Friday 8th March is International Women's Day (IWD) 2019 and this year's theme is #Balanceforbetter, celebrating a gender-balanced world and is a year long campaign.  The first International Women's Day occurred in 1911, supported by over one million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific.  Adviza will be celebrating this campaign on 8th March, keep your eye on our social media feeds and also this blog page as our CEO, Katharine Horler will be writing a guest blog

Re-balancing the gender scales

According to research out last week, it will take a whopping 36 years to close the gender pay gap.  Before we all get enraged about this, this refers to those men and women who earn £100,000+.  However, the lesser publicised fact is that the number of female top earners has grown by 75% in 5 years, almost double the rate that men took to earn the same income level.  Sadly, what these statistics don’t tell us, is why.  What is not included is the qualitative research.  The decisions that women often have to make when returning to work after having a family or due to care commitments.  Traditionally, women often assume the role of care-giver and have had to accept that taking a lesser role is the only option to them if they have a break from work, as though a career break is seen as a diminishment of skills and experience. 

Flexible working - is that the answer?

As an industry, careers, advice and guidance is a predominantly female dominated sector, reflected in Adviza’s staff - 84% female and 16% male.  70% of jobs in the education sector are held by women and there are a number of reasons why it attracts more women than men, not just the flexible working hours (at Adviza 51% are full time and 49% part time positions).  Interestingly, many similar companies have the same female dominated workforce, but with most management posts held by men.  This is not the case at Adviza, not only does it have a female CEO and Deputy CEO but an all-female Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

Aim high

There is plenty of data that says working women still do most of the jobs at home including childcare and that is definitely the case at all levels at Adviza up to SLT.  Having flexibility is key to encouraging women back into roles at all levels but particularly at senior levels.  The number of female staff at a senior leadership level within Adviza, is unusual, but at the same time gives clear examples of women rising to the top, hopefully, inspiring others. Nothing is out of bounds, with hard work and commitment anything is possible.

Adviza prides itself on its attitude to flexible working , enabling staff to attend school assemblies, take their children to medical appointments or care for family. “Achieving balance in your home and work life is essential to create a happy and healthy member of staff.  We do our best to accommodate individual's needs in the way they work”, says Katharine Horler, CEO Adviza.