The following speech was delivered by Jenna Holliday during the opening of The Bristol Women in Business Charter's Anniversary Event held on 24 March 2021:
"I want to start by recognising the magnificent feat achieved by Bristol Women in Business Charter, in operationalising the vision of a gender equal workplace. The conversion of dreams into practice is realised in spaces like the Women in Business Charter and the importance of the Women in Business Charter to gender equality and to Bristol cannot be overstated.
We come together today at an extraordinary time for gender equality.
A year ago yesterday, the UK was plunged into a series of lockdowns governed by gender blind policies that resulted in a rollback in gender equality in the UK; a rollback that has seen women’s unpaid and care work significantly increase; a rollback that has seen the sectors in which women work shut down; and a rollback that has seen an increase in violence against women.
We are also all emerging from a month that started with our shared celebration of International Women’s Day, but which ended with our shared stories of fear and our shared demonstrations of grief sparked by the tragic murder of Sarah Everard.
And whilst the issues alone may not be extraordinary or historic, their incongruity with who we are and what we know is.
Everyday, everywhere, we all see women leading, making decisions, making things right, and making change.
Yet they are doing so within a structure where the default power balance is against them.
This is why, on Monday alone - in two completely separate and unrelated incidents - two female MPs were told by male MPs to be less emotive and more temperate in their interventions in the chamber of our Houses of Parliament, their workplace.
And this is why, over half of women continue to experience sexual harassment in the workplace, and why only one in five of those women report their experiences.
Our society needs to change.
And that is why you are critical.
Workplaces are where we find society, they are where our culture is negotiated and formed; and where we try out, and develop new opinions and behaviours.
To build gender equitable workplaces is to build gender equitable societies.
Yet, gender equality is not just about equal numbers - it is about structural changes that come when participation and leadership is representative of society.
When women and men share power and resources - where they have equal opportunities and equal access - we don’t see changes within the structural status quo - we see the structure change.
Change that challenges the working week;
Change that sees parenting and leadership as co-existing;
Change that makes workplaces safe for women;
And change that leads to greater transparency, accountability and good governance practices.
This has been demonstrated by the Charter signatories who have continued to report on their Gender Pay Gap despite the requirement to do so being paused.
And there’s more:
When gender equal employers and workplaces benefit from greater transparency and greater accountability, they in turn foster greater trust and consensus amongst their workers.
Transparency, accountability, trust and consensus...the panacea for populism and conflict.
Indeed, when women are in leadership positions, decision making is more likely to be fair and inclusive.
Because the drive that is necessary to create gender inclusive and equal workplaces, commonly comes hand in hand with efforts to foster inclusivity and address discrimination across the board.
Again, this was demonstrated by signatories who responded proactively to the Black Lives Matter movement by engaging with employees on issues of discrimination and exclusion.
Where women are in leadership positions, decision making also benefits the environment.
Women in business who control resources are more likely to make values-based and ethical investments.
And when businesses have more women in decision making positions, energy efficiency and investment in renewable power increases, whilst carbon emissions reduce.
Gender equal workplaces cultivate inclusivity and contribute to sustainability.
So it does not surprise me at all that I find myself today, speaking at the anniversary of the Women in Business Charter - in Bristol. A progressive, multicultural city wrestling with diverging historic narratives of slavery but bound together in a shared vision of a sustainable future.
Bristol continues to dominate as a vanguard of our cultural narrative - never shying away from a challenge, no matter how disruptive.
And gender equality is disruptive - in the best possible way.
Because when you achieve representation and equality in workplaces - in a critical way - you open yourself up to the challenge that people may start saying, “hey, why are we doing it this way?”.
So I am honoured to be here today to celebrate all of you who are choosing to accept that challenge; to challenge the status quo; to demonstrate change; and to lead the way forward for others to follow.
And I want to thank you - because by investing in gender equality - you are investing in a peaceful and sustainable society - a place I would much rather be.
How very Bristol of you all."
For more about The Bristol Women in Business Charter, visit https://www.bristolwomeninbusinesscharter.org/
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