Member Article

Grant Thornton Addresses the Gender Gap in Business   

Globally, less than a quarter of senior level positions are held by women and a third of businesses have no females in senior roles, according to the latest Grant Thornton International Business Report. At a lunch seminar held to mark International Women’s Day, Grant Thornton, in partnership with Barclays, invited business men and women from across Yorkshire to discuss their experiences of the key challenges facing women in the workplace and how they might be overcome.

Special guests, The Baroness Warsi and Helen Oldham, Managing Director of the Yorkshire Post, led a lively debate where attendees put forward ideas about how the workplace gender gap could be addressed, covering important issues including: the need for more relevant networking; female representation at Board level; the lack of knowledge surrounding shared maternity leave; pay gaps; how to encourage women into traditionally ‘male roles’; and promoting the right skills within schools and universities.

Baroness Warsi also shared details of her charity, The Baroness Warsi Foundation UK, which is working on an initiative which helps young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds succeed in education.

Joanne Powell, Associate Director at Grant Thornton Leeds who heads up the firm’s local Women in Business initiative said: “Grant Thornton is dedicated to driving a vibrant economy and supporting female talent from all backgrounds to reach their full potential will be a key factor in achieving this.

“Our event highlighted how the power of networking and having a strong support system can be instrumental in talented women reaching senior level positions. We are focused on putting in place initiatives within our own organisation to redress the balance. Working with Barclays to engage such a fantastic selection of local senior business men and women on these issues is testament to this. Further, supporting the work of charities such as The Baroness Warsi Foundation UK, which works to address gender inequality at a grassroots level, we believe will go towards making a real difference in Yorkshire and beyond.”

The event is just one of the ways in which Grant Thornton is supporting the growth of a vibrant economy, aiming to unlock the shared potential of the UK by working with cities, communities, and the corporate, public and third sector to jointly develop new ways to identify and drive a range of growth opportunities.

Andy Wood, Practice Leader at Grant Thornton Leeds, said: “Grant Thornton is proud to employ and develop talented people across our organisation. Of the 4,500 people who work for Grant Thornton in the UK, 51% are women, and an increasing number of them are driving forward our business in leadership roles, including Joanne and others in our region. That said, we recognise that we still have work to do across our UK partnership with only 15% of UK partners being female.”

Rachel Engwell, Partner at Grant Thornton, added: “Having recently joined the firm as the only female partner in Yorkshire, I believe there is great untapped potential for businesses across the region to capitalise on female talent. This could include anything from increased support during and after maternity leave, creating mentorship schemes or improving networking opportunities for women in business.”

Andy Wood concluded: “As a business, we’re proud to have the first female chief executive of a major accountancy firm in the UK, Sacha Romanovitch. This event aimed to bring to light the issues still facing women in business and to find answers as to how Grant Thornton and others can address these in order to support growth across the region.”

ENDS

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucie WIld .