North West Women and Work Task Force

Background

The North West Women and Work Task Force was set up by the North West Regional Development Agency ( NWDA ) and 4NorthWest ( 4NW ) to investigate the barriers to women achieving higher levels of leadership positions across all sectors in the North West of England in 2010.

Over a ten month period the Task Force set out to understand the current position; to examine the economic case for greater diversity at senior leadership levels and to identify practical recommendations for change.

Our Interventions

Infrastruct established and serviced the Task Force, including:

Research – examining new and existing evidence
A survey North West: Best for Women? completed by 300 people
Focus groups for female engineers, academics and young women
Speakers for each meeting
A final report

This report was the combined result of evidence from academic research carried out by Infrastruct with the experience of companies and business leaders in the North West. It also included the responses of 40 organisations in the North West who gave their views on the Task Force recommendations.

Outcome

The Task Force recommended that North West companies and public / third sector organisations should aim for at least thirty per cent of their leaders to be women within three years – or explain what steps they had taken towards this target.

The Task Force was convinced that there is a compelling economic case for diverse senior leadership teams. Female executive talent is currently neglected in the North West, which is damaging for organisations, for the economy and for society at large.

Fact File:
Service:	Consultancy
Client:	NWDA & 4NorthWest
Location:	North West Region
Length of Project:	10 months
End date:	2010

For more pictures see the gallery

“We are not advocating tokenism, rather a range of practical measures which remove the barriers to female progression and create a more even playing field for talented women.”

Chair of the Task Force Vanda Murray