Today is International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world. It is also a day that aims to raise awareness around gender equity.
This year, I reflect on IWD as we celebrate NLS’ 5th birthday; we have seen our firm grow to over 150+ staff and we continue to believe it is important to acknowledge and look back on our success and those who are a part of it – many of them women.
The image that accompanies this post goes part way to illustrating how many women are employed at NLS but we did also have some male colleagues inquiring if they could be part of it. Whilst we are working on another image including our combined work staff, I thought that inquiry was quite powerful as it shows how supportive our male team members are of their female colleagues; and how they wanted to be part of the championing of the women at NLS.
That sentiment also flows from my post last year in which I spoke of the feeling of absolute support and respect from the NLS stakeholders, which continues to be true today. Much of the day-to-day management of NLS continues to be handled by myself (as Director and Head of Family) and Kate Probert (as Director and Head of Operations). We are supported in our leadership roles by our senior male colleagues with vast business experience and again, to me, that is as important as the fact that NLS is led by two strong females – we are 100% championed by our two male Directors and I do not feel that my gender is ever an issue in management meetings; and neither should it be.
We continue to work very hard at NLS at ensuring we have a positive culture that is inclusive, modern and supportive to all our staff. We do get regular feedback from our female staff, in particular, that our understanding and flexible approach to our working day allows them to manage any family and childcare commitments without any worries that there will be any negative pushback for doing so. Why shouldn’t women have it all? It is completely possible in this day and age to have a family and be a success in the workplace. At NLS you will be supported and encouraged to pursue your career alongside personal family goals.
My hope continues to be that days such as this will be less needed in the future as championing women really needs to be commonplace for there to be absolute equality in all areas of employment. But for now, we champion our women at NLS and in particular, our Charlotte Alberto – an inspirational female leader for us all at NLS.
