Across the media today, you will see a frenzy of activity celebrating International Women’s Day. The 8th March is marked to celebrate Women’s achievements, throughout history, across the Nations. We recognise the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, as well as calling for further progress towards equal equality.
This year the campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter - a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world.
The values driving progress for women over a hundred years
The first International Women's Day was held in 1911 and was said to have be supported by over a million people. The day means different things to different people. The central values driving this historical campaign are focused on equality and celebration of achievements. The original movement started with tenacious actions of the Suffragettes, raising their voices and pushing for radical change, to secure equality for women in workplace.
The guiding values for International Women’s Day are:
Justice
Dignity
Hope
Equality
Collaboration
Tenacity
Appreciation
Respect
Empathy
Forgiveness
Gender equality means the fair treatment for both women and men
To understand the roots of International Women’s Day, it is important to place it in the context of the era when it appeared. Women in UK society were not valued and respected in the workplace in the same way they are today. Social stereotypes and prejudices were rife, and laws were in place, which restricted their contribution to the British economy, Today, International Women’s Day is about marking the achievements of women, overcoming difficult obstacles placed in their path based on gender and promoting the need for further balance in both male and female dominated industries.
Recognising Talent in the Technology sector
One of the industries with limited change over the last hundred years is the engineering and technology sector. Whilst there is progress in our education system to encourage both girls and boys to study all subjects to further develop their natural talents, they often face opposition when starting their career in either a female or male dominated industry.
Male dominated environments can be intimating, and opportunities stifled by dated assumptions and discrimination during the interview process. We found it refreshing to work on a project with a client last year, who completely bucks this trend in the telecoms industry.
Leading UK wholesale telephony business, Magrathea, has a management and operations team made up of mostly women. Director, Tracey Wright tells us that she has at many events and meetings found herself to be the only female in the technical world of telecoms. Working together with founding Directors Melanie, Martyn and Linus, with a drive to recognise talent regardless of gender, they have built up a leading business in the supply of managed, next-generation voice services to business clients that now employs a greater ratio of females to males.
Tracey started working at Magrathea 16 years ago and has been in the communications industry for 23 years. Thriving on innovation and forward thinking, Magrathea introduced the first UK wholesale IP voice service to the UK.
“I’ve had a number of roles over the years, including programming and support desk. I was attracted to working in telecoms, as it was a new pioneering sector and I enjoy the challenge. The relaxed culture, ethical working standards and flexible working practises has attracted the right candidates and talent for us and it just so happens that 70% are female” comments Tracey Wright, Director, Magrathea.
It’s all about talent, passion and opportunity
Looking closer to home, our Director, Sue Kemp, started her career in the traditionally male associated, world of IT and Telecoms. Prior to starting this business, Sue progressed to the role of Head of Marketing at Samsung Mobile and worked in a predominately male environment in for fifteen years. At Your Marketing Team we firmly believe that everyone should have equal opportunity to follow their desires, whatever industry and should not be limited by gender. Our team are employed on talent, attitude and passion!
We are growing and always on the lookout for new talent. If you are interested in joining our team (male or female!), please get in touch.