Chamber Women

The Chamber Network is working every day to challenge stereotypes and break gender bias.

We have a huge number of female senior leaders, at both board and executive level, and we want to showcase their achievements to inspire future generations. We believe that language matters and that gender-neutral language can have a massive impact on how future generations perceive their career aspirations.

International Women’s Day 2022: #BreakTheBias

International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. We were excited to take part in the official IWD 2022 campaign, which ties in closely with our aims.

• We ran a week-long campaign, focusing on female Chamber board members, with an exciting programme of events, debates and insights.
• Chambers across our network will be hosting events to celebrate IWD 2022. See details below.
• We are campaigning with other Business Representative Organisations and the Chamber Network, to change the standard Articles of Association for companies, from Chairman to Chair. See our campaign letter here.

We launched International Women’s Day week with a selection of high-profile women Chamber board members from across the world, explaining why they are pushing for professional equality. We had contributions from:

• Joada Allen, Director, Visualised it Video Production and Animation and President of the Barnsley and Rotherham Chamber
• Lesley Moody OBE, Managing Director at AES Digital Solutions Ltd and President of the North East England Chamber of Commerce
• Anita Leviant, Head of LA Global Consulting and President of the Israel-Britain Chamber of Commerce
• Kate Beardmore, People & Venue Success Director for Synectics Solutions & Port Vale Football Club and President of Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce
• Dame Inga Beale, President of the British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce
• Bisi Adeyemi, Managing Director, DCSL Corporate Services Ltd and President of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce

On IWD we hosted Chamber Women - Language Matters!, a panel event chaired by BCC Chair, Sarah Howard MBE.

In this session, our high-profile business leaders discussed what business can do to encourage more women into senior roles in organisations.

If you missed this webinar, you can watch back here.

Sarah Howard also took part in an ITN News Special debate, chaired by BBC journalist Louise Minchin.

Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce in conversation with Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE.

Ruby’s distinguished career has seen her as one of a small number of female CEOs in the FTSE 250, having spent fourteen years at Mitie Group PLC and as its CEO for ten years. If you missed this webinar, you can watch back below.

We are proud to support and collaborate with the WOW Foundation by taking part in mentoring sessions during the WOW London Festival 2022. Click here to find out more about their work.