Women Mean Business Conferences
Our Women Mean Business Conferences are an inspiring series of events aiming to raise aspirations and empower girls to head out into the world with confidence and ambition.
Each event has a theme (Business, Law, Politics, Medicine, Engineering, Sport, Art & Design, National Security and Defence to date) and has a panel of incredible female role models at various stages in their careers, who give a short presentation about their journeys so far before we open the floor for a question and answer session chaired by a member of our staff.
The events are offered online and recorded. The recordings are then uploaded to our YouTube channel so can be accessed by anyone.
Aims
Aim: “Women mean Business” aims to raise aspirations and empower girls from Year 9 upwards through creative, unique and inspiring female speakers that will challenge their mind-set.
Intended Outcome: The aim of this project is that by providing girls with positive female role models they will have higher aspirations and self-confidence. Research has shown that the time of life when occupational ambitions begin to take shape is in adolescence. It stands to reason that teenagers’ future decisions could be influenced by the attitudes of those around them, both positively and negatively.
Background
The Girls Attitudes Survey conducted by Girl Guiding, gave an insight into how girls feel about a range of issues and emerging pressures.
More than half of girls aged 7 to 10 who took part in the survey, want to be leaders in their chosen job, but the numbers fell among those aged 11 to 21 compared to two years previously. Linked to this is a leap in the number of girls who think women have to work harder to succeed. On the upside, girls and young women are admiring of a broad range of role models. From sportswomen to musicians, they’re inspired by visible women’s confidence and the way they stand up for what they believe in.
From the survey, girls want more representation of women:
In business as leaders 57%
In finance and law 43%
In professional sports 46%
In the media (TV, radio, online, in newspapers and magazines) 38%
In science and technology 48%
In construction 39%
In politics 45%
In performing arts 35%
In teaching (across different subjects such as computing and PE) 32%
We began with the aim of these being 'in person' events, however, we found that by moving online, we were able to attract a larger and more diverse audience.
Resources
We now run the WMB Conferences online using MS Teams. The event is Chaired by a member of our School teaching staff who have technical support from the Outreach Lead and Digital Leader.
Our incredible Panels are made up of SHS Alumna, parents or contacts made by the Outreach Lead.
As the event is online, we are able to offer it free of charge and use Eventbrite as a booking portal.
Impact
Feedback after each event is collected from the Panel and attendees. Comments are always positive and the panel enjoy the opportunity to network as much as the students attending.
Pupil Involvement
We suggest that the WMB Conferences are suitable for Year 9 and above and whilst they target women and girls, we welcome boys to attend as well.
Frequency
We hold three WMB Conferences a year (one per term) with a different theme each time.
We are hoping to continue with the events for as long as possible due to the popularity of the format.
