To celebrate #InternationalWomensDay on March 8th, the ladies from Action Renewables attended a celebratory ‘Women in Renewables’ event hosted by Renewable NI in Belfast.
As a team we are fortunate to have three ladies within Action Renewables who have worked for the organisation for 15+ years, and the other five ladies have decades of experience from other industry sectors, bringing a wealth of knowledge and qualifications to the team.
The Women in Renewables event took place at Ten Square hotel with around 100 women taking part, and an all female line up of guest speakers: Ruth Forbes (Shoosmiths), Louise Cullen (BBC Agriculture and Environment Correspondent), Tamasin Fraser (UK Director, ABO Wind), Niamh Kenny (Project Director, North Channel Wind) and Sara Tinsley (Planning and Environmental Consents Manager, Energia).
Some great topics were discussed along with the challenges women face not only within the renewables sector but in general as a female in employment. Some of the key obstacles put forward by attendees were unequal opportunities followed by credibility, flexibility, equality of pay and prominence within their organisations.
The morning concluded with lunch and networking, and an opportunity to share feedback with organisers.
The Action Renewables ladies thoroughly enjoyed this event, and were delighted to have been part of it and have shared their thoughts below:
“I thoroughly enjoyed todays event, I thought the speakers were very knowledgeable and created an open platform for further round table discussions. I enjoyed the opportunity to network with other similar women that work in renewables especially on International Women’s Day. It was interesting discussing the gender pay gap and diversity in the workplace amongst peers. I would definitely attend this event in the future’.
“A very inspiring event, it was great to have the opportunity to network with like minded professional women”.
“I really enjoyed getting a chance to interact with women in leadership positions from a wide variety of sectors and look forward to future events. I believe it’s important to keep highlighting the importance of gender equality across our industry and beyond.”
“Very inspirational and encouraging to meet up with the exceptional women in our industry”.
“It was great to see so many women from different backgrounds to come together to empower one other”.
“Great to attend an event of this kind in Belfast, meeting new connections within the renewables sector, identifying key issues, and helping to grow and support each other”.
The team are looking forward to utilising the connections made today, along with new opportunities to come together in the months ahead. A big Thank you to Renewable NI for creating such a great event.