A slightly controversial blog, (with lots of brackets, and exclamation marks!)
Today, we mark International Women’s Day, a celebration of the achievements of women, at work, at home, and in our communities.
But don’t we do that already?
Well, we jolly well hope so, but as with so many forward-thinking initiatives, the price of success is constant vigilance, and if we are not to see today as a genuine celebration, or just so many words on a page, we must be steadfast in our goals, and efforts.
Today is indeed a day to recognise the successes of women, and yes, here at Green Team Interiors we do acknowledge the role of women in our business, after all, 50% of our founders are women (hello Ruth!), and far more than half of our workforce is female.
Businesses of all shapes and sizes do exactly the same as we do, perhaps they don’t shout about it (please shout about it!), and in many cases, they might not even be aware that they do it (a lot of companies do the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do).
It is 2024, and fewer than 11% of business loans are granted to women, there is still a gender pay gap, disparity in promotions is still a thing, and women remain far more likely to be victims of racism and sexism than men.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), report that 4 in ten women in the UK have been subject to sexual harassment at work, and around one in nine mums reported that they were either dismissed, made compulsorily redundant, or treated so poorly that they had to leave their job.
We are a small to medium sized business, our service teams install, and maintain plant displays in workplaces of all shapes and sizes across the south-east, we are not a political party, or an organisation committed to preaching a cause, we just try to do business the right way, treating every single person with respect.
Yes. We have our published CSR, and EDI policies, because it’s important to us that people see the way that we operate, it helps us to recruit like-minded people, and a lot of our customers share our principles, in fact we often credit them for helping us with our policies (hello lovely customers, thanks for your help).
So, what more can we do?
We can keep doing the same thing, keep talking and listening, keep paying attention to everyone in our business, not just the women, but every single person.
Because, this is a journey, not an event (sorry, that’s really cheesy, but we do plants, not creative writing).
Women’s rights affect everyone, and it is a collective responsibility that we face…now, come on everyone (ourselves include), pull your socks up (as my mum used to say).
