Date published: 8th March 2019

Happy International Women’s Day!

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is #BalanceforBetter, a call to speed-up the building of a gender balanced world. It was only 100 years ago that women were allowed to practise as solicitors and we still have a long way to go in ensuring equal opportunities, treatment and pay for women. As an employer we decided to look inwards to consider what more we can do to support women in the workplace.

Two topics stood out – Menstruation/Menopause and motherhood/maternity leave. We like to do things a little differently here and if you can’t start discussions about taboo subjects on International Women’s Day, when can you?

Menstruation/Menopause

Sadly, periods are still considered ‘taboo’ and many people/employers do not consider the impact that menstruation can have on women. This time of the month can be particularly hard for some, who juggle work and everyday commitments with physical pain, hormonal imbalance and uncontrollable emotions.

Menstruation affects everyone differently but does it mean that women are at a disadvantage in the workplace? What it does mean is that we have to acknowledge that each month, a woman may not feel her usual self and we must work to accommodate these changes by creating comfortable working environments.

Menopause is another consideration - happening to women a little older and perhaps further along in their career. This can be an incredibly uncomfortable time but, like periods, can often not be taken seriously as it is a normal life event for women. Beyond the physical side effects of the menopause (hot flushes, mood changes, sleep disturbance etc), the menopause can have a huge psychological effect on women often lowering a woman's self-esteem with many experiencing anxiety.

Here are some questions we have been thinking about:

  • Do you believe menstruation/menopause can affect a woman’s job?
  • Is your workplace open about periods/menopause? (Can women speak up when it is their time of the month?)
  • Is this an issue that applies to women only or should we acknowledge that men too experience hormonal changes?

Motherhood/Maternity Leave

Another issue that is not widely discussed is maternity leave motherhood. Becoming a parent is something that no one can fully prepare for and everyone handles it differently, meaning some women will thrive as working mums and others will need to step back and focus on their life at home. Flexibility is key!

The important thing is to not compare yourself to others. All too often do we compare ourselves to other women wondering how they seem so cool, calm and collected when in reality, this is not the case. We must remember that we only see what others want us to and every working mum has the occasional breakdown.

  • Is part-time employment the ideal solution for working parents?
  • Have you or anyone you know struggled balancing parenthood with work commitments?
  • Should employers offer flexible working hours to parents with young children?

What are we doing?

These problems became apparent at our recent event celebrating 100 years of women in law. Women from across all levels of our firm and student from LJMU got together and spoke about being female in the legal sector.

Following this we wanted to tackle these problems head on, that is why we will be starting a ‘Women in Touch’ group led by our Group Chief Operating Officer, Joanna Kingston-Davies. This will be a safe space for women in the workplace to talk about the problems they might not feel comfortable talking to male employees/bosses about. Women supporting women is so important and we want to champion this as much as we can!