The theme of International Women's Day 2024 was #InspiringInclusion
Events and initiatives DWF colleagues took part in for IWD 2024
These initiatives were designed and open for all colleagues to join and build greater awareness of gender equality.
Collaborations
'In conversation with…' interview series: A series of Q&A webinars with diverse women created by 5 Star Futures including contributions from Caroline Colliston - Executive Partner Scotland, DWF; Beth Casey - ESG Manager, Inflexion; Kirsty Rogers - Chief Sustainability Officer, DWF; Louise Rogerson - Chief People Officer, DWF and Seema Bains - Partner and Head of Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Group, DWF.
Watch the Q&A webinars
Diverse Career Journeys: Inspirational colleagues from DWF and Aviva shared insights on the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and advice in overcoming barriers. Guest speakers included Waseem Malik – Chief Claims Officer, Aviva; Nicola Sheils – Technical Claims Director, Aviva; Stefan Paciorek – Global Head of Dispute Resolution, DWF and Harriet Quiney – Partner - Legal Services, DWF.
The event was chaired by Seema Bains and included an introduction from Nigel Teasdale (DWF Commercial Director - Insurance Legal Services).
Inspiring Women and Allies: Amazon and DWF's gender networks collaborated on a hybrid breakfast event showcasing the career journeys of successful women and allies championing greater gender equality.
Local events
Manchester: For our Inspiring Inclusion and Allyship event, Kirsty Rogers was joined by psychologist & allyship specialist Lee Chambers to chair a panel discussion exploring the role of male allies in creating greater gender inclusion in the workplace. Panellist included Paul Corcoran - Chief Executive, Agent; Paul Taylor - Associate General Counsel, Manchester United and Naveen Gupta - Partner, DWF
Liverpool: Colleagues in our Liverpool office came together to take a Women's History Walking Tour, designed to celebrate inspirational women in the city.
London: Colleagues in our London office came together to raise money for charities and celebrate diverse women. Speakers included female role models from Venezuela, Ukraine, Angola,
Poland and France: Sharing information on their career and qualification journeys.
Southampton: A discussion was held around the Inspiring Inclusion theme with team members completing pledge cards.
Belfast: Colleagues came together for a lunchtime event focused on women's health with a speaker from a local breast cancer charity.
Poland: Colleagues in Poland welcomed an external speaker to share information on the concept of burnout, what it is and how we can avoid it.
Munich: As a tradition a flower was left on the desk of women as a token of appreciation.
Australia: DWF were proud to sponsor an International Women's Day Women in Insurance event.
UK / North America / India: Virtual coffee meet up across our international delivery centres focused how inspirational women have shaped colleagues career pathways.
India: Julia Perez hosted "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress", discussing how investing in women helps in accelerating progress of the organization.
New initiatives & resources introduced in 2023/2024
Initiatives designed to create better gender balance in 2023/24 include:
- Improvements to family friendly policies including maternity, carers, fertility, adoption and dependents support.
- Menopause support added to private medical offering.
- Female development programme pilot launched.
- Succession & talent identification processes improved with greater focus on gender diversity
- New central mentoring programme with 80%+ of participants identifying as female and/or from minority groups.
- Mentoring programme working with groups of 10 young women at each partner schools in Manchester, Scotland and Liverpool.
- Relaunched our 'Men at Work' group on International Men's Day and created monthly Men's Mental Health Listening Sessions.
- Rolled out a new global HR system, capturing additional information on non-binary identities as well as caring & parental responsibilities
- Gender awareness events held on topics such as 'Women and Sport' and 'Menopause: Nutrition, exercise and complementary therapies'.
- Listening sessions with family support groups to understand needs and barriers within the workplace.
- Intersectional role models sharing their experiences through intranet blogs on topics such as parents, carers, and being neurodivergent.
- Our charitable foundation funded projects that supported women totalling £20k in 2023 including emergency support for female refugees and helping mums re-entering the workforce