International Women’s Day 2025: Essex Business School and Essex Startups Joint event. Key Learning Points

About IWD

International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific. It is a global call to action.

On the 28th February, I received an email correspondence through the Essex Business School mailing list. The email originated from Maria Hudson, Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Director of Equality Diversity and Inclusion, Essex Business School. The email contained an invitation to attend an IWD event to be jointly organized by Essex Business School and Essex Startups. It promised to have a great panel of speakers. The event was scheduled to be held on 5th March 2025 at the Essex Business School, Colchester Campus. It was open to all University students and staff. No need to sign up, just show up.

On the 5th March, I arrived at the event venue at 12:55pm. The great panel of speakers were already sitting up front on the podium; smiling and waiting for the event to commence. There was refreshments for everyone (pizzas with drinks to go). The theme of the event was: “How to harness a better life-work balance, and what this means as a 21st century woman”. At first glance, I felt there was an error in the word arrangement of “life-work” balance. I was more familiar with term “work-life balance” and not the other way around. When conversations commenced with the panellists, it became clear that there was no error; “life-work” balance was intended in that order.

So who were the panel of speakers?

The great panel of speakers included:

• Dr Christina Ferreira (Senior Lecturer in Management & Marketing, Essex Business School)
• Dr Ritta Husted (Coach and Senior Lecturer in Essex Pathways)
• Cami Valenzuela (Entrepreneur and founder of Belingual — and an Essex alumni)
• Emma Swan (Founder and Director of Thrive Safe)

And of course the Panel Chair: Dr Maria Hudson (Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, EBS)

Key Learning points from the event.

Life-Work balance can be shaped by culture (social or organisational).

Conversations arising from the panellists gave a clear indication that life-work balance is first shaped by our personal perspectives and world view. One of the panellists explained how she was accustomed to prioritizing work over life due to her initial socialization within South American work culture where work was a hustle and bustle to get so much done with no time to rest. Whereas, when she moved to the United Kingdom, she observed that people prioritized rest and wellness over excessive work. In this case, South American work culture influenced her initial perception of life-work balance until she moved to the UK and had a unlearn and learn to intentionally set boundaries around work in order prioritize rest and wellness. She noted that life-work balance was better in the UK compared to South America.

On the other hand, another panellist who lived in a country in Northern Europe before moving to the United Kingdom shared how organizations in that country were pro-employee wellness. She explained that organizations in the country she resided would set work policies that prioritize life-work balance and wellness and further encourage employees to utilize those programs and opportunities whenever they need it. However, when she arrived in the United Kingdom, contrary to her liberal European life-work balance; she had a more conservative work-life experience in the United Kingdom.

The consensus of the panellists was that organizations should go beyond just setting policies that support life-work balance; but also take a positive stance that encourages people to prioritize their wellness and take time off, go on paternity leave etc. The current trend is that employees are aware that life-work balance policies exist; but they are too afraid to utilize them for fear of prejudice.

Have a personal definition of REST that resonates with YOU and works for YOU.

Conversations amongst the panel speakers indicated that the idea of rest is socially constructed as laziness; hence people are under pressure to keep working in order to be productive.

However, Rest must be an intentional action where a person takes a pause from the work grind to relax and rejuvenate. There’s a temptation to keep working until stress and burnout. A system of Rest must be incorporated in your life in order to rest periodically whether we feel tired or not.

Some useful tips

• Practice restful activities that may not always involve lying down and doing nothing. Taking a walk with the dogs, meeting friends to catch up etc are equally relaxing activities.
• Enjoy the mundane things of life like washing dishes if it helps you relax. Don’t feel selfish about resting. Instead switch your mindset to see rest as Self focusing 🧘‍♀️ not Selfish.

Explore Experimentation

• Don’t be afraid to experiment with your career path. Be intentional about taking stock of your major career highlights and lowlights and record them for posterity. This will prevent you from drifting through your career space without any personal track of your career journey. Be introspective and keep track of what you are doing on the job periodically.

• Take responsibility for managing your career. Your line manager will not do it for you. Once you have reached your career peak of satisfaction, don’t be afraid to pivot and experiment other career paths.
• Have a growth mindset with a “win or learn” attitude to your career matters. Do a regular audit of your life to check what is working, what needs to be deleted, or what you need to start doing.
• Be an excellent quitter. This means quit habits and circumstances that does not serve good purposes or enrich your life.

Conclusion

Being a 21st century woman managing life, work, family, pets, relationships, hobbies etc is a lot of work. There are so many demands, expectations and challenges.

Always remember that you cannot pour from an empty cup. If you are physically or emotionally drained, it will reflect negatively in your output. Hence, you must prioritize being restful, healthy and well in order to meet up the demands and expectations of a 21st century woman.

Focus on yourself in order to deliver your best to others.

Written by Celine OV, EBS Research Student, University of Essex