WorkEqual has called on businesses and people across Galway to support its 2020 campaign which aims to raise awareness of workplace gender inequalities and related issues, and develop solutions to address them.
Alongside a host of Irish speakers, gender equality experts based in Iceland, the US and the UK will feature on the line-up of events for this year’s WorkEqual campaign, sharing their insights and ideas on how to progress workplace gender equality.
People from Galway, and across the country will be able to attend the digital events online, free of charge.
“We are delighted to have international activists, politicians, business leaders and NGO representatives on the line-up for WorkEqual 2020,” said founder Sonya Lennon, launching the 2020 programme for the WorkEqual campaign.
“Last year, we held the inaugural WorkEqual conference, which involved a number of international speakers.
“This year, as a physical conference is not feasible, we’re running a series of online panel discussions and using the opportunity presented by moving online to broaden the reach of the campaign, and make it more accessible to people who may not have been able to travel to the conference in previous years.”
The panel discussions taking place in November are being billed as ‘The Solutions Series: a whole-of-society approach to progressing gender equality’. All discussions will be open to anyone interested in gender equality to attend online, free of charge.
Five discussions will take place in total.
- Thursday, 5th November: ‘How Can We Banish Gender Stereotypes from Society?’
- Monday, 9th November (the date designated by the WorkEqual Campaign as Equal Pay Day, the date on which women in Ireland effectively stop earning, relative to men, because of the gender pay gap): ‘Why Understanding the Pay Gap is Key to Gender Equality at Work’
- Thursday, 12th November: ‘What Role has Flexible Working in Achieving Gender Equality?’
- Thursday, 19th November: ‘How the Value Placed on Caring Contributes to Gender Equality at Work’.
- Thursday, 26th November: ‘How Can We Address Women’s Under-Representation in Positions of Leadership – at Work and in Wider Society?’
All events will run from 1pm to 2pm, and advance registration is required through the WorkEqual website. Speakers confirmed for ‘The Solutions Series’ to date include:
- Professor Linda Scott, founder of, and now Senior Advisor to, the Global Business Coalition for Women’s Economic Empowerment; founder of DoubleXEconomy LLC, a consulting firm specialising in women’s economic empowerment; and author of ‘The Double X Economy’.
- Laura Jones, Research Associate at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.
- Eamonn Crowley, CEO of Permanent TSB.
- Andrew Brownlee, CEO of SOLAS.
- Karen Boyle, Professor of Feminist Media Studies at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland.
- Dr. Orlaigh Quinn, Secretary General of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
- Anne Looney, Professor and Executive Dean of the Institute of Education at Dublin City University.
- Helen Russell, Research Professor at the ESRI.
- Cormac Harris and Alan O’Sullivan, winners of the 2020 BT Young Scientist for their ground-breaking research on gender bias in young schoolchildren.
- Sean Cooke, CEO of the Men’s Development Network.
- Senator Ivana Bacik.
- Deirdre Mortell, CEO of Rethink Ireland.
