An evening event was organised by the associations of City Hindus, City Sikhs, and the Association of Asian Women Lawyers (AAWL) who hosted the first instalment of their 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) series in celebrating International Women’s Day in Parliament. The award-winning initiative has been recognised at the Faith and Belief community awards and the World Economic Forum Faith in Action report unveiled in Davos in 2024.

The event covered various topics from what it means to be a modern-day professional, individual development, corporate responsibilities to even Artificial Intelligence (A.I). Along with the opening and closing remarks from the evening hosts Param Singh MBE and Alpesh Patel OBE, we had insights from their guest speakers below, who shared their personal journeys of success and overcoming challenges;

• Amanda Rajkumar - Board level HR practitioner & previously CHRO at Adidas
• Hanisha Patel - Barrister at 7 Bedford Row & Chair for AAWL
• Neelam Takyar - Vice President, Global Cell Therapy Franchise, Commercial Disease Area Lead
• Tanya Gupta - CEO & Founder at Resale Future

Common themes highlighted that whilst there is an improvement in how women are represented in the corporate world, there is still improvements to be made and diversity (by all definitions) will help play a major role. The speakers mentioned how they've often leaned on 'soft networks' outside their company environment, either because the companies simply did not offer an internal-support networks, or that, for where the networks did exist, they were more aligned towards traditional corporate ideals and not reflective of modern work life balance, where they found that other support groups help filled that gap. In that, they observed that the more you gave back to the network, the more it supported them - almost symbiotic, especially when using local volunteer groups as a method to support and connect diverse groups together, allowing them to discuss challenging topics such as equity and recognition.

It was discussed that whilst male language in the workplace was traditionally about risk taking for the sake of progression, the language for women was always seen to be different and in this, workplaces need to be more educated to be a supportive environment, so values are shared for career advancement, work life balance, including social mobility. Traditional ways of working are changing and whilst daunting to some, these changes will occur, so it is up to everyone to be more empathetic - a recent graduate during Q&A highlighted that, international Women’s day should be more than just hearts and emojis !!

The speakers found that developing transferable skills helped their ability to be successful beyond the credentials typically needed. Inclusive leadership will play a key role to ensure transferable skills are seen as a tool for integration and promotion. Some companies have realised that 'DEI' is no longer a onetime activity when considering the future of workplace dynamics, such as, reviewing if gender and DEI should not be 'quotas' based, but simply be instead about individual merits. Likewise, it is also up to the individual to take opportunity to become leaders and trailblazers and develop themselves wherever possible specific to their industry. This might be to take external speaking classes, joining debating groups, not being afraid to make and learn from mistakes or even learn how to promote all your achievements and being more vocal on LinkedIn! It is ok to network, it is ok to give support, it is ok to mix and share knowledge, as the adage goes, your net worth, is your network!

The Q&A session, facilitated by Ashok Kumar Chauhan MBE, gave further in-depth insights into the evening theme. Starting off with if A.I, in that will it be more beneficial to men or women? will A.I be tamed by conscious bias? Speakers also discussed how being from a diverse background does not mean you need to play the stereotype by going into mainstream professions. Do what you enjoy, do it very well and that should be your definition of success. Don’t become siloed and do find mentors, this will ensure you organically grow. If you did go university, or are at university, challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone by joining different societies, if you have\are not taking the university route, find the network that can help you grow.

An interesting take away was that as of today, it is expected the FTSE 100 will take about 81 years to get gender representation aligned. However, as the host suggested, with more boardroom and organisational oversight, this number could\should be reduced quicker.

The highlight of the event was the hosts giving limelight to a 10-year-old girl who attended the event (with her guardian) who got to listen about the Inspirational Journeys of Women Shaping Careers, Businesses and Society!

The hosts closing remarks was insightful too; Be proud of your gender, your achievements and your diversity. Make it a point to find unity in diversity, this ensures society progresses together. Daughters, Daughters-in-law, Sisters, & Mothers - You did not come this far, to just come this far!

#InternationalWomensDay #WomensDay #IWD2024 #WomenEmpowerment #ProfessionalDevelopment