A shout out to the women

International Women’s Day is an annual event that celebrates all the amazing things women have achieved. And let’s face it, there’s no shortage of phenomenal women!

It is a way to show how women have and continue to influence the world. As well as celebrating brilliant women, the day is used to highlight and raise awareness about issues that women have faced in the past and, still face today.

International Women’s Day is an important day for us to focus on the many inequalities, forms of discrimination and stereotyping that exist in today’s society. However, let’s not focus just on the negatives! It’s a day to CELEBRATE all that has been achieved by amazing women across the world. The big landmark moments of success and every small step taken in the direction of impacting change for us all. It’s a time to celebrate our wins and influence further change and improvement.

On 4 March 2023, I organised a lunch event as part of the international women’s day campaign. Guests attended from all over the midlands, London, Milton Keynes, Shropshire and Bristol. It was a fantastic day full of laughter, inspiration and wholesome conversations.

From the topics that were discussed, many shared experiences of hardship when it comes to being respected and valued in the workplace, promotion opportunities (or lack of), flexible working around their personal needs and more lucrative work continuously being assigned to male counterparts. Solutions on how this could be tackled were discussed and there was a range of insightful ideas from how to broach these topics when confronting management, how to effectively request adjustments in the workplace and how to set boundaries for yourself so you don’t allow these sorts of situations to continue once you notice it happening.

Birmingham Solicitors Group also took part in the photography campaign hosted at Park Regis Birmingham where 140 phenomenal women and allies were photographed as part of a campaign to highlight what international women’s day represents.

The Birmingham Solicitors Group co-chair, Marissa, and I, also had the pleasure of attending the Women’s Day event at Eighteen towards the end of March where panellist spoke about the ongoing fight for gender equality and the importance of women’s voices being heard as well as sharing stories of their journeys to success. It was inspiring to see such a diverse group of women paving the way forward in business.

Women’s month continued throughout the month of March, but we would argue it goes even beyond that. We invite you to consider how you could make a difference in the workplace to ensure your female counterparts are being treated fairly and stand up as an ally to them if they are not. Supporting women in this way should be part and parcel of every day in the workplace, not just once a year as part of a monthly campaign. It’s never too late to start considering these factors and starting to make a change.

Women’s month marks a time to reflect on the many achievements of women who are often overlooked and to shed light on issues which affect women’s equality. Men can be phenomenal allies to women in this regard so don’t feel left out! Even if you don’t identify as female, join the campaign, share ideas and if nothing else, be willing to listen and celebrate with us!

By Sana Saddique, EDI Representative of Birmingham Solicitors’ Group and Founder and Managing Director of Collective Law Solicitors.