The world celebrated International Women’s Day on Monday 8 March. This International Women's Day we wanted to take the opportunity to celebrate all the amazing women at NELFT and across the NHS, where women make up 78% of the workforce. This year's theme was #ChooseToChallenge, and both men and women were encouraged to show commitment to choose to challenge gender inequality in all its forms to help forge a more inclusive world.

Here at NELFT, the day was marked with an event organised by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team and The Women’s Network to highlight NELFT’s commitment to gender equality and to celebrate, inspire and champion the rights of women.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Phil Newman, said: “On behalf of the EDI team, we want to thank the many people who attended our International Women’s Day event! We have no doubt it made a difference to the many people in the audience, as it will to those who watch the recording. Personally, being new to NELFT, it was a pleasure to be part of such an insightful, engaging, uplifting and informative event and we look forward to seeing you all again soon.”

The event included a panel discussion and presentations on Women Leadership Development and the Women Mental Health Programmes that are available to staff, information on the work conducted by our staff networks and a number of interactive activities including a mindfulness session, a quiz and a baking tutorial.

NELFT Equality and Diversity Manager, Harjit K Bansal, said: “The NELFT workforce is 82.4% have identified themselves as women, about 36% of the board are women and 1.4% of our women have said they’re gay women. My reason for sharing this data is to make sure that our policies and procedures and our processes are fit for purpose for our workforce and that our services are accessible and take into consideration the health inequality's agenda when redesigning or remodelling services.”

Sarah, who took part in the event provided this feedback: “I thoroughly enjoyed the mindfulness session and book suggestions. The conversation that was held during the panel debate was of great importance. In addition, I particularly appreciated the explanation about the provision for flexible working and confirmation that NELFT is working towards becoming a Working Families employer.”