This year, International Women’s Day will be celebrated on Sunday 8 March. This annual event has been observed all over the world since 1911, and it has since become an integral part of the international civil awareness agenda. The event’s objective is to celebrate the value and achievements that women around the world have made in social, political, scientific, and economic areas. International Women’s Day also aims to draw attention to gender equality issues and to dispel the various myths that lead to gender discrimination.
This year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called for institutions and individuals all over the world to give priority to women’s empowerment. The Secretary-General has highlighted the importance of looking not only at the progress made so far, but also at the gaps that exist in the implementation of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995.
Among the key areas of concern defined at that conference the following issues were highlighted:
- women and the economy
- women in power and decision-making
- institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women
In this post we take a look at how the UK has fared in the implementation of corporate and institutional strategies that aim to move towards full gender equality in the workplace.
Women in the British economy: Progress and key achievements
On the occasion of the 2015 International Women’s Day, it is important to review how far women’s rights have progressed in the British context. There are several crucial accomplishments that need to be mentioned in this respect. One of them relates to how British women have contributed to the country’s economy over the past few decades.