London mayor Sadiq Khan launches initiative to get more women into leadership roles

The mayor of London Sadiq Khan has today launched an initiative that aims to get more women into leadership positions.

Called ‘our time: supporting future leaders’, the scheme aims to address the gender imbalance in leadership roles and bridge the gender pay gap.

It will work by pairing potential future female leaders with senior staff champions who will introduce them to their networks and help provide the opportunities and contacts needed to progress in the workplace.

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Organisations in the public sector such as Transport for London (TfL) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) and private sector organisations such as Westfield have committed to the scheme.

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Khan said: “It is shameful that in 2018 women remain under-represented at all levels of government and leadership roles. As a proud feminist, I want London to be a shining light in the fight for gender equality. This is why we are launching ‘our time’ to support more women into leadership positions in the capital.”

Westfield Europe human resources director Una O’Reilly said: “Westfield is committed to introducing the programme to support our existing diversity and inclusion strategies to deliver long-term change and make this an issue of the past for future generations.”

Research by the Fawcett Society shows that men dominate positions of power across every sector in society,

Women make up just six of the 100 FTSE chief executives, 26 per cent of cabinet ministers and 32 per cent of council chief executives.