The UK TInnGO Hub celebrated the International Women’s Day with West Midlands Women’s Alliance – a unique network of women working in construction and transport, created to support partnership and collaboration. The event was aimed to encourage, inspire and discuss achievements and remaining challenges for women within the construction, transportation and civil engineering sectors. Our day was highlighted by great inspirational talks from:
Laura Shoaf (Managing Director – Transport for West Midlands)
Anne Shaw (Director of Network Resilience – Transport for West Midlands)
Rachel Skinner (Head of Transport in Planning & Advisory, WSP)
Uplifting speeches were followed by group discussion about bias in the workplace, gender stereotypes, career milestone and challenges for women working in male dominated fields. Additionally, points were made on equality and diversity in the workplace from an economic point of view: companies with above average diversity enjoy 19% higher innovation revenues, reports Harvard Business Review (source: https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-and-where-diversity-drives-financial-performance). Moreover, studies demonstrate a variety of immediate and ongoing business advantages accrued by diverse teams. This inspirational discussion ended with a strong message about a wider economic perspective, showing how equality is not only a women’s issues, but a business issue.
