It’s International Women's Day, and we're joining the campaign to uplift and celebrate the women in our business.
International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on 8 March. It celebrates women's social, economic, cultural and political achievements with the goal of ending discrimination.
The first International Women’s Day was honoured in 1911- a time before women in the UK could even vote.
This year's theme is #EmbraceEquity which aims to get the world talking about why equal opportunities aren't enough - true inclusion and belonging need equitable action.
So what is equity? Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the specific resources and opportunities needed to achieve an equal outcome.
A great example of this within South East Water is our Environmental Performance Managers, Mandy Billett and Anna Harris, who currently job share their role.
Mandy said: "Thanks to South East Water accepting our proposal to job share, we are fortunate to have a good balance between work and other commitments.
"Thanks to South East Water accepting our proposal to job share, we are fortunate to have a good balance between work and other commitments.
"Anna and I both work very hard on our working days, but when we are not working, we don't need to consciously think about work at all, as we know that our job share partner will be capable of looking after everything.
This has made us happier at work and home and healthier in mind and body! That said – while we might not actively think about work on our days off, sometimes that's when the best ideas come, which we can implement when we are back in."
Anna said: "As Mandy has said, our job share is a great example where we have continued in our management role with flexible working.
"We work hard to fulfil the demands of a challenging role, with a team of eight managing environmental risks for engineering and operational works across the South East Water catchment while maintaining our work-life balance.
"We're both fully committed and motivated with varied experience to bring to the role, feel fortunate to continue our careers in this way and are keen advocates to be role models across the industry and South East Water to others who would be interested in job sharing."
Last year 57 per cent of South East Water's recruits and 66 per cent of our new apprentices in the company were women.
We're working hard to show that the water industry is an environment where women can flourish in our workplace. Whether it be Engineering, Environment or Customer Services, we take many opportunities to improve the gender balance.
Share this Article: