NatWest Everywomen Awards
From Dagenham to The Dorchester- NatWest Everywomen Awards
On Wednesday I was invited to attend the 2016 NatWest Everywoman Awards, with our Co-founder and CEO Kate McLaughlin, who was one of only three finalists for the Iris Award. The Award recognises inspirational women who run their own businesses, that use technology in an innovative and disruptive way, Kate’s nomination is testament to the ongoing success of We Got POP in the industry, and the day’s themes were just as relevant to the film industry as they are to other business sectors.
The NatWest everywoman Awards was launched in 2003 and over the past thirteen years has celebrated inspirational businesswomen who have achieved significant success – particularly those who have had to overcome adversities such as financial constraints, social disadvantages or skills gaps. The Awards play an invaluable role in both recognising success and inspiring other women to venture into the field of business.
The programme had a stellar line up of impressive woman across a multitude of industries from the Founder of The White Company Chrissie Rucker MBE to Jane Secker of Sky News. The day got underway with a ministerial address from Caroline Dinenage MP, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Women, Equalities and Early Years.
Caroline – who’s own father Fred Dinenage is the much loved English Television presenter, broadcaster and Author, who’s had a career spanning 50 years- introduced the day’s themes of gender inequality in business. She highlighted the important work Government is doing to overcome the disparity, but with only 27% of board members on FTSE 100 companies being women there is still a lot of work to do.
While women in tech are changing the face of the start-up sector, there are still less than 6% of working age women engaged in early stage entrepreneurship, increasing this sector alone to 10% would take the overall economic contribution of women- led SME’s to more than £180bn to the UK economy by 2025.
The highlight of the day for Kate and I was the attendance by and subsequent winners of the Spirit of everywoman Award: Eileen Pullen and Gwen Davis- The original Made in Dagenham Ladies.
It might be nearly 50 years since the women workers at Ford’s Dagenham plant went on strike for equal pay, but their story is as relevant today as it was then. The 184 women machinists at Ford’s Dagenham plant never set out to make history when they downed tools in 1968. They just wanted to be recognised as the skilled workers they were. The strike lasted just three weeks but it paved the way for the 1970 Equal Pay Act and spawned an unexpected hit movie and stage show- Made in Dagenham.
When Eileen Pullen took to the podium to accept the Spirt of everywoman Award -alongside Gwen Davies- she took the opportunity to note the good advances that have been made in pay equality, but highlighted more still needs to be done. A theme that has previously been echoed by one of the cast from Made in Dagenham (Daniela Bowen) who was quoted as saying that she found the plays themes are a strong reminder that the battle for pay equality is far from over.
“I have one line where I say ‘when is it going to change, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years?’ It’s such a poignant line because it’s nearly 50 years now and it still hasn’t changed so it slightly breaks my heart every day when I say it. I guess shows like ours are important because it sends that message out there and reminds people.”
While it is clear when it comes to equal pay and gender equality in the work place, there is more to be done, it is encouraging to see the action organisations such as everywoman, and Women in Film and TV are taking to inspire the upcoming generation, as well as promoting women in industry to work together and mentor each other. As they say: every little helps.
