Celebrating International Women’s Day

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.  The day was a call to action for accelerating women’s equality and last week a group from FSL attended the Women in Investment Festival 2020 to understand how the industry we work with drives equality.

The event asked the hard questions such as:  What is working and what isn’t when it comes to recruiting, promoting, and retaining top talent?  What does an ‘inclusive’ work culture look like?  And how do we move from Diversity & Inclusion as a business case to a strategic imperative.  There were sessions that focused on the glass ceiling, imposter syndrome and the gender investing gap.  As well as fringe events on mentoring, flexible working and mindfulness.

Here are a few comments from the FSL attendees:

“Very inspirational speeches, I thoroughly enjoyed every single event.  The ‘6 Moments that Matter to secure women’s and everyone’s financial future’ session was a real eye opener, the statistics regarding women’s finance situation are truly shocking.  It made me realise that I will have to educate my daughter from a very young age about how to secure her financial future.” Rita

“I loved attending the Women in Investment festival, not only was it my first time there, it was my first conference altogether.  Being at the beginning of my career, it was incredibly inspiring and motivating to be able to listen to women such as Davinia Tomlinson,  Ayesha Hazarika and Anna Sofat.  I feel so grateful to be part of an industry where so many great women have paved the way.”  Megan

“It was great attending the Women in Investment festival.  I found this event to be well organised and factual.  I left the conference feeling both inspired and empowered.”  Terri

“I thought the event was very empowering for women in the financial sector – advising us to be more confident and to not apologise for being authentic.  I also found keynote speaker, Ayesha Hazarika especially memorable with stories from her successes to her pitfalls as a woman in a senior position in a male dominated industry.”  Jane

“The Women in Investment festival was a great opportunity to become part of a celebration, that is us women.  It was refreshing to meet so many women excelling in the financial industry.  I found the talks inspiring, and the Yoga and mindfulness sessions were relaxing.”  Zahra

“I thought it was an interesting event that was open to both men and women.  The most thought-provoking session for me was one on the ‘sticky middle’ from Anna Sofat.  This is the issue of navigating through middle management where many women find themselves stuck, the difficulties and the sacrifices that are needed to progress.”  Andrea