Visible Women meets…Banking

On Wednesday evening I was given the privilege to be on a panel for an event at Birmingham University.

Taken from their site…Visible Women (VW) is a women in leadership campaign. It aims to allow female students from over 110 universities across the UK to be the driving force in challenging the under-representation of women in the workplace. The campaign is run by the Student Action Team (SAT) made up of 16 students and recent graduates from across the UK making sure that the Visible Women campaign caters for the needs and aspirations of female students today.

The three-pronged campaign will look at ways in which to Motivate, Develop and Prepare female students across the UK; to reinforce equality of opportunity between men and women and to overcome the barriers of discrimination faced by women because of their sex or other external factors such as ethnicity or disability.

The campaign will:
> Showcase companies/organisations that encourage diversity
> Recognise senior female role models
> Create networking opportunities for students and recent graduates to successfully enter into the labour market.

The Visible Women Campaign is managed and delivered by Elevation Networks. EN is an independent charity and social enterprise which aims to bridge the gap between under-represented groups and industries.

Visible Women meets…are networking events which ‘provide a platform for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and advice about industries and the unique mix of graduate employees to senior managers under one roof provides a varied and broad perspective of career paths.’

Blurb from their site:

This will be an exclusive opportunity for a select number of our student network to meet with leading professionals in the field of banking.
It will give participants the chance to gain insight, one to one advice and a platform to share knowledge and learn new skills in an intimate networking environment.
The VW Campaign is run by the Student Action Team to cater for the needs of students and it is this point of difference that we seek to use as a means of being more accessible to our network and bridging the gap between them and potential employers.

I was on their panel for banking and had to talk about my career history and my experiences being a woman in the industry, as well as answer questions. I felt very honoured to be classed as a ‘leading professional’ and really enjoyed talking to the girls who attended. It seems ages ago since I was a student, but I can remember attending similar events and know the positive benefit they have.

I hope the girls who came found it useful!

*Update – here is a link to the article that was published about the event.