Despite living in an ever-changing, modern feminist age, young women of today very frequently still feel discriminated against due to stigmas surrounding gender in the workplace. And this is supported by shocking figures: in the UK, only 30% of leadership positions were held by women in 2023. However, the Power of Women Campaign (PoW) plans to change that, as taught in their outstanding networking session that took place on 18th January at local education establishment Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College (QE) in Darlington.

 

Founded and based in Teesside, PoW champions successful businesswomen in the North East and strives to inspire girls to believe in themselves by presenting them with role models that they can relate and look up to. The networking event held earlier this month at QE contained a panel of around 20 influential women with careers in a variety of typically male-dominated fields - including accounting, law, policing, engineering and marketing. As an attendee of the session, I found the stories of every individual uplifting; it allowed me to visualise myself achieving their amazing levels of success in the future because they all had a similar upbringing to myself, as well as many other female students in attendance. 

 

The session (organised by QE’s Media Studies course leader Jodie Freeman) involved several tasks, with a focus on the teaching of ‘the 3 C’s in networking’ : confidence, curiosity, and building connections - the combination of all three elements helping the students to develop their skills in networking. One of the tasks was called ‘Networking Bingo’ during which everyone had to make their way around the conference room with a bingo card of prompts to check off after using it in a conversation with somebody, the aim being for everyone to introduce themselves to new people. Another of the day’s educational networking tasks was a more intimate Q&A session with each member of the all-female panel - this task I particularly enjoyed participating in as it encouraged me to push myself out of my comfort zone to ask specific questions and receive feedback on my networking skills from the women I was interviewing. 

 

One of the key messages preached during the session by chairwoman of the event Claire Preston was that PoW strives to lift the barriers on girls’ views of themselves due to where they live, and this was very passionately supported by everyone in attendance. In fact, when speaking to the college’s participants to find out what they gained from the experience I got to hear from one young woman who found this teaching highly inspirational; Grace Gayle is a 2nd year student at QE who told me that it was great to get an understanding of networking - “All of the women who came were so helpful and inspiring, and I feel grateful to the organisation for working towards better vocational futures for local girls like me.”

 

Overall, it is safe to assume that the PoW networking event was a hit amongst all participants (students and panel-members alike) due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback that was exchanged afterwards. One of the central teachings I personally took from the experience was to always be authentic and confident in yourself, no matter where you come from.