To celebrate International Women’s Day, Jill Hawkins interviewed three female industry business leaders on this year’s theme of ‘break the bias’. Were there any times in their career that they have been conscious of breaking the bias, did anyone give them any guidance and what can we all do to help break the bias moving forward?
Margaret ReevesMargaret Reeves, managing director of RefTech, a leading supplier of event badging and registration systems
“Although we have a lot of women in the events industry, we still see more men in senior positions and as company MDs. We also don’t see many women heading up event technologies companies so I feel that I am helping to break the bias by showing that women can have senior positions.
“In my early 20s I worked in manufacturing and it was a very male dominated industry. It was common knowledge that the boys were paid more than the girls but when I questioned this, I was told “that’s just the way it is!” That sort of attitude just made me even more determined to prove myself and to be as good, if not better than the men. As my career progressed, I worked in less biased industries until coming to RefTech 14 years ago and to a company who is focused on simply hiring the best person for the role.
“I think that often women are their own worst enemies – many of us suffer with a lack of self-confidence and a lack of faith in our own abilities. Is this because of our upbringing, or because of the world in which we work? I’m not sure, but I do know that experience helps. Having steered our company through the hardest two years of my working life, I do feel more confident in my own abilities and in my decisions.
"Don't lower your standards"
“My mum was very inspirational and a huge influence to me. She was a proper lady – she never swore and didn’t suffer fools. She instilled two strong statements in me: the first was ‘Don’t lower your standards’ and the second was ‘always treat certain situations with the contempt that they deserve.’ Ken Clayton, one of the directors of RefTech has always been there for me. He’s a tower of strength and has been a great support over the years and has given me lots of advice and guidance.
“The Association for Women in Events (AWE) is a great community that’s dedicated to the professional advancement of women in all aspects of the events industry. They have a great blog that covers all sorts of topics such as lifestyle, travel and inspiration. Event Marketer runs their ‘Women in Events Week’ (last year it was in December) which has a raft of seminars, advice, networking experiences and meet ups for every woman working in events.
“We all need to help and support women in their career progression – by offering training, knowledge sharing and by creating an environment without gender bias - both in the work place and the industry as a whole. I think that networking within the industry is important but often, it’s when we go outside of our industry that we find insights that are both transferable and informative.”
Joanne Barratt, MD of The Venues Collection and Lime Venue Portfolio
Joanne Barratt“I became a hotel GM at the age of 26 and back then, it was a really big deal; of the 30 GMs in this particular hotel chain, only two of us were female. It was a very male dominated environment and I did experience patronising language, old fashioned stereotypes and sexism from some of the more mature members of the team. It wasn’t always really overt, but I would often be expected to be the meeting note taker simply because I was female.
“Later in my career I was invited to apply for a London regional manager role in a company I’d worked for before. I came up against an old (male) colleague of mine who asked what I was doing there. When I explained that I was being interviewed for the same position that he was going for he was shocked and said “surely you should be having children by now?” I got the job, but comments like this are bound to impact, they can play on our feelings of self worth, our confidence and imposter syndrome can creep in. I’ve always believed that you put into it what you want to get out of it. I’m pretty determined (some may say stubborn…) and so sexist comments and old-fashioned attitudes just made me even more focused on achieving my goals.
"We need to continue to raise the profile of women"
“Douglas Bamber was a great supporter; he trusted me and gave me the space to grow and to gain confidence. He encouraged me to realise that I could achieve my goals, but he was always there as a safety net. Linda Podbeileski was a fellow GM when I was coming through the ranks and she was an inspirational role model to me. I watched how she worked and how she stood her ground on many occasions – she inspired confidence.
“Three out of four of my senior team are women, but that said I believe in just recruiting the best person for the role, no matter their gender. I believe that a team should be diverse, so that everyone brings a different perspective and skill set to the equation and that this makes the whole team stronger.
“Fay Sharpe does a wonderful job with the Fast Forward 15 mentoring initiative – I would love to be involved as a mentor one day. The Master Innholders was once a very male dominated organisation but is now more inclusive and they have some great initiatives to support women in the hospitality industry.
“We need to continue to raise the profile of women and celebrate their achievements. To ensure that the next generation of women have great role models to look up to, to support and encourage them to reach their potential.”
Janthea BrigdenJanthea Brigden, CEO and director of childcare, Nipperbout, a specialist provider in creches for conferences and events
“Childcare is a considered a female industry so we break the bias by employing men to work in our event creches. Back in 1993, we had a regular carer working for us called Richard, he had long hair and a nose ring. He was often assumed to be gay, because attitudes implied that straight men don’t work with children. We often had (and still do) parents who are uncomfortable about leaving their children with men, and who are reluctant about a man changing their child’s nappy.
“I aim for around 50 per cent of my event creche team to be men. We do this in order to break the bias that childcare is women’s work, to change the perspective for the children we care for and to bring a more rounded and balanced dynamic to the children’s environment. Traditionally female roles (such as childcare) are often badly paid, so by changing attitudes and breaking that gender bias we are improving the status of this vitally important role, we are raising worth of everyone involved and increasing salaries for all.
“I’ve been flying the flag for gender neutrality since 1992 – when I created our logo, I deliberately designed it to be half pink and half blue, and for the blue (male side) to have long hair and the pink side to have short spiky hair – to challenge gender stereotypes. This was considered quite a radical action back then.
"I still face gender stereotyping"
“As a female company MD I still face gender stereotyping. Once, we were setting up a creche at an airport and a man insisted in talking to the manager, and it took a while to convince him that the manager/owner/boss was in fact me! In the early days, when we were creating areas at festivals, people always assumed that I handled the childcare elements and my co-director handled the logistic elements – when in fact he knew as much about the childcare element of our work as I did. When we work on conferences, most of the organisers we work with are female, but the crew are traditionally male.
“We encourage everyone we work with to train, and to gain the experience and confidence they need to progress their careers. I actively encourage women to set up their own businesses because according to colleagues who handle business funding, there are lots of grants to help women to set up businesses but women are often reluctant to take the sort of
risk associated with setting a business up.
“I work with The Ops Nest and Lou Kiwanuka has done so much to promote the inclusivity and acceptance of women working in the operational areas of events and encourage them into more leadership and executive roles. We make sure that men are in prominent positions at our events – I have men positioned at reception, carrying babies in slings and generally being visible to everyone. The more people see men in traditionally female roles, the more it normalises it and creates balance – allowing people to follow which ever career they wish to.
“We also ensure that we don’t create ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ areas in our creches – we mix the toys up to ensure that every child has access to the toys they want to play with and are not corralled into playing with the toys that some may think are suited to their gender. We also do not ask for the gender of a child because it actually doesn’t matter because we treat every child equally. I wish more of society would be like this.”
M&IT editor Paul Harvey is a journalist with more than 15 years of experience. He began his career in the local press, working for various titles across the north. Since joining M&IT in 2013, he has become a trusted and respected voice in the sector, championing event professionals and reporting on all aspects of the events industry for the brand.
