Groundbreaking event set to empower northern women this month

Northern Power Women campaign launch

In the week we celebrate International Women’s Day, Northern Power Women, a campaign inspired by Government’s plan to create a Northern powerhouse is calling for businesses to take action to address gender balance in the workplace.

The campaign, which is being supported by business leaders and government ministers including Jo Swinson, aims to tackle the challenge of closing the gender pay gap and bring gender equality to the workplace. It will also highlight female entrepreneurs and encourage more businesses to invest in female talent at all levels.

Simone Roche, founder of the Northern Power Women campaign, is calling on the business sector to act:

“To date the focus to create change within businesses and to empower women has very much been on London – and it has been a powerful force. But I now want to broaden the conversation and the area of focus to more businesses and those in the North in particular. This campaign is about identifying and harnessing the positive ways both men and women can work together to make these changes.”

Minister for Women and Equalities Jo Swinson said:

“As part of re-balancing the national economy, we are creating a northern powerhouse of jobs, investment and prosperity. This is a real opportunity for businesses to unlock the economic power of women.”

“We need businesses to be driving the change, and we need more women establishing and growing their own businesses if we’re going to create a stronger economy and a fairer society.”

Organisations like Natwest, Sodexo and Liverpool Airport have already made pledges to take action.

Heather Waters, Enterprise Manager at Natwest, said that she is supporting the campaign because of the clear benefits women bring to business.

As part of her work in support of the campaign, Heather has pledged to be a mentor for an apprentice from a Liverpool housing association, and is recruiting colleagues and encouraging to do the same. She said:

“The Northern Power Woman campaign is a fantastic way to unite together and tackle issues which are effecting women throughout the region. We want to encourage female-led entrepreneurship and see more women achieve their business aspirations.”

Debbie White, CEO of Sodexo UK & Ireland, said, "We are delighted to support this campaign and have long believed that gender balance has clear business benefits. Our recent research demonstrated that areas of our business with gender balanced management teams performed better in relation to growth, profit, retention, consumer satisfaction, brand image and employee engagement."

Andrew Cornish, CEO of Liverpool John Lennon Airport , said that they are supporting this campaign because “we know that gender imbalance in the UK is a real issue that needs to be addressed and that it makes business sense to take this step.”

“Women make a majority of the household spending decisions and offer a range of different perspectives and skills in the workplace that any organisation could benefit from."

“When considered in this light it makes sense that more business should be developing their talented female staff.”


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Our mission is clear – we want to develop and empower talented women and strive for a better balance of men and women in leadership roles. Gender-balanced teams have a wider range of skills, are more productive, creative and innovative and, ultimately, deliver a better performance.