WISH Regions Press For Progress

There was a flurry of social media activity, sharing stories, celebrating women and promoting the campaign’s message, as well as a number of events to mark the occasion.

“Campaigns such as International Women’s Day are hugely important for highlighting gender disparity and the very real struggles that many women face in the workplace,” said Nicola Dibb, executive director and founder of WISH.

“This year’s campaign theme is #PressforProgess and that is exactly what we need to be doing in the housing and construction sectors where women remain hugely underrepresented despite a growing skills shortage.”

North Wales chair Nikki Waud and her board used International Women’s Day as a platform to promote their next event whilst the newly formed North East region led by Caroline Gitsham marked the day by promoting its launch. 

WISH Midlands celebrated International Women’s Day with two events over consecutive days coordinated by Chair Rebecca Clarke – regional manager with CIH.

The first session, the IOD West Midlands International Women’s Day Debate: Press for Progress, was held at Grand Central’s John Lewis in Birmingham and attended by more than 50 women.  WISH Midlands board member and managing director of Resolve ASB Janine Green took part in the session as a guest speaker on the panel. Each panel member was given a couple of minutes to talk about their careers and journeys, before an open floor question time.

Janine said:

“I was really pleased to be asked to be part of this event. The panel was made up of some very successful and capable women, so it was particularly powerful to hear about their vulnerabilities, the challenges they have faced and the lessons they have learnt.

“As women we clearly share similarities in some of the difficulties we encounter and the event was a further reminder of the real power of women coming together and supporting each other, something we see within the WISH network every time we host an event.”