Yesterday, the Community Foundation for Lancashire used International Women’s Day as an opportunity to host a private roundtable discussion with a number of influential women from across Lancashire to highlight what we can do together to improve the lives of women across our county.
The event, sponsored by CCLA and hosted in Blackburn’s Oyster and Otter Pub, encouraged guests to explore how they could potentially be more effective in their philanthropy by being more aware of each other’s activities/working together.
The discussion also explored the appetite in establishing a Women’s Fund for Lancashire to tackle social issues and empower women for social growth.
Speaking at the event, Philanthropist and entrepreneur, Shalni Arora spoke to guests on how she is using her skills to improves the lives of women in Lancashire and internationally.
“Everyone in this room is involved in some sort of charitable work, what an amazing achievement. Today is a shining example of how important International Women’s Day is, coming together to explore how we can benefit the lives of women across Lancashire. “
“Working with the Community Foundation allows us to seek ways to improve social mobility and community cohesion. By working together we want to help women be the change they want to see in society”
Following on from the theme of this year’s event, #BeBoldForChange, Rae Brooke, Chief Executive of the Community Foundation for Lancashire, explains what being bold means to her:
“As a recently appointed CEX for one of the 46 Community Foundations in the UK I was interested to find out that 25 of those CEXs are women, that’s 54% in comparison to a sector average of 43%. What a great achievement for women in this network and not a bad achievement for the sector.”
“However this isn’t mirrored across the piste in all sectors and we still have much to achieve. In the previous sectors I have worked in including legal, accountancy, regional public sector, commercial vehicles (I could go on!) many of the top positions in those organisations were and still are elusive to women.”
“My hope is for my 13 year old daughter is that the picture is very different for whatever role she chooses in the world economy and the estimated year of 2186 for the gender gap to fully close is not a reality for all the right reasons, we need to accelerate our influence with confidence and bold action. Leading by example will help to make this ambition a reality.”
Guests at the event included women from businesses, charities, professional services and social enterprises from across Lancashire.
If you would like to get involved or find out more about the Community Foundation visit www.lancsfoundation.org.uk contact Karen Morris on 0151 232 2414.
