Ruth Healey is the President of the women’s charity, Soroptimist International Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI).
She has been the President of SIGBI since 2023, but her journey as a Soroptimist started in 1970, when her mother volunteered Ruth to help with her local club.
She officially joined SI Surrey Hills in 2003, and prior to standing for President, Ruth held many roles across the charity, including Club President, Regional President, and Finance Director of SIGBI.
Her grandmother, mother, two aunts and two cousins have also all been Soroptimists, spanning almost the entire centenary, so it’s truly a family affair.
Born in Cardiff, Ruth went on to study Accountancy at The University of Sheffield and is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant.
With her 30 years’ experience in the business world – having worked as a Finance Director for many businesses with turnovers ranging from £500k to £50m – Ruth brings a wealth of professional knowledge and experience to SIGBI and continues to bring meaningful change and innovation to the organisation.
She is passionate about making positive change for women and girls and is incredibly proud of what the charity has achieved over the last 100 years.
And when she’s not volunteering, Ruth enjoys sailing all over the world.
Ruth’s presidency will run until November 2025.
SIGBI has 248 clubs throughout the UK, Ireland, Malta, Asia and the Caribbean – over 200 of which are in the UK – and has a total of 5,150 members.
Gender inequality in the workplace remains a complex issue, too often treated as a sideline, rather than a core part of how companies operate.
While many organisations claim to champion gender equality and diversity, the CMI’s latest survey reveals a concerning shift – 28% of British managers now believe gender diversity is over prioritised. A sharp increase from 20% in 2023.
This growing perception reflects a troubling narrative – that gender equality and diversity are still frequently treated as buzz words.
Too many business leaders feel that nurturing a positive and inclusive culture among employees is a ‘nice to have’, and not a strategic priority. This is especially true when traditional models for growth, profits and operational efficiency dominate the agenda.
Yet, for those of us in business or male-dominated industries, while a supportive gender-inclusive environment is essential to our wellbeing in the workplace, it’s much more than that.
Prioritising gender equality and diversity should be seen as a critical driver of success in business.
The power of equality and equity in the workplace
Let’s start with definitions. Gender equality is defined as ‘all genders having equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities’.
Whereas gender equity is when all genders have equal access and justice in the distribution of their benefits and responsibilities.
Integrating the concepts of gender equality, equity, and wider diversity into business strategy has been shown to be a powerful driver of success.
According to the McKinsey and Co’s ‘Women in Workplace 2024 Study’, companies with the greatest proportion of women on executive committees earned a 47% higher rate of return on investment (ROI) than companies with none.
This is because companies with diverse teams bring a broader range of ideas to the table which, in turn, lead to stronger performance.
So, if championing gender equity, equality and diversity is achieving impressive results, why are business owners overlooking its value?
The Context
When diversity efforts are visible, some may wrongly assume that men are being left behind or that hiring is no longer based on merit. While those concerns may be valid, we still live and interact within a society with an uneven playing field.
Women are more likely to be treated as second-class citizens in the workplace, still, due to a range of factors from pay inequality and leadership bias to their commitments as carers or primary parents.
Women often need more flexible schedules or part-time hours, which can unfairly lead to perceptions that they are less committed or less valuable employees.
These perceptions intensified during the pandemic, when more women than men were furloughed. This was due to valid factors like women’s overrepresentation in hard-hit sectors (hospitality, retail, tourism, personal services) and higher rates of part-time work, as well as less valid ones, including gender bias and outdated stereotypes that cast women as secondary earners.
While, alternatively, remote working offered some flexibility, the lines became blurred between work and home – especially for those with caregiving responsibilities.
For others, remote and flexible working patterns became more isolating, reducing access to mentorship, networking opportunities and visibility required for career progression. Many women were left feeling invisible in their workplace.
82% of women felt their lives had been disrupted because of the pandemic and nearly 70% of those were concerned that their career growth may be limited as a result.
Ultimately, gender inequality in the workplace works like a domino effect. When one barrier appears, others do too.
The risk of complacency
When certain patterns and systems become the norm, complacency sets in at all levels of the workplace. People stop questioning the status quo.
These subtle instances of gender inequality contribute to a larger sense that the workplace is failing to value equity and equality, leaving female employees feeling disheartened and undervalued.
This causes a vicious cycle where women’s performance becomes compromised, developing a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, reaffirming manager’s biased position on gender in the workplace.
From this, processes and hierarchal structures remain unchanged.
One of the CIPD’s recent reports highlighted that nearly one fifth of large employers don’t carry out gender pay gap reporting, despite it being a legal requirement.
This reinforces the message that gender equality is not a priority in the business, signalling to female talent that their contributions are not as important –limiting talent retention and further recruitment.
Overlooking women in the workforce means missing out on innovation, improved productivity and the diverse perspectives businesses require to flourish.
The Solution
When I was working as a finance director in a male-dominated engineering company, I always felt that I had to be better than my counterparts.
Upon reflection, these feelings would have been better considered if I had access to constructive critical performance reviews where biases were left outside the meeting room – easier said than done, but acknowledgement of bias is often the first step.
Another way to combat bias is by integrating a gender impact assessment into business practices. This can identify and address how policies, programmes, or decisions affect people differently based on gender.
It can spot hidden inequalities, promote better decision-making, empower the voices of women, prevent widening gaps, and ultimately drive economic growth.
We are 49.75% of the world and deserve the same opportunities as the other 50.25%.
As a business leader it is crucial to cultivate a support system that recognises how important women are to the success of your company. When women are fully empowered, ideas and fresh thinking accelerates, teams perform better, and businesses thrive for much longer.
