able to decide what works best for them as well as the reluctance he’s seen from employers to give women promotions compared to men- “a woman has to prove herself too be given a promotion, whereas a man is given a promotion to allow him to prove himself”. James’ view is that we need a complete mindset change in the way employer decisions are made and an awareness of the mistakes that have been made in the past.
The session ended with a discussion on what employers are doing to improve inequality with pointers towards focusing on the gender pay gap, regulators having an impact on business behaviour and the necessity for a complete culture change.
Please join us for our upcoming events to hear more inspiring stories and gain invaluable advice from leading professionals to get more #️⃣ WomenHighUp!
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