Jo Caine – MD of Cathedral Appointments

Website: https://cathedralappointments.co.uk/

International Women’s Day is a day where a true spotlight is shone upon the inequalities women around the globe have faced, and continue to face, daily within the personal and professional lives. It is a time where everyone can, and should, be revisiting and remembering how important it is that, as a society, nation and world, we should be consistently advocating for equality.”

So much has changed in the 20 years I have been working. Two decades ago, equality was still in the early stages of being fought for and now, I have seen huge improvements. More women are seated at top tables and their voices are elevated like never before. However, there is still plenty of work to be done – we’re nowhere near perfect yet.”

Like most sectors, there is still a huge disparity between the number of men at senior level compared to women, most of who are floating between junior ranks and mid-level and feel stuck.”

When asked what do you think helped you get so far in your career? How can we mentor young girls to dream bigger? Caine responded “I just went for it. I always thought to myself, I’m no different to that man over there – we have the same brain and the same skeleton, just because he has different chromosomes doesn’t make him any more worthy than me. I fought the stereotypes and the bias and grabbed the bull by the horns.”

“This is the message we need to instil into young girls. Stereotypes are redundant and damaging. You do not have to act, speak or dress in a certain way to be a successful woman. Break the mould and be proud.”

 

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Be the change you want to see and be the starter of the conversation around equality. The reason some sectors are still heavily male dominated is because no one has stood up and said, ‘I don’t like this; it needs to change’. That person could be you.”

“Have courage. It’ll be hard, you may feel drowned out by bigger voices or may feel that you aren’t taken seriously – but as long as you stick by your guns and just keep your eye on the prize, you’ll excel.”

“Never give up. Whoever you are and whatever change you are fighting for, don’t stop until you’ve got what you set out for. It may feel like your actions are just a drop in the ocean, but if you can advocate and champion change, others will follow. Your drop in the ocean will soon become a huge tidal wave.”