There is still much progress to be made towards greater gender balance in leadership roles. Indeed, Fidelio is currently shining a spotlight on the importance of increasing the number of female Chairs in business. We are also proud to work with female Chairs and Presidents across a range of organisations, including global professional bodies, who frequently bring fresh thinking, innovation and initiative – not least to the challenge of increasing diversity.
Increasing participation of women is crucial for businesses, especially at senior levels where few organisations have achieved gender balance. While there is much focus on strengthening the pipeline of senior women, including through retention and returner schemes, the issue of women’s health is frequently overlooked and poorly understood.
Fidelio was therefore delighted to welcome Professor Lesley Regan, only the second female President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who has played an inspirational role in improving women’s health and created an exceptional template of leadership. There are still too few women in leadership roles in the NHS: although women overall make up more than three-quarters of NHS employees, they are much scarcer at the top.
We were also joined at the Fidelio Board Breakfast by female Board Directors and Executives from a range of sectors, including banking, insurance, utilities, healthcare, and the legal profession, as well as one former FTSE 50 male CEO who has been and continues to be a great champion of diversity in both his executive and Board career.
Professor Regan explored “Women, Health and Leadership” and in particular shone a light on what’s working, and what more can be done to promote women’s health and the role that business can play. Key themes included:
- Women’s careers and the delivery of women’s healthcare
- Education: increasing knowledge, tackling taboos
- Why women’s health matters for business – women make up 47% of UK employees and the female workforce is growing faster than that of men. What’s good for women’s health, wellbeing and productivity is good for men too.
- What business can do to promote best practice in women’s health, including:
- Support the provision of one-stop integrated health services in or near the company location as part of a wellness package which also offers education and advice
- Create a flexible goal-oriented working culture supporting forward looking policies on parental leave and care provision for elderly parents
- Representation matters and women’s health can suffer if there are no women in the room
- Healthy women – adding value to business and society
For full details please click here.