Businesswomen Step Up To Share Their Views with Shadow Minister for Women

18/11/2008

Theresa May MP, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Shadow Minister for Women travelled to Yorkshire to consult with members of Forward Ladies.

Theresa May MP, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Shadow Minister for Women travelled to Yorkshire to consult with members of Forward Ladies, the North's fastest growing women’s business support group, on some of the challenges facing women in today’s workplace.

Forward Ladies, which is supported by Yorkshire Forward as part of its commitment to encouraging greater levels of female entrepreneurship in the region, now has over 3000 women on its database.

During the meeting, which was sponsored by The Met Leeds, Theresa listened to the women’s opinions and concerns on key issues including training, work life balance, flexible working, returning to work after a career break and what the future holds for young women entering the business arena. 
 
“We take, seriously, any issues which affect our members and are delighted to have been able to provide some of our experienced businesswomen with a platform to air their views and opinions,” explained Etta Cohen, managing director of Forward Ladies.

Shadow Minister for Women, Theresa May MP, said: “I wanted to come to Leeds and hear directly from businesswomen from across Yorkshire the challenges and issues they face in the workplace day-in day-out. I support the aims of Forward Ladies to encourage greater levels of female entrepreneurship in the region and want to make sure they get the help needed to achieve that.

“I also wanted to talk about my campaign, May for Equal Pay, which I launched just a few weeks ago. Despite it being the 21st Century, men are still getting paid 17.2 per cent more than women. This means that the average woman will lose or forgo a massive £300,000 over her lifetime. Organisations like Forward Ladies help campaign to bridge that gap.”