Beyond IWD: How are we breaking the bias all year round?

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias, which encourages everyone to look at the ways they can challenge gender bias in the workplace, community, schools, universities and beyond. While IWD each year is a fantastic opportunity for brands to highlight the importance of their female workforce and echo the responsibility to help forge a world free of discrimination against women, we recognise there is a distinct performative aspect in many organisations’ content.

Yesterday, as many brands published their international women’s day posts, a Twitter account called @PayGapApp quoted a plethora of organisations’ IWD branded social content and revealed the percentage of how much less women get paid as compared to men. The companies ranged from colleges and charities to fashion brands and banks, with the gap in pay being as high as 73.2%. This caused widespread discussion online around the performative actions of many leading brands across various sectors and their lack of commitment to real change.

As a leading recruitment agency for the public sector, wherein 2021, 15 local councils reported gender pay gaps of 20% or more, we want to commit to a long-term strategy of change in both our internal and external recruitment:

• Since January 2022, we are proud to have placed 8 women in roles that are Tier 3 and above within local authorities, including a Head of Mental Health, HR Programme Lead, and an Assistant HR Director. This is a figure we are looking to double by March 2023.

• We also have directly had a hand in filling roles in local authorities that are dedicated to diversity and inclusion, including placing a Programme Manager for a Pay Discrimination Investigation Project. Our consultants are committed to seeking out and filling similar roles as much as we can for other authorities in the UK.

• Internally, in the last 6 months, we have promoted 3 female members of staff into more senior positions, including a Head of Department and Director. We recognise that the recruitment industry, particularly in senior roles, is very male-dominated, with only 26% of recruitment firm directors being female (2020). Moving forward, seeking top performers within recruitment to join our senior management is a top priority for us.

Are you looking for your next position within the public sector at executive level and want to work with a forward-thinking recruitment agency? Get in touch with our team today to have a confidential chat about our latest roles across the UK: [email protected].