Women in Business Charter: Bristol

Events

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Learn. Support. Empower. 

​​We regularly run our public Women in Business event series, detailed below.
​
We also hold quarterly events, exclusive for Charter signatories,  bringing our signatories together with
​subject matter experts to share best practice, focused on one of the Charter goals, 
it is a valuable opportunity to learn from one another and progress with your business goals. 


Join the business journey to gender equality.

our future event schedule

Signatory Exclusive Event - ​
​Preventing Burnout While Driving Change  
  • Wednesday 4 June 2025
  • 12:30 - 13:30​
Signatory exclusive - Lunchtime Online Workshop
Preventing Burnout While Driving Change 
Join us for a powerful session on leadership burnout, resilience, and culture change, with science-backed strategies to build sustainable, inclusive workplaces.

This event will be led by Laura Aiken, a Consultant and Founder of Thrive Leadership. She assists businesses in managing stress and building resilience through workshops and retreats.

If you are from a signatory organisation, please sign up here

Signatory Exclusive Event - ​
Sexual harrassment: creating safe, inclusive workplaces
  • Tuesday 8 July 2025
  • 12:30 - 13:30
Join us for an insightful session led by Kristal McNamara, Gender Equity Expert
​

We’ll explore:
✅ What the Oct 24 Workers' Rights Act means for employers & employees
✅ How to build a zero-tolerance culture in your workplace
✅ Practical strategies for prevention, intervention, and accountability


If you are from a signatory organisation, please sign up here

our recent events

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​International Women’s Day Sat 8th March 2025
Public, in person event, City Hall, Bristol


Are our boards as inclusive as they should be? Hosted by Nick Sturge MBE, portfolio non-executive director and Chartered Director.

Speakers and panelists included:
  • Lewis Wedlock - Academic, mental health professional and masculinities educator
  • Sandra Meadows MBE - Seasoned Non Exec Director and Chair of Trustees, National Association for Voluntary and Community Action
  • Richard Harries - Partner, Barcan + Kirby
  • Dr. Lara Mosunmola Lalemi - Chief Executive Officer. Creative Tuition Collective
  • Lisa Smith - People Director at We The Curious and Director of Be The Change HR Consultancy​ ​
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Bristol Women in Business Charter: Five-Year Impact Celebration. 28th April 2025, City Hall
Sponsored by Barcan + Kirby
Supported by Simitiveand Bristol City Council

Join us for an inspiring and thought-provoking event as we mark five years of impact, progress, and action through the Bristol Women in Business Charter.

Our exclusive gathering brought together nearly 200 business leaders, change-makers, and advocates for gender equity to celebrate achievements, share insights, and shape the future of inclusion in the workplace.

We had an amazing event, including:
🔹 Keynote Address - Delivered by Sam Castle, Partner and Employment Lawyer at Barcan + Kirby, this insightful keynote will share the progress of gender equity from our signatory, Barcan + Kirby as well as the evolving legal framework around workplace equality, the challenges businesses face, and the steps they must take to build truly inclusive environments.
🔹 Five Years of Progress – A look back at the strides made by our signatories, showcasing key achievements in gender equity and inclusion, with highlights from the past year.
🔹 The Big Panel – A compelling discussion featuring founding and large employer signatories on the progress made and what’s needed to accelerate change in the next five years.


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Disability and embracing the untapped talent:
Exclusive Signatory Event - 2nd December 2024

​

As we marked Disability History Month (14th November - 20th December), it’s the perfect time to reflect on the progress we’ve made—and the work still to be done—toward creating truly inclusive workplaces.

Key Takeaways:
Disabled employees bring invaluable strengths to the workplace: innovative problem-solving, diverse perspectives, and a strong work ethic.

Significant barriers persist, such as inaccessible recruitment systems, inflexible interview processes, underrepresentation in leadership, and limited career development opportunities.
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 Best Practice for Employers:

1️⃣ Revamp recruitment processes to remove barriers—consider providing interview questions in advance, offering diverse panel representation, and exploring alternative assessment methods.

2️⃣ Introduce a “reasonable adjustments passport” to streamline support for disabled employees and ensure continuity.

3️⃣ Educate managers to challenge ableist assumptions and foster a culture of inclusion.

4️⃣ Celebrate the contributions of disabled employees and reframe disability as a strength, not a limitation.

5️⃣ Broaden career progression opportunities through flexible promotion pathways and internal development.

6️⃣ Partner with disability organizations and employee resource groups to co-create inclusive solutions.

Thank you again to our expert panel Frances Bathurst, Ghizzi (Ghislaine) Dunlop, Kyrby Brown and Alison Browning for their inspiring and educational words.

 To learn more about Disability History Month follow this link https://ukdhm.org/

OUr 2024 Impact event

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​We held  our Annual Impact Report launch on 30th April 2024 at Bristol City Hall, hosted by our signatories, 
Bristol City Council and sponsored by TRIA recruitment.

​ It was a chance to highlight the achievements of our signatories and share their insight and expertise on their progress towards gender equality with intersectionality.

We want 2024 to have an even bigger impact for gender equality and intersectionality in Bristol and more men than ever attended the event, which is crucial to accelerating the pace of change.
​


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REGISTER FOR FUTURE EVENTS

our previous eventS

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Guest panel included:
  • Karen Higgins, Head of ESG, Clarke Willmott - sponsor keynote and panellist
  • Anna Averis Chief People Officer & Partner, Bishop Fleming
  • Emma Colwill, Co-Founder, Not Impossible
  • Dan Jones, HR Director, Clarke Willmott
  • Lisa Pollard, Director of Education for Palladian Academy Trust
Women in Business Series: Social Mobility 23rd October 24 
​

We recently held our latest event at the newly refurbished Clarke Willmott office, where experts gathered to discuss the transformative power of social mobility for individuals, organizations, and communities.
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This event provided an invaluable opportunity for attendees to learn, connect, and make a meaningful impact.

We discussed: Work placements, apprenticeships, community engagement, the Social Mobility Foundation standards and other key initiatives.
Call to action:

​We wrapped up our session on a high note with breakout groups creating their pledges to enhance social inclusion and mobility within their organizations over the next year.


We’re excited to see the progress these commitments will bring!

Flexible working - does it restrict women's careers, what is the limitation? Is hybrid enough? 20th June 24

In this signatory exclusive online event, we were thrilled to be joined by Rosie and Caroline to discuss the challenges and best practice for flexible working. They shared their insight and experience with our other signatories.
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Challenging Bias in AI -  20th February 24 at the Engine Shed, Sponsored by Bristol University

It was such a privilege to host this important conversation on bias in AI. It was brilliant to hear from our speakers...
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  • 💻Professor Phil Taylor on the new IsambardAI at Bristol University and what we can do to promote diversity and inclusion in STEM at the student level.
  • 🐶Joyann Boyce was thought-provoking as always with her keynote on "AI as a puppy" - be sure to check out her TED talk!
  • 🌱And Dr. Rachel Dugdale brought such an important perspective from her decades of experience in AI and machine learning - particularly in how we move forward fairly and ethically.



​SPOTLIGHT ON GOAL 2
A COMMITMENT TO INCREASE THE NUMBERS OF WOMEN AT SENIOR LEVELS AND ON THE BOARD
​

Signatory only event - ONLINE
27th November 23, Lunchtime 
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At this event we heard hear from some of our Signatories to explore how they have managed to make progress against this goal. The full recording and advice given is available to all signatories, please get in touch for the detail, or to find out about becoming a signatory.
​
Guest Speaker: Olaide Oboh, Executive Director, Socius
Olaide shared that Socius have the responsibility to create representative voices, real estate is about people, about their lived experience. She focuses on creating partnerships to help make the right decisions and create better places.
Guest Speaker: Laura Calcott, Human Resources Business Partner, National Composites Centre
Laura asked the audidence to consider, what are the barriers for women in your organisation to progress, how do they develop their careers, are they lacking confidence. Then her and other managers work together to renove these barriers including in coaching and training.
Guest Speaker: Charlotte Whitaker, Partner, Dispute Resolution team, Burges Salmon. Charlotte has over 13 years 
Burges Salmon are very supportive of balancing work and family life, with a focus on flexibility. Her job is demanding but because of that there is a two way approach, works both ways, gets flexibility in response. 


PUBLIC EVENT - WOMEN IN BUSINESS SERIES, LAUNCH EVENT
RECRUITING FOR DIFFERENCE - 20th Sept 23


Panel one: Professional panel of experts on recruiting for difference - Senior leaders from TLT, University of Bristol, Babassa, Hargreaves Lansdown and Gritty Talent.

Panel Two - Those with lived experience of intersectionality and who have experienced barriers to the workplace
Representatives from: University of Bristol, Babbasa, TLT, MOD, Bristol City Council, Hargreaves Lansdown, Burges Salmon.

Our lived experience panel shared their advice and insight into areas including: race & ethnicity, gender, disability, LGBTQ+, neurodiversity.
  • Recruiting for Difference - not just the right thing to do, but makes business sense." Nina Searle from our hosts TLT LLP shared advice that has helped TLT to accelerate the pace of change business on their gender equality journey.
  • Sangeetha Wynter from Babbasa shared the disappointing statistic that #Bristol is the 7th worst city in the country for racial equality.

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Annual impa​ct - Public event - April 2022

​In April, we launched our Annual Impact Report, with an event focusing on the amazing work carried out by the Charter and its Signatories in the past 12 months. Featuring an all male panel (a first at our events), we discussed the importance of allyship in addressing gender equality.
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  • Dr Caroline McKinnon from University of Bristol joined our professional panel. Caroline is working with staff at the university to improve the diagnosis rate and offer them the support that they need, whilst recognising that no two people are the same.
  • Karen Cooke from Hargreaves Lansdown has been doing some great work with The Women's Work Lab to help women who have been on benefits long term back into the workplace. She joined our Professional Panel to share some insights on how the scheme has worked.​

​Signatory exclusive event - goal one
flexible and part time working

We discussed how we can promote part-time and flexible working successfully within our Signatories businesses. We were joined by 3 speakers talk through the challenges, experience and opportunities for women who want to work flexibly and/or in reduced hours roles - particuarly in senior roles.
  • Susan Durbin - Professor of Employment Studies/Human Resource Management, UWE
  • Harriet Kirkpatrick Co founder, TRIA
  • ​Hannah Newmarch Deputy Director LCI, UWE​​

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​public event - october 2022
​The Untapped talent pool

At our first face to face public event after the pandemic, we heard from existing Charter signatories and other guest speakers about how to address the gender bias in the workforce and how to make your business a truly gender equal work place.


JOIN THE CHARTER
"Access to the Bristol Women in Business Charter events and community has allowed us to continue to develop our understanding of good practice, to hold conversations with clients and other stakeholders about what that means and what our priorities are."
​
BURGES SALMON, PROGRESS REPORT
Contact us: [email protected]
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​REGISTRATION NUMBER: 12516760 
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