Women 100 Female Leadership and Influence Strategic Forum

WIBF President, Vivienne Artz attended a celebration in honour of the 100th anniversary of Women being able to enrol in the British Armed Forces

“I was delighted to participate in a thought provoking event, with some amazing speakers and panellists, on 13 December at Sandhurst to mark the 100 year Anniversary of Women being able to be formally enrolled in the British Armed Forces. Women’s involvement in the Army has evolved from the formation of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1917, to women being involved in all aspects of the Army in 2017, including front line forces, an amazing journey.

Major General Paul Nanson CBE and Commandant of RMAS hosted an impressive event which included a keynote address by Dany Cotton, the first female London Fire Commissioner. Dany is one of the highest ranking firefighters in Europe, and is tackling bias on many levels. One of these initiatives is to encourage more inclusive and accurate language such as “firefighter” rather than “fireman””, in the same way we use “police officer”. Women form just 7% of today’s firefighters, and have been part of the force for 30 years over the LFB’s 150 year history.

I had the pleasure of co-facilitating a workshop with Brigadier Sharon Nesmith, Head of Manning for the Army, on the topic of influencing organisational culture, behaviours and policy. We learnt about how different organisations successfully and unsuccessfully tackle change, specifically changes to ensure more balanced gender diversity. This includes identifying what driver will encourage change, which varies between organisations. I was amazed to learn about the broad the range of careers available in the Army, and we also touched on the need to better communicate the breadth and depth of opportunities, particularly to younger generations, who may perceive a career in the Armed Services as solely a front line role.

The content and company drawn from a very broad range of sectors made for fruitful exchanges of ideas and experiences, and all too soon the day was over, leaving us with a sense that we had only just begun to scratch the surface of so many important topics.

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