Happy International Women's Day!

This year's International Women’s Day (IWD) theme of ‘Inspire Inclusion’ underscores the crucial role of inclusion in achieving gender equality. There is no doubt that empowering women and girls leads to wider economic growth and more prosperous local communities around the world.  Inclusion is not only the right thing to do as a purpose-led business, it also makes us stronger. Today, I’m celebrating IWD2024 by reflecting on some of the recent recognition for progressing the inclusion of women in our own workplace at Tate & Lyle and the perspectives a few of my colleagues have shared to inspire inclusion themselves.

When I first started at Tate & Lyle, our leadership team looked very different to today, and we have purposefully worked to correct that through considered hiring practices, leadership development, nurturing women in science, a focus on creating a more inclusive culture, and employee support through our policies and employee resource groups.  We now have a Board that is 50% women, an Executive Committee where women make up 56% of the team and we are on track to meet our 2025 target for gender parity in all leadership roles. This achievement was recently featured in the 2024 FTSE Women Leaders Review https://lnkd.in/eVNj2qnn and it's thanks to our shared effort as an organisation that we are ranked at the top of our sector in this report.

I’m so proud of our collective work to make Tate & Lyle a more gender balanced workplace. The many IWD events we’ve had internally this week – led by our ‘IGNITE’ employee resource group – showcases the passion within and positive impact those efforts have made on our culture throughout the organisation.  It’s also great to see this passion in our workplace extending externally through stories such as International Women’s Day 2024: How ‘Inspire Inclusion’ hits the mark https://www.tateandlyle.com/news/international-women-s-day-2024-how-inspire-inclusion-hits-mark, which features six women sharing their perspectives through the lens of this year’s theme. From how inclusion has inspired them, why they have inspired inclusion and what inclusion means to them, my colleagues across the world have shown me that by being inclusive, we are thriving—together.

As an ally and an advocate for women in the workplace, I’m inspired by the progress we’ve made and excited for the impact our further work on gender equality can deliver.

 #FTSEWomenLeadersReview #betterwayforward

 #TateAndLyle#IWD2024#InspireInclusion