All women deserve a future with equal rights and opportunities. This International Women’s Day, we celebrate gender and equality for all women and girls around the world. The 2021 campaign theme is #ChooseToChallenge, challenging inequality and calling out gender bias. In the UK up until about 60 years ago, it was unusual to see women working in anything other than domestic roles and that all changed because people chose to challenge stereotypes. It’s amazing to see how much has changed in this short period of time and it’s important that we all unite to work towards a sustainable future, equally led by women sitting at all the tables where decisions are being made.
At RK we choose to challenge inequality, because we believe that gender should not equate to disadvantage, and we choose to celebrate our success in gender equality. We strive to build an inclusive workplace, for all women to feel comfortable and safe, and be the best they can at what they do. There are equal opportunities for everyone to progress within our teams. We have strict harassment policies which is where we #ChooseToChallenge one of the biggest issues for women in the workplace. We have increasing visibility of women creatives and we have women in leading positions. We take pride in celebrating that our People, Recruitment and Marketing functions are female led, and 50% of our head office are women. The teams in our restaurants are currently 50% women too which we continually strive to expand.
Here’s what some of our amazing women have to say about Women’s Day #ChooseToChallege:
Sacha, People Director – Choosing to challenge means calling out gender bias and stereotypes that damage the hospitality industry and block women from seeing the industry as a place to develop and flourish.
Natalia, Team Manager – I say hard ‘no’ to women objectification or to use gender stereotypes in language and action in the real life or in social media. In the workplace I cannot see any gender inequality, we have females in high, different positions at work.
Megan, Recruitment and Training Manager – Choosing to challenge means women should never let their fears prevent them from pursuing their dream and standing up for what’s right!
Sara, General Manager – If you do not choose to challenge things will never change.
International Women’s Day is not only a celebration of women, but also a movement, which is guided by values of justice, dignity, hope, equality, collaboration, tenacity, appreciation, respect, empathy and forgiveness. We love what we do, but more importantly we love to do it alongside our sisters, upholding these values and we love to see successful women thriving in RK team structures. In the words of Maya Angelo, “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it”.
by Ellie Udin – Team Manager at Rum Kitchen Shoreditch
