Make Room for Women on International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day was established because there is disparity in our communities and workplaces with regard to the treatment of women. A day in which we can highlight this and promote awareness also creates opportunities to close the gaps, and work toward complete equality in workplaces and homes.
There is certainly corporate clarity that the best way to achieve workplace equality is through education. Education empowers not only through skills, but also empowers women by giving motivation and confidence.
Education levels the playing field for women. Sitting around a boardroom table, it is often easy for men to feel they have the upper-hand in discussions. Women graduates can take part in these conversations with confidence, their knowledge strong and their opinions relevant.
We have way too often had ladies on the other side of the desk, having left abusive relationships, and now trying to secure work to support themselves. Women who have been in long-term relationships have also often been homemakers, caregivers and babysitters. Suddenly they need to play in the same arena as other women and men in a corporate environment; this (sadly but truly) means they need to have more to offer. The starting point is going to be up-to-date and relevant education.
Women with an education will not be beholden to their romantic partners. They can earn money, support themselves, achieve promotions and consider themselves mobile in terms of job prospects. But what if you have left an abusive relationship and need to still earn your degree? But also need to work? It is essential to find an institution with a flexible approach to Higher Education studies enabling women to continue to work, run a home and get a degree.
Having dealt with students from vastly different backgrounds, Boston endeavoured to make the student experience as smooth and effective as possible. The Boston ecosystem caters to all students, but it enables ease of study for female students even more.
- Women do not need to travel to ‘class’, all lectures are online, creating a safer study journey. And if they are looking after children they do not need to hire babysitters or worse, leave their kids on their own in order to attend class.
- Working women can study any time and any place. (Tessa, one of our degree students who was working full time and looking after twins, finished her BCom in three years, the minimum time possible!)
- The ‘bespoke’ methodology of Boston caters to those who wish to take 5 modules in one semester and 1 in the next semester, allowing for life events to fit into studies.
Women need to find an institution that caters to them in a bespoke way. This in terms of range of qualifications on offer, and the flexibility of when and where to study.
On International Women’s Day we look to boost women. Studies will prepare them for the working world. At Boson, as an example, they will graduate armed with not only the academic skills but also the soft skills that come from the discipline of online learning, and the assertiveness you need to develop to ask your questions, as well as the confidence from being a graduate.
Business and workplace
Boston has a flat organisational culture which seeps through to the students. What this means for students is that all are treated the same, and female students feel as valued as their male counterparts. All organisations should identify and better understand how to attract, develop, and retain female talent at all levels.
On this women’s day, we need to work to close the unconscious discrepancies that have been inculcated in society for both males and females in terms of which gender is better suited for different types of work and thinking. At Boston, we want women to develop their potential beyond cultural and social stereotypes.