A hurrah for women of today, yesterday and tomorrow
Here's to International Women's Day, on Friday, 8th March 2024: a hurrah for the women of today, yesterday and tomorrow.
I am delighted to write for a hospitality company that takes pride in diversity and inclusion: from recruitment to leadership. Because why wouldn't we make the most of people's shining talents?
This dedicated blog follows this year’s IWD campaign theme: INSPIRE INCLUSION. Read on to discover a world of insights, tips, and stories that'll empower and uplift you.
The Wider Issue
Before we get cooking, I want to explain to you why this day is so important to me. Gender discrimination has been a long existing problem in today’s world. The world continues to spin, but progress is too slow, and there is a long way to go for women’s rights in our times.
To be able to see real progression, it’s important to understand the two different terms that challenge discrimination. These being defined by IWD as:
- Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities.
- Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
I’d like to bring your attention to statistics published by the UK government that I believe demonstrate that there is a gender inequality gap still to be closed. But what do you think? Make up your own mind:
Median pay for all employees was 14.3% less for women than for men in April 2023.
Source: Research briefing by Brigid Francis-Devine and Patrick Brione for the House of Commons.
1 in 3 UK entrepreneurs is female: a gender gap equivalent to ~1.1 million missing businesses
Source: The Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship
Three in four mothers with dependent children (75.6%) were in work in the UK, compared to over 9 in 10 (92.1%) fathers with dependent children
Source: Families and the labour market, UK: 2021
Diversity at Fooditude
What I like about Fooditude is its vision "to make people happy no matter what the working day brings" (whether you're a client or a Fooditude employee). Diversity & inclusion policies are critical if our goal is to make everyone feel comfortable.
A zero-tolerance to discrimination and mindful recruitment practices are two essential components to ensuring that everyone can be their authentic selves.
As a woman who also plays a role in Fooditude’s success, it means a lot to have my own voice heard in the work I do. Within my marketing role, I enjoy bringing my creative thinking to the company’s branding and marketing efforts,as well as liaising with catering and operational managers to ensure client satisfaction.
When joining the Fooditude team, I noticed how there were lots of our female staff members holding important job titles in different departments. Titles such as Head of Strategic Growth, Head Chef, Head of People and Culture, Head of Safety and Facilities, Head of Operations… lots of heads!
Knowing that hospitality has a history of being a male-led industry, to see inclusivity of women’s roles and their wellbeing constantly shine through Fooditude is a really great sight to see.
To round up, recognition is to be given where it’s due, women’s relevance is not to be ignored. Every woman has an essential contribution to give in their field of work.
With IWD coming up, don’t just see this as a ‘one day thing’ but more of a reminder to spark ongoing conversations on where your workplace needs to progress.
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