Women leading the way in Grimsby

Pictured (left to right) are Ian Kelly, Amanda Austin, Muriel Barker and Wendy Bowers.

WENDY Bowers (right), a leading board member of British Chambers of Commerce, met this week with some of the Hull & Humber Chamber’s senior female business leaders from the Grimsby area at a lunch at the Kingsway Hotel, Cleethorpes.

Pictured with Wendy are the Chamber’s North East Lincolnshire Area Council Chair Amanda Austin and former Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, Muriel Barker CBE, who was guest of honour at the lunch.

The Chamber’s Area Manager Anne Tate organised the event reflecting the high profile of the Chamber’s women’s business networking groups in Grimsby and the opportunity it afforded to link into national policymaking on equality and diversity issues.

Chamber leaders noted that Wendy has been specifically tasked by the British Chambers of Commerce national President Nora Senior to pull together ideas for a new Government White Paper on equality and diversity which the Government hopes will support women entrepreneurs and business leaders thrive in the workplace going forward.

Key issues discussed at the Cleethorpes meeting included childcare costs and flexibility options, changing attitudes and cultures to women in leadership positions and the emerging opportunities available in certain professions and skills areas.

Token man at the lunch, Chamber Chief Executive Ian Kelly, was delighted that Wendy got such good feedback from her visit and that the town’s iconic first female Leader of the Council, Muriel Barker CBE, was able to join the lunch and look back on her own pioneering work on these issues.