International Women's Day 2022

Over 60 inspirational local women joined us at our networking breakfast at The Alexandra pub in Wimbledon for coffee, chat, and to hear from our guest speakers.

Our publisher Lucy Kane talked about this year’s theme of International Women’s Day to #breakthebias. From school-age onwards, females are often underestimated in their abilities – the impact on our esteem is huge.

Despite how capable we are, we have huge self-doubt and so we don’t achieve all we could. “Be braver,” said Lucy. Not so sure how? Start with the short-term goal to be just 10% braver. 

Guests heard from Diana Sterck, chief executive of Merton Chamber of Commerce, who also noted that one of the biggest barriers that holds women back is a lack of self-belief.

Our guest speaker was Wimbledon author Aliya Ali Afzal, who has just written smash-hit Would I Lie To You. Aliya was in Time & Leisure magazine many years ago when she was a career coach. In her mid-40s, she made the decision to follow her dreams to become a writer. She told us how she has faced bias many times in her career – some years ago when applying for roles in the City, she was told by one business that it, ‘hadn’t employed a mother before, but fortunately for her she didn’t look like one!’. Men were also encouraged to have photos of their families on their desks – women were actively discouraged as it would make them look weak.

Some things have moved on. But not everything. And it takes a big leap for many women to give ourselves permission and the space to follow our dreams. And we have to learn not to listen to the negative voices in our heads, she said.