International Women’s Day 2022 – 8th March 2022
#BreaktheBias
Women’s Enterprise Scotland have created a video for school-age young people, celebrating women’s achievements, championing role-models and to tackle bias that prevents young women and girls from pursuing entrepreneurship.
Today, despite 51% of business start-ups being women-led (Business Gateway Report 2019 – 2020) only 14% of Scotland’s employer -businesses are women-owned (Small Business Survey Scotland 2019).This gender gap is a detriment, not only to women, but to the economy as a whole. Up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as UK men (Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship 2018).
The video was created by Katie Birrell, a young member of the WES team following a request from a teacher at a local Primary School. Featuring role-model WES Ambassadors and other supporters of WES, the video discusses the following key themes:
- Why is International Women’s Day important?
- What you are celebrating this International Women’s Day?
- What has helped you become the successful woman you are today?
Some of those featured in the video felt daunted speaking out on video for the first time, yet were compelled to step forward to try to make a difference. We are hugely inspired by their words and the work of Katie in gaining the skills to edit the recordings and create this 10 minute video herself.
So please help us to share the video as far as we can between us all – to local schools, contacts of contacts of local schools, organisations working with young people and young people in our own families and friendship groups. Between us all we can dismantle some enduring inequalities, broaden the horizons of young women and girls and change the landscape in Scotland and the world beyond.
Watch the video below and please feel free to share the message and the video with your networks.