everywoman is dedicated to empowering women to excel in business so they can fulfil their business aspirations. For 10 years we have been working at the coal face, witnessing the issues that women face in business.  Our prime objective is to work with women, for women. Research from our tens of thousands of members feed into the UK’s most senior decision makers across government and business.  

This five point manifesto is everywoman’s call to action to ensure that women in the workplace and future generations of businesswomen have every opportunity to reach the very top of their organisations.  Progress has been made to engage women in the economy, but without further bold action and ambition, it will come too slowly for many of the talented females that are ready and able to achieve greater economic success for their businesses and ultimately the UK economy.

In the next 10 years, everywoman is aiming to:

1. Increase the number of female run businesses

Lack of self belief, concerns about access to finance and confusion about red tape are commonly cited reasons for women not launching their own enterprises.  everywoman is committed to empowering more women to run businesses and will continue to listen to women in business, drawing on the valuable input from its 35,000 members whilst providing advice, training, networking and other resources for women starting or growing their own venture.  Through this and its national awards ceremonies, everywoman will bring these businesses to the attention of media, investors and customers, thereby providing a platform for growth.  It is everywoman’s ambition to increase the number of women-run businesses by 100,000 by 2019.

2. See equal pay for men and women

40 years on from the Equal Pay Act (1970) and today women earn, on average, 17% less an hour than men.  This is unacceptable. If organisations are to remain competitive, it is imperative that they retain their talent by treating all staff equally regardless of gender, ethnicity or background. everywoman will support all measures designed to eradicate the pay gap. 

3. Break down stereotypes and male hegemony

Male hegemony is preventing female talent from flourishing at the highest levels of business.  It is everywoman’s belief that its continuance is dangerously detrimental to the UK’s position as a leading global economy.  everywoman will work with many different types of businesses to help them understand the financial and business benefits of diversity and will continue to promote the benefits of diversity and equality through thought leadership and training. We will provide a platform for those companies striving for equality to showcase their success.

4. Empower women to achieve their career aspirations

It is inconceivable that today the top positions in business cannot be filled by qualified, capable women. However, it is commonplace for women not to apply for these senior positions due to a lack of self belief or concerns about balancing work and family commitments.  everywoman undertakes to empower female leaders to achieve their ambitions through its leadership and self development training to ensure that organisations are not limited in their business success through a lack of female talent.

5. Promote the benefits of affirmative action

The UK is currently facing a stalemate situation with regards to its female talent.  At the current pace it will take another 60 years for Parliament to adequately reflect the electorate in terms of gender and race.  The statistics surrounding women on FTSE 350 boards are even more depressing, currently a mere 242 of 29,742 board positions are held by women, the majority of which are non-executive positions.

Whilst acknowledging the controversy surrounding positive action, everywoman believes that true diversity within the workplace cannot be achieved without radical affirmative action.  This is not about recruiting less qualified women in place of men or about preferential treatment for women, but of challenging businesses and institutions to recognise that it is inconceivable that sufficient female talent doesn’t exist within their organisations.  It is about identifying ambitious, talented women and investing in them, offering flexible working to enable them to perform to the highest level whilst balancing their family commitments. 

everywoman will continue to work with high profile female business figures to espouse the benefits of diversity in the boardroom through thought leadership and speaker programmes, generating awareness around the benefits of affirmative action and will support measures for its introduction.