{"id":51189,"date":"2014-12-04T17:31:50","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T17:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=4f2a61da17ca0b2ee2eb3b24ad4e3798"},"modified":"2014-12-04T17:31:50","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T17:31:50","slug":"speech-nicky-morgan-speaks-about-women-in-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=51189","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Nicky Morgan speaks about women in leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Thank you Pauline [Latham <abbr title=\"Member of Parliament\">MP<\/abbr>]<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m delighted to be here today. It\u2019s wonderful to see so many new faces &#8211; and a few familiar ones! <\/p>\n<p>First I\u2019d like to say a heartfelt thanks to the UN Women All Party Parliamentary Group for organising this event, which brings together Parliamentarians, business and civil society to shine a light on an issue that is fast becoming one of the causes of our time &#8211; women in leadership. And it\u2019s a genuinely global cause. <\/p>\n<p>All around the world, there simply aren\u2019t enough women in political and corporate senior decision-making positions. That\u2019s why I\u2019m delighted that women in leadership remains 1 of UN Women\u2019s 6 strategic priorities for 2014 to 2017 .<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m pleased that, in the last 2 years, there have been 10 women appointed as leaders of their countries.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Michelle Bachelet, elected Chilean President earlier this year for a second time, following her outstanding service as the first Executive Director of UN Women<\/li>\n<li>in the Central African Republic, too, Catherine Samba-Panza has been elected as the new interim President<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bringing the total number of women leading their countries to 22. A huge step forwards, globally. But here at home there\u2019s still plenty to do. <\/p>\n<p>The UK economy is dependent on us better utilising the talent of women, capitalising on the wealth of skill and talent that women leaders can bring to our top companies &#8211; and to all levels of political and public life. We can\u2019t afford not to let half our population realise their potential!<\/p>\n<p>After all, we\u2019re one of the world\u2019s strongest economies, one of the world\u2019s most developed countries. So we should be leading the way when it comes to gender equality.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been involved in politics for 25 years now &#8211; that\u2019s since I was just 16. I remained involved throughout my time at school and university &#8211; and then whilst I trained as a solicitor and during my career in the city.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s fair to say I\u2019ve seen the government go through a lot of changes in that time! <\/p>\n<p>And since becoming an <abbr title=\"Member of Parliament\">MP<\/abbr> 4 years ago, I\u2019m proud to be part of the most diverse Parliament ever &#8211; currently 22.7% of MPs and 21.7% of peers are female &#8211; some of whom I\u2019m delighted to see here today.<\/p>\n<p>Over recent years, as the number of female MPs has grown and grown, we\u2019ve seen a range of new policies on flexible working, stronger equality legislation and critical action on violence against women. <\/p>\n<p>Women are also being supported to stand for Parliament through initiatives such as Women2Win. And in my own department, I\u2019m proud to say that almost half of our senior civil servants are women. Because I want to see a government that truly represents the country. But it\u2019s not just in the political arena that women are breaking new ground. They\u2019re also making their mark in the world of business. <\/p>\n<p>Here in the UK, women now make up almost a quarter of the boards of our top companies. For the first time, we now have a woman on the board of every FTSE 100 company.<\/p>\n<p>And only 24 more women need to be appointed to the boards of these top 100 companies to reach Lord Davies\u2019 target next year &#8211; of women making up 25% of company boards.<\/p>\n<p>But to achieve this we mustn\u2019t let the momentum slow down. We must ensure that we break down the remaining barriers preventing women from reaching their full potential in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>Access to affordable childcare is one of the major challenges. But raising children does not and should not prevent women from getting to the top. <\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s why the government is doing our bit to help women balance their work and home life. We\u2019ve extended the right to request flexible working to all employees. Next year we\u2019ll be introducing shared parental leave and tax-free childcare worth up to \u00a32,000 a child. In 2012 we set up the women\u2019s business council (WBC) to look at how we can also remove the other barriers that stop women progressing. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m pleased that the government is acting on every single recommendation the council has made to open up opportunities for women at all stages of their careers. We\u2019re committed to providing better careers advice to young women at school, ensuring effective talent management when they join the workplace, and supporting them throughout their careers to move into more senior roles.<\/p>\n<p>And a great example of government and business working together is the initiative Think, Act, Report, which drives greater transparency about pay and the numbers of women in senior positions &#8211; all to create a fairer workplace for women. <\/p>\n<p>Over 260 companies have now signed up, covering 2.5 million workers. We\u2019re already seeing a culture change as a result because we must work with industry to change cultures and attitudes.<\/p>\n<p>And, as I\u2019m sure lots of you will know, just over a fortnight ago we saw the gender pay gap narrow to 19.1% thanks to the continued efforts of this government. Both overall, and for full-time workers, it\u2019s at its lowest ever point in history. A true achievement.<\/p>\n<p>But as I\u2019ve said &#8211; we can\u2019t let the momentum stop, or even slow, if we\u2019re to see the workplace equality that women deserve. <\/p>\n<p>Because we need the best people to lead our academic institutions, the best people to serve on company boards, the best people to join Parliament &#8211; regardless of gender. We need role models to inspire the next generation of girls &#8211; to lead by example, to show them that no career, no future path, is out of their reach. <\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s playing its part here. <\/p>\n<p>In fact, it\u2019s where my roles as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities are so well interconnected. In May the Your Life campaign was launched, a social enterprise with a call to action to get educators, industry and government to commit to boosting women\u2019s involvement in science, technology, engineering and maths careers. It\u2019s through programmes like Your Life that we can raise children\u2019s aspirations and encourage them to consider a diverse range of subjects and careers. <\/p>\n<p>And building on initiatives developed by the government is where organisations like UN Women come in. Your work to empower women and girls around the world is, put simply, invaluable. <\/p>\n<p>With your support &#8211; and if government, business and civil society continue work together &#8211; as we strive towards our shared aim to see more and more women in the leadership positions they deserve, I know we will succeed.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of State for Education speaks at the APPG Group on UN Women evening reception about women in leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51189\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}