There were lots of reasons One Loud Voice For Women was set up. The most important was an acknowledgment that women can best effect change by working together. We are called ‘Voices For Women’ – with an emphasis on the word for – because we know that achieving equality and bringing about change in the workplace requires men’s voices and corporate voices too.
As an organisation we are, sadly, more – not less – relevant, in 2024 than when we were founded seven years ago. At no time in recent months has this been clearer than when the greengrocer turned MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace delivered his verdict on ‘middle class women of a certain age’. It was language thick with resentment and hate, designed to put those pesky women in their place by dismissing them out of hand as troublemakers. It was supposed to be cutting and damning. It was delivered through a social post where only he got to speak, and where he got to choose to end the conversation. Both the language of defence and the actions around them – taking away any right of response – are all too familiar in workplaces across the UK.
Wallace’s diatribe is missing the point, of course. The point is that the very claims he is lashing out against are that he was in a position of power, and that he chose to abuse that power by making sexual comments that made women feel uncomfortable, powerless and voiceless. If that proves to be the case, it is an unsavoury mix of sexism, misogyny and bullying.
The backlash against Wallace has rightly been fierce. But social media has also been filled with people asking ‘why didn’t these women come forward earlier, particularly if they were broadcasters and had a platform from which to speak?’ These people are also missing the point. Too often women don’t feel they can speak up, they don’t think they will be listened to or taken seriously. They certainly don’t think that they have a voice.
Let's bring this back to 1LV and our aim to help women in the workplace at every point in their career: we hear stories where power has been abused and where women don’t feel they can speak up, again, and again. These stories take place in workplaces around the country. They happen to women of all ages, classes, ethnicities and seniority. And the reason so few women speak up, is because for the small club of men who still believe they rule the world, and certainly that they rule their corporate fiefdoms, these women don’t just risk a highly vocal putdown. They face their own conduct being scrutinised. They also risk their careers and ultimately their reputations.
Even if they succeed in speaking up against bad behaviour, theirs is often a pyrrhic victory and they find that they are quietly side lined or moved out of the company at the next corporate reshuffle.
This is the reason 1LV exists. To give voice to women in the workplace who don’t think they have a voice. To give women confidence to stand up for themselves and for other women. To give a platform to air issues. To amplify voices – male and female – and ultimately bring about change. So, bring on the ‘middle class women of a certain age’ – they are the fearless ones, they are the changemakers, the risk takers, and the role models for the generations that follow.
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