Happy International Women’s Day! Today we wanted to share with you our thoughts on being women, the challenges we face as women in business and why we’re incredibly proud to be women despite living in a patriarchal society.
We hope you spend today lifting yourselves and your fellow women up and making sure your voices are heard. As a team of ladies here at Carnsight, we know how powerful women can be when we work to make each other stronger.
Jessica Morgan, Business Owner
As a woman, you’re taking up a challenge as soon as you step into the workplace (and arguably, earlier than that).
Our challenge is that we’re going to be paid less than men over the course of our career and we’re going to face more discrimination while we’re doing it. Our particular pandemic challenges are that we’ve been more at risk of catching Covid than men in the roles that we do, we are more affected by cuts and furloughs and by homeschooling – women did the majority of this, often alongside working. We’re also going to be disproportionately affected by the resulting economic downturn.
However, I’m encouraged by women making a very visible stand against the gender pay gap reporting potentially being scrapped this year (it will now be published this year) and the resulting discussion around this. I’m constantly encouraged by people speaking out and the support that I’ve personally received from my all-female team during the last 12 months has been second to none.
We will continue to face challenges, but we can also #choosetochallenge collectively. There’s much more work to be done.
Georgia Christley, Account Manager
Being a woman is something I am proud to shout from the rooftops! Women are amazing! Our bodies create life, and we continue to succeed in the ever-changing world around us.
But why have we spent so many years fighting for equality? Why are we still subjected to sexist comments and being held back because we are women?
Being a career-driven woman who also strived to be a mother has certainly not been plain sailing, I have been subjected to many sexist comments from employers over the years and up until recently still found little support from employers when it came down to needing flexibility due to being a mother with a career, it at times felt easier to not to bother…
One of the most poignant comments I received whilst heavily pregnant ‘was being told to walk down a set of stairs backwards’ in response to my request for a maternity risk assessment during a previous job. I sat amongst mainly men who all laughed at the comments, but it immediately made me feel uneasy. I was then told the risk assessment should be with me in the bedroom?!
I couldn’t believe that in this modern-day, women can still be subjected and discriminated against in this manner?
But all it did was push me to prove myself as a career-driven mother, these remarks have imprinted in my memory and are the fuel to ensuring I succeed in my goals and dreams.
I am proud to be a woman, I am proud to have produced life from my amazing body and I am proud that I can make a difference to future generations. You can have dreams and be successful and have a family. Support from others Is paramount in the success of women. Uplift each other, be kind, be passionate, be you!
Leigh-Ann Hewer, Account Executive
I’m lucky enough to have been raised surrounded by amazing, strong, intelligent and loving women (as well as a Feminist father) but it wasn’t until I entered my young adulthood that I truly understood the lengths to which women have had to fight for any kind of equality. I distinctly remember diving into the world of the Feminist movement online and thinking ‘oh, so that’s why I’m made to feel that way’ and ‘that’s how they get away with that’.
Knowing what my ancestors have gone through to fight for the rights I have today makes me incredibly proud to be a woman. We’re taking a step in the right direction every day but the work isn’t done. From the discussions surrounding intersectional Feminism and the body positivity movement to the horrific hate being thrown at trans women, we have to make sure that when we talk about fighting for women’s rights, we’re talking about all women.
I’m a firm believer in women lifting other women and I’m so proud to live during a time when we’re fighting against the competitive roles that the patriarchy has forced us into and working together to build each other up. I’m proud to be part of a community, a sisterhood, as cheesy as it sounds. None of us are perfect, but we’re sure as heck trying. Patriarchy be damned.