For businesswomen across the UK, all roads will lead to Reading, when the annual EWIB event is staged on Wednesday, September 27th. This year’s gathering takes place at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, formerly called the Madejski Stadium, which is the home of Reading FC. Last week, the event was given its official launch by the British Franchise Association (BFA).
EWIB, which means ‘Encouraging Women In Business,’ usually attracts a sizeable crowd and the theme for this year’s event is ‘Making your moments count.’ EWIB is open to all women, not just BFA members, and tickets can be purchased via the BFA website. Those wishing to buy a ticket, which costs £135 plus VAT, can do so by going to the BFA website and clicking here.
This year’s action-packed day, that will feature a number of guest speakers, is being jointly-sponsored by McDonald’s Restaurants, Platinum Wave Franchising, The Franchising Centre and Citation. Doors open at 9 am, and will close eight hours later.
The chief executive of the BFA, Pip Wilkins, said: “Some people question the need to have women only events in 2023. However, despite the unequivocal rise of female business owners, including their success in the UK franchise sector, women still lag significantly behind their male colleagues in many areas of business.
“Aside from the well-reported pay gap of 14.9% for women, meaning they effectively work for free for the first 54 days of each year, they are also conspicuous by their absence in senior roles.
“According to a 2022 Government report, only one in three leadership roles, and around 25% of all executive committee roles, are currently held by women. The good news is that nearly 40% of board positions at the UK’s FTSE 100 companies, are now held by women, compared to just 12.5% 10 years ago. This is great news but we mustn’t take our foot off the gas just yet.”
