International Women’s Day

How have Midcounties been involved with Women of Wolverhampton?

Back in 2021, we provided the group a grant of £2,000 towards sessions that involve women from white working class, Asian, African, Caribbean backgrounds and refugee/asylum seekers. The impact of covid has greatly affected the lives of many and for women to have a safe non-judgmental space to come together to talk about their emotions, challenges and mental health. With drop-in group sessions on a number of themes each week, it allows an opportunity for women to get together in a safe and comfortable environment to chat and to take part in a range of activities.

What is International Women’s Day (IWD)?

International Women’s Day (IWD) has been marked since 1911 to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the world. It also aims to raise awareness of gender equality and lobby for change.

Building inclusive workplaces where women can thrive is one of IWD’s core missions and Midcounties is committed to supporting this mission as part of our DOES values.

How Midcounties is supporting colleagues

• Our Agile Working Policy supports all colleagues in working flexibly, enabling you to effectively balance your work and home life commitments. You can view the policy here.

• We are reviewing the barriers to female progression across all trading groups, but especially Food Retail, to see how we can address them. 

• We have updated our recruitment processes and interview questions to remove bias as far as possible, and we are now working with recruitment partners who share our values of inclusivity and equality, which has led to more females being shortlisted for senior roles. 

• The Career Framework has been introduced to ensure fair pay across the Society and raise awareness of opportunities for career progression.