This week we celebrated International Women’s Day 💪
Did you know? IWD has been celebrated across the globe for over 100 years!
Sharon spent IWD at the Advanced offices in Birmingham. Sharon spoke, alongside two other women and crossed her arms in solidarity, to a live, and virtual, audience; during the session she helped the audience understand how we can all do more to #breakthebias and end the gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping women are still facing in 2022. We’ve come a long way since women protested on the streets of New York City in 1908: women got the vote, women (men too, actually) were given shorter working hours, and better pay, but we’ve still got a long way to go until our world is completely inclusive. And, isn’t it wonderful to think that one day it truly could be?!
Yesterday Sharon shared her story of how she overcame abuse, set up a successful business, and how she strives to empower others every day. There was a Q&A that allowed Sharon to delve into some of the difficulties she and other women are still facing, these include: how she has broken the bias/biases, how men can help shape the experiences of women who are breaking the biases, why we still do not have gender equality, a piece of advice to give the women in the audience that want to follow in your footsteps and break the bias, and people who possess multiple diverse characteristics face even greater challenges in the workplace, what can be done to ensure that the steps taken to break the bias in the workplace are inclusive of everyone? Each question was carefully selected with this year’s IWD topic in mind which made for a thorough and enriching panel discussion.
Doing this face to face was a real highlight! It’s been a long time coming, over two years to be precise… but you know that story!