It underscores the critical need for prompt and decisive measures to attain gender equality. It highlights the urgency of overcoming the systemic barriers and biases that women encounter in both their personal and professional lives.
This year, stone Egg Fleming is celebrating International
Women's Day by reflecting on how we can accelerate action,
which is our theme for 2025.
According To the World Economic Forum,
it'll take five decades or more to reach gender equality.
That is why this theme feels even more important than ever
as Accelerate Action urges us to take bold
and immediate steps towards a future with gender equality.
International Women's Day is important
because it gives us all an opportunity
to reflect on the significant progress
that we've made over the last several decades
and for women, I suppose, in society,
but also in the workplace.
And for me personally, it gives me a chance
to reflect on the women in my life that have acted
as role models and also supported and mentored me on my way.
The gender pay gap has statistically been shown
to be heavily driven by the maternity penalty.
So I think thinking dynamically about how shared leave
and how you can make sort of equitable solutions
for all sorts of parental structures to flourish
and really bring people back into the office
and engaging with their roles after they've had children.
Women's empowerment within
modern businesses is just one aspect
of closing the gender gap globally.
And I think that all of that really boils down to the level
of support given to women by both their male colleagues, um,
within the workplace.
And that can only be fostered through changing the culture
and by implementing policies that allow
for that level of support.
I am really proud to talk to you about some initiatives
to provide support to the global community.
None of these are specifically for women,
but we interact with a lot of women during all
of these initiatives.
To start with mentoring, a number
of US employees here are participating in one-to-one
or group mentoring by the University of Westminster,
where we help the students prepare for the future career.
And also we do mentoring one-to-one
for the Chartered Institute of Securities, the CISI,
where we help develop talent
so it's less experienced members
of the financial services industry who are looking
for the next step or opportunities in the wider set.
We also work with our charity partner,
Africa Tecan in many ways.
And one of those ways is we have set up a
group mentoring program where we help about 40
of their team leaders
who sit across five centers in South Africa.
And to add to that,
we participate in the 10,000 black intern program here in
the UK where we allow our students to come for up
to six week and spend time in the investment management
division, um, and work with us.
And they do a rotation between different departments.
So for example, last year we had a young lady here
who originated outta Sudan for six weeks.
She's studying international politics
and she's looking for a future in our industry.
Anyone can contribute to
that advancement of gender equality.
And together we are all capable of affecting change.