International Women’s Day: Empowering Female Voices and Experiences

Today we commemorate International Women’s Day (IWD) 2024. Marked annually on 8 March, this is an opportunity for us to come together to celebrate women’s accomplishments, raise awareness about discrimination, and act towards achieving gender equality.  

As part of our celebration of IWD this year, we are shining a spotlight on three remarkable female employees – Tina, Mary, and Desiree – who are key to our organisation.  

The two themes of IWD this year are Inspire Inclusion and Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress. Let’s hear from Tina, Mary, and Desiree on what these themes mean to them:

Tina Economou, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer

How do you believe investing in women can lead to positive change in society/the workplace?

Women bring different perspectives, skillsets and different ways of thinking and collaborating. If women can see investment is being made in their development and success, they may be inspired to look at different opportunities as well because they can see that it’s possible. I believe that’s really important.  

Investing in women will create a space for more role models which can help young women and their confidence when entering the workplace or selecting a career they may otherwise shy away from.  

Can you share an example of how someone invested in you, and how this impacted your career or inspired you?

This is going back probably 20 years – to put into some kind of context – I was really interested in working in a team that was extremely male dominated. The General Manager at the time was discouraging and said they wouldn’t normally consider young women in this space. My direct manager on the other hand, took the opportunity to ask me what I wanted to achieve in my career, and invested his time in me by putting together a development plan. 

He knew I was super passionate about working in a sales role in the high-end production space, and he made sure I had the support and training needed to upskill me to not only be ready apply for the role but to succeed too. This kind of mentoring helped me hugely and elevated me as a woman in this space, which wasn’t very common. Now, I think about this often – specifically how I can pay it forward to support and encourage equal opportunities for women. 

Do you believe you’ve had to work harder than male colleagues to advance in your career? What obstacles have you faced?

When I applied for a management role, I did have to work harder than my male counterparts. I went through four rounds of interviews before I was offered the role, whereas I know that my male counterparts didn’t have to go through as many hoops. It was an important role in the business, so the management team wanted to make sure they got it right, but I always felt that I had to prove myself.  It’s kind of an inherent feeling that we as women have to perform better, even if there isn’t somebody overtly saying that. 

I think the key learnings for me were always back yourself and put your hat in the ring, the worse thing somebody can do is say no, right? 

How do you think we can better support women in our industry?

For me this comes back down to the opportunities available and making them more obvious. Often women will hesitate to apply for a role in a male dominated industry, so I think there are ways we could change this. For example, in job descriptions, how can we be more neutral, less rigid.  How can we offer more flexibility in terms of childcare and development that would appeal to women and look at ways to address stereotypes and biases in our organisations.  

I believe investing in mentorship programmes would be greatly beneficial for women in our industry. Having mentors – not necessarily just other women – to offer guidance, aid confidence and career progression.  I have been fortunate to have had mentors throughout my career, who took an active interest in me and my career.  They included both men and women, from within and outside the industry, that I could bounce ideas off, show vulnerability to and importantly who believed in me and challenged my own bias and thinking to help me grow. 

Desiree Pickles, Service Technician 

How do you believe investing in women can lead to positive change in society/the workplace?

If we invest in women, particularly in male dominated spaces, we’ll provide positive role models for women and girls out there who are looking to break into that space. As a technician, customers are often surprised when I turn up to a job, as they don’t expect a woman technician. I’m hoping that women and girls seeing me out there doing this job, will make them see that they can too if they want to, and they’re not limited in their career options. 

Share an example of how someone invested in you, and how this impacted your career or inspired you?

My colleague at Ricoh has always given me his time and encouragement to help me develop in my role and continues to do so 10 years later. He regularly expresses his confidence in the quality of my work, and I always respond with “that’s because I learned from the best!”  

How can organisations contribute to empowering and supporting women in their roles?

By creating a culture of inclusion where everyone feels respected and valued. 

Mary Cimino, Senior Legal Counsel 

How do you believe investing in women can lead to positive change in society/the workplace?

Investing in women not only promotes diversity and equality, but it also fosters creativity and can improve the overall performance within the organisation as women bring a different mindset. By investing in women equally in terms of education, training, and career advancement we can give them the opportunity to excel. 

Do you believe you've had to work harder than male colleagues to advance in your career? What obstacles have you faced?

Specifically speaking about the legal profession and my personal experience here, I definitely think I’ve had to work harder than male colleagues to advance in my career. It got to a certain point in my career/life as a woman, where it felt like it was either you progress and go to the next level or take a break to have children. I opted to have children. I took two years off work and when I went back, it felt like I started at the beginning, and it has taken me a long time to progress. In the meantime, my male colleagues had also started families but continued their work alongside. They were able to do both and still excel in their careers. I always had to be mindful of my role as a mother as I continued to work the long hours that my male peers were working to be able to keep up – while raising a family. 

How do you think we can better support women in our industry?

In all industries, we can better support women by implementing policies and practices that promote gender equality and inclusivity. I think offering/continuing to offer flexible working arrangements is hugely important. This has given many people, especially women, a much better work-life balance without having to compromise either. 

Tell us about a specific action or initiative you’re taken to inspire inclusion in your workplace or industry.

Through my career and as a leader/manager, I’ve tried to empower and give opportunities to women who may have been overlooked – whether that’s because of their age or experience - or that have had difficulties getting back into the workforce after a break in their career. 

I have also implemented mentoring programmes for the last four years where I’ve taken on a few students each year to work in my team while they’re studying. This gives them valuable experience with the possibility of staying with the company after they’ve got their qualifications. 

Thank you to our wonderful employees for sharing their stories with us this IWD. Supporting our female colleagues is extremely important to us at Ricoh as we recognise that their contributions across all departments are integral to our success. We strive to make them feel valued not just today, but every day.