International Women’s Day 2023: Embrace Equity.
International women’s day is a day devoted to celebrating the achievements of women and seeking gender equality around the world. This year we are focusing on how we can #EmbraceEquity, which recognises that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
Unibox want to make sure that our team receive the support they need in order to succeed in their careers, regardless of gender.
Women working in manufacturing has decreased by 39.8%, from 1164 in 1997, to 700 in 2022 – with women currently making up only 26% of the manufacturing workforce in the UK. Unibox challenges this by ignoring traditional expectations for what is defined as a male or female role, and opting to include women in all jobs – such as manufacturing
HR Director, Lesley Ward, explains how “representation of females in the workplace is crucial for the continued success of our business”.
Production Team Leader, Janine, has said how important it is for women to be included in manufacturing: “ My daughter is doing mechanics, she knows I can work with men, so she can work with men too, everyone is equal and I want her to know that. I feel no bias here, and I want the same for her”.
When speaking of the 50/50 male to female directors split, she continued to say: they (the directors) are as good as each other, when you meet them at the work dos or in meetings it’s not like it’s a male or a female director, they’re just Lesley or Cliff. There’s no boundaries put between us because of gender, they’re always there for us.
Maria is the Fabrication Supervisor “I was on the drill for 6 weeks in the beginning and I’m still here 10 years later I wouldn’t change anything – I find the men to be incredibly helpful and it has never crossed my mind that they could think we weren’t equal.”
“Some teams haven’t had women in them for a very long time, now we have a few more young women coming in and it’s great to see”
Today is a celebration of equity and inclusion, however, at Unibox we want to continue to make equity the norm through constant change and development.
