THE GENDER pay gap still needs to be addressed says a Warwickshire businesswomen.
Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, was the guest speaker at its Women in Business Networking Lunch.
Around 60 businesswomen from the region attended a networking lunch in Stratford on International Women’s Day whose theme this year was ‘break the bias’.
Louise said there had been much positive progress for women in business throughout her career – but more could be done.
She said: “We are making progress in terms of equality and one noticeable difference is the number of women who hold non-executive director roles.
“Ten years ago, the number of non-executive directors who were women was 12 per cent and there is now about a 40 per cent representation on the boards of national companies.
“Where we need to make progress is the gender pay gap because there is still a 15 or 16 per cent difference compared to men and women carrying out the same jobs.
“In Coventry and Warwickshire, we continue to champion our women in business and many of our key businesses or organisations are led by women.”
She listed a number of women at the helm of key organisations including chair of Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership Sarah Windrum, leader of Warwickshire County Council Izzi Seccombe and its chief executive Monica Fogarty among others.
She added: “We really are passionate about female leaders in the chambers across the UK and we are fortunate to have a strong female leadership, but there is still work to be done for women in business at all levels.”
