International Women’s Day – Let’s Continue to #Breakthebias

Every year on the 8th March, women in the UK and across the globe celebrate International Women’s Day. 

International Women’s Day has been celebrated in a variety of forms globally for over one hundred years. This movement was initiated to support and promote equality for women.  

It provides a great opportunity for women as well as businesses and communities to come together to inspire, educate and discuss our successes, as well as on-going social and economic barriers. Why? To build and create a fairer, equal and more prosperous society for all. 

This year, I worked with a range of businesses to support the #breakthebias campaign.  This campaign is about questioning what we, as individuals (and businesses) can do, to action changes we wish to see in society and collectively, break the bias. 

In support of IWD, I had the opportunity to work with SBT Magazine, alongside thirteen Sussex based leaders in business on a unique magazine shoot. This shoot was a campaign for International Women’s Day, aimed to achieve something new and different … a local female-led front page magazine cover. 

Initially, like me, you may wonder why would something so simple be difficult to achieve in this modern day and age? Why do women in business struggle to be the face of businesses and lead on such initiatives when it comes to promoting a brand and its expertise? 

When working on this project with co-founder of SBT Magazine, Sam Thomas, and Community & Events Manager, Jackie Irving-Wilkinson, we discussed what needed to be considered in order to approach this initiative to achieve the desired outcome. This meant exploring previous and potential barriers that may have contributed to less women in business taking advantage of leading marketing and media opportunities. 

There are a number of well-known factors that will contribute towards a lack of representation for women in business. Despite many companies doing what they can to close the gender gap at leadership positions, a recent report found that, overall, women make up approximately 25% of boardroom presence in the UK. 

Another common barrier when approaching such initiatives is budget and overall value of the initiative presented.  Many corporate and commercial companies can be cautious (especially after a pandemic) to invest in campaigns that cannot guarantee to generate a direct return in investment. 

This could be a contributing factor as to why we see less women in business in prominent and more costly spaces, such as front covers of magazines, prestigious male dominated events or even consideration of nominations and short listings for key business and community based awards. 

Additionally, I have come into conversations with leaders who are at the top of their game, but may not necessarily be used to being the centre of attention for their business. This could be in terms of photography, video, public speaking and other media and marketing based activities. It is a new experience – an opportunity that they have previously been not considered for or has not been presented to them directly. 

Sometimes it is at this moment that we may experience imposter syndrome and talk ourselves out of taking advantage of the challenge or experience presented. Am I the right person? Am I ready? Or am I even good enough? All of these questions can be common mental barriers imposter syndrome presents for aspiring and leading women in business.

Ultimately, there needs to be more buy-in from the top down to support marketing managers like myself, as well as media and marketing based business platforms to help us lead on diverse, meaningful and innovative content. It is also just as important that businesses empower key players representing their brands. A new PR and communications strategy can provide a range of opportunities to achieve this!

For International Women’s Day 2022, SBT Magazine made local history by leading on a creative collaboration that provided fourteen local leading business women an opportunity to come together to feature on SBT Magazine’s front cover page.

It was a great opportunity to network and meet other local leaders in their field as well as collectively work together to support the #breakthebias campaign for women in business. This event was also an empowering experience. To be invited to participate alongside some of Sussex’s leading boss ladies in a photoshoot is a privilege in itself.  

This month’s magazine cover may be the first of its kind, but I am sure it certainly won’t be the last. International Women’s Day reminds us of what has been achieved historically, but also that there is still plenty of opportunity to do and achieve more too…  

Happy International Women’s Month!

Thank you to Sam Thomas & his team at SBT Magazine.

Photography by Stephen Lawrence.