International Women's Day Special 2023 - Rachel Weaven

To celebrate International Women's Day, we interviewed some influential women to share with you all about why IWD is important to them.

What’s your name? Rachel Weaven 

What’s your profession? HR consultant 

What’s your business? face2faceHR 

Where is this business? Swindon 

What does #embracequity mean to you? For me, it’s about ensuring that companies include everyone regardless of the background they may have or any protected characteristics they may have to ensure that everyone is given access to all opportunities within the organisation and society. 

Protected characteristics are: 

• Age,  
• Disability,  
• Gender reassignment,  
• Marriage and civil partnership,  
• Pregnancy and maternity,  
• Race,  
• Religion or belief,  
• Sex, and sexual orientation. 

In which of these areas do you support women?: I support women in Women & Work/Business and Women and Health because I still feel that in some industries women are not taken as seriously at senior levels and this really frustrates me. We bring a different dynamic to the table, different views and experiences. In some places there is still a stigma about women taking maternity leave and that seems to be a blocker when going for promotions etc. On top of all of that we then have the menopause to deal with and some workplaces are not equipped to support their staff, a lot of this is lack of understanding and can be a scary topic to broach for fear of saying the wrong thing. I want to be there to support businesses with this so they can see the value of looking after women on maternity and going through menopause.  

I’ve also been bullied in the workplace. I didn’t realise at the time as it was very subtle but consistent. I did things differently to how the company worked, I hadn’t worked just there so had the “outsider” label which is hard to cut through, everything was questioned that I wanted to do. This resulted eventually in me burning out. It made me not want to do HR anymore. Now I want to support women coming into HR that might be more heart led as the resilience you need to manage the situations you come across can be hard if you are not prepared and I don’t want them to go through what I did. 

Which women have inspired you over the last year generally?  In world of celebrity, a lady that I have always been in awe of is P!nk because she is true to herself and the messages she puts out there, not only her daughter but to her fans, is about being true to yourself and you don’t have to conform to society and the rules that it puts on women. 

Taz Thornton is another lady who has come into my world in this last year and totally turned it upside down but for all the right reason. She has made me look at things differently, challenged me in ways that I would have run from and for that I can’t thank her enough. An awesome business women and friend. 

Which local women have inspired you in the last year? Local women that have inspired me are Fiona Scott and Samantha Jayne. I look up to both of them as business women and I love their authenticity. What you see is what you get with both of them and I really admire and respect that. They have both supported me and offered advice which has been invaluable and I class them both as friends and I know I can turn to them if needed. 

What do you think are the biggest issues facing women this year and beyond? Being taken seriously as business women and not “playing” at running a business. This isn’t saying everyone thinks like this because they don’t and I know a lot of successful women. However, there is still a stigma out there that we should either be home running the house, or if we are in work making the tea and notetaking and therefore not worthy of the pay that we rightly deserve. 

Why do you think it's important to have an International Women's Day? There are some amazing ladies doing some incredible things and it’s a great day to shout about it and recognise that both professionally and personally I would not have got where I am today if it wasn’t for these incredible women I have in my life.
 

To find out more about Rachel Weaven visit https://face2facehr.com/consultants/hr-consultant-swindon/