International Women’s Day 2022

I am the lead officer for Safer Streets. I oversee three programmes of work seeking to address community safety though a range of projects that include measures such as CCTV, lighting and art, alongside behaviour change projects which includes work with schools to challenge underlying issues that lead to violence against women and girls, such as stereotyping.

The aim of Safer Streets is to address the root causes of violence against women and girls in public places, during the day time and at night. It’s a really important piece of work because it’s giving us an opportunity to test and trial some different ways of approaching the issue, such as an intelligence mapping service to enable women to report areas where they don’t feel safe, and work with businesses to respond to sexual violence. The whole programme is about collective action; spotting unhealthy behaviour, calling it out and ownership.

There are some projects supporting safety planning like our stay safe app trial which gives women working in hospitality the opportunity to use an app that can raise an alarm if anything happens to them when they are walking home alone at night. Women shouldn’t need to use apps or change what they do to avoid violence, but until we live in a society without violence, something needs to be done to address the here and now. We’re working with the police and specialist services to deliver this work and I feel really privileged to be a part of something trying to make a difference.

As a woman and as a mother, my experience is of an attitude towards women and girls that exists throughout society suppressing potential and creating a space for sexism, microaggression, misogyny, and violence to occur. I know that my own experience is not exceptional, it’s the experience of many women which is what makes this agenda so important. My daughter is only 5. She’s already been told by some boys that she’s only allowed to like pink and purple. She said to me ‘boys get all the other colours, that’s not fair’. My daughter also thinks that boys of her age get ‘all the cool clothes’ (the ones which are in primary colours, have proper scary dinosaurs on them, and trucks). We hunt around and buy stuff in the boys section to find things she wants to wear, but she doesn’t want to have to buy stuff in the ‘boy section’. Take that example, roll it forward to see women under represented in key areas such as STEM, defence, and politics; women you find here have made it, in spite of everything society has told them, and all of the additional challenges they face. Being told you can only like certain things, narrowing your options or outlook whether you’re a boy or a girl, that’s where it all starts, and everyone taking responsibility for bucking that trend, is what breaking the bias means to me.

To start creating a more equitable world, I think it would be massive step forward to make children’s clothes and toys unisex/gender neutral, and for parents everywhere to honestly let their children decide what they want to wear and play with. That will start to break down a lot of barriers and help children understand that they are of equal value and have equal opportunity. We can’t wait for my daughter and her peers to grow up and be the generation that changes things. We need to take positive action like we’re taking under the safer streets agenda now to challenge the status quo.

Gemma undertakes the huge task of managing the entire project plan and keeping it updated with onsite progress, as well as providing technical and engineering support to the team.

To Gemma, the International Women’s Day theme of ‘Breaking the Bias’ is all about breaking the habit of making assumptions.

Gemma said: “We can empower people to feel confident in their abilities by allowing them equal access to opportunities and not making assumptions based on appearance or background.

“Most people are capable of doing so much more than it is assumed, and not recognising this can lead them to believe they have to exceed expectations to prove themselves.”

Gemma’s previous roles in water treatment works saw her outnumbered by men – at one point she was the only woman in a team of 50! A more recent planning engineer role in a high-pressured, male-dominated team of more than 100 made her feel she couldn’t always get her voice heard.

Although there are more men than women working at the Southsea Coastal Scheme, the smaller team and Gemma’s more focused role are providing her with job satisfaction and opportunities to develop new skills.

“Being more focused on planning has allowed me to get a better understanding of the contractual side of the project and to work on the tender process for future phases of work.

“It feels like a much more equal environment where everyone’s voice can be heard. I don’t feel the need to go over and above to prove myself here: I can be judged on my actions and outputs alone.”

Amy juggles two challenging roles: Site Supervisor on the Southsea Coastal Scheme and Project Manager for the Langstone Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Scheme.

When it comes to this year’s International Women’s Day theme of ‘Breaking the Bias’, Amy challenges the assumption that men are most suited to careers in engineering.

Amy said: “Breaking the bias to me means encouraging and retaining more female workers in our industry to change the assumption that ‘only men can do this type of work’ – when in fact ANYONE can do this type of work with the correct qualifications!

“We have a general skills shortage across the industry so it’s vital to keep the field of engineering open and accessible to everyone.”

Amy has a Masters’ degree in Engineering in the Coastal Environment. Now 29, she acknowledges that, while being female in a male-dominated industry can have its challenges, times are changing and many more women are entering, and being accepted into, the industry.

“With time and experience your confidence grows, and we all feel the need to gain the respect of others – but perhaps sometimes women feel we have to prove it a bit more.

“In my current roles, I haven’t seen any male: female workplace divide. Everyone is treated equally which is wonderful!

“Ultimately, a workplace should provide a welcoming and open working environment which provides equal opportunities for all.

“It doesn’t matter whether an idea comes from a male or female: We are all human so no judgement should be made on this basis.”

I run the CCWG – Cross Cultural Women’s Group, we support vulnerable women predominantly from ethnic communities. The group is diverse and is attended by women of different ages. The CCWG offers free English language classes for beginners and improvers. We also have regular activities arts & crafts and invite speakers to talk about their services. We have a specific focus around mental health and wellbeing for women.

Within the CCWG I try and deliver workshops which challenge but also helps women learn and value their own strengths. I am able to signpost women to other groups and support that we offer.

By giving the women some time and encouragement and signposting them has enabled many women to gain confidence and do things they lacked confidence in doing before. Helping women to learn English and then to get them to enrol into college, encouraging women to gain work experience by doing voluntary work in charity shops and then going onto finding employment. Or just simply giving women the space and time to think and understand more about their own self-care and wellbeing, which impacts on how they are feeling.

Challenging stereotypes and discrimination and going against the bias to create a more equal and inclusive society, whilst celebrating our diversity and achievements.

We should never stereotype and put ‘Ethnic Women’ into one box. Our group brings ethnically diverse women together but we see them as individuals and their needs vary considerably. In recognising and valuing individuals, women thrive and flourish and can be themselves with confidence.

We need a lot more community engagement and involvement with people giving communities an opportunity to mix together and learn from one another. By learning and sharing we create better understanding, compassion and a more equitable society.

It seems easy on paper, but no doubt it is difficult as I have seen over the years, but persistence pays off and people ultimately make connections. I guess we are all part of the solution and an equitable society needs involvement from everyone who makes up that community and ultimately giving people the opportunities to connect. 

I am Head of Commercial Property and our team look after Portsmouth City Council’s commercial properties.

It was challenging in the early years of my career, particularly in a male dominated industry. There was a good deal of solidarity amongst the few women working in property on the south coast and this built close working relationships which I still draw on today. There is a better ratio of women in property today and some bias probably still exists, so this is a good opportunity to consider how we can make a positive impact for all women working in this field. I am incredibly fortunate that my colleagues, on the whole, champion all voices and as such I am able to bring my full self to work and perform to the best of my abilities.

I think quite a lot of the time, bias happens when it isn’t intentional. This “break the bias” theme is a fantastic opportunity to consider those small, subtle changes in language that can be made in every aspect of our daily lives, to shape how people view things.

I believe talking and thus creating language and safe platforms/environments to address the topics that are often considered difficult or uncomfortable is fundamental to the growth of an equality movement.

I am a Chartered surveyor working in the regeneration team. My role is to negotiate and plan acquisitions or disposals of property, and to consider what properties the council should retain and why, ie what role a property can have for the council.

When I started university, there were 54 people on my course – four of which were female. It was at the time a very male dominated industry. When I was working in the private sector for a London firm, in 1995, I got married and my boss said when I wanted to start a family they would come to an agreement. It was not in a friendly way: they paid you off to leave quietly. There was no prospect of flexible or part time work.

But circa 2010 it was noted my male colleagues on the same grade had a significant pay difference than me for exactly the same job, fortunately this came to light and I successfully challenged it!

While, over the years, massive strides have been taken, with lots of progress, I still witness discrimination, some I tolerate, some I challenge. I also noticed, especially over lockdown, the expectation on female colleagues to cover both family (children or elderly or caring roles) and work roles. I hope we can reach a position where we can call out these types of differences without feeling as if we are causing trouble.

Employers can help by making sure they understand the demands women face on top of work – while a woman with children or elderly parents to support is no less able to do her job, at times flexibility needs to be given to either parent that is called upon by family demands. We also need to recognise that women (or men) who take time out of their careers to raise a family, or care for a loved one, might need more support around their long term personal development and to build their confidence back up.

Imposter syndrome is a real thing for many women (even Michelle Obama) – 80% of high achieving women don’t think they belong in the role and anticipate being ‘exposed’ or ‘found out’. Work needs to be done to eradicate these feelings to ensure capable women are not left behind due to a lack of confidence.

Final point in terms of work, the most debilitating thing to have happened over the course of my career was actually the menopause – there’s so much stigma around the menopause, it can be really embarrassing to talk about it. This can be a serious condition with implications on work and thought needs to be given to how it affects people, both in the workplace but also at home.