Leading by example

Building on the momentum from previous events, the London, Southern and Eastern Section joined hands with the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group for an insightful Women in Gas gathering at the Holiday Inn Bloomsbury, London.

The afternoon began with a round of teas and coffees before being seated for a packed session. First up, attendees heard from long-standing IGEM member Shirley Course as she shared details of IGEM’s partnership with the Women’s Utilities Network (WUN) and the benefits of joining.

The room then heard an introduction to IGEM’s EDI Advisory Group and the aims and objectives it has for the year ahead from IGEM’s EDI Lead Stacey Churchill.

She also covered some of the labels women often are named with, how we can overcome this and how allyship is crucial in today’s world.

It was then time to hear from Hannah Jewison, Business Sustainability Lead at Northern Gas Networks (NGN) on its Women’s Community and the journey it has taken to get to where it is today.

She started off by sharing some statistics on women leaders in the industry including:

• 16% of executive board roles in the UK energy sector are held by women
• 76 of the top 80 energy companies in the UK have a male CEO
• 10% is the average gender pay gap in the GDNs in the UK

Hannah then shared some figures from within Northern Gas Networks community:

• 82% of the workforce are male
• 27% of the senior team are female
• 3.6% of staff work part time

She went on to discuss NGN’s approach to inclusion across the workforce. They began by creating Colleague Communities in 2021 which have only grown and evolved over the past four years.

The Communities include a women’s group, a LGBTQIA+ group, a carers and parents group, a DisABILITY group and an ethnic minority group which all meet regularly to identify issues, discuss solutions and agree actions to solve challenges.

Hannah also shared the impact these Communities have had on individuals, the lessons they have learnt and the actions they have planned for the future.

Following Hannah’s presentation, attendees then took part in a safe to speak up session which allowed for group conversations on anonymous questions submitted by those in attendance.

The session also sparked some thought-provoking points, topics and notes for future presentations and events. The room then had ample opportunity for networking and sharing further thoughts with each other.

You can book your place at the next Women in Gas event on 23 June in Newport, Wales now which addresses imposter syndrome, allyship and breaking down barriers.