Case studies examining gender and race diversity initiatives

International Women’s Day – the Army’s first Women’s Network Conference

In November 2011, the British Army launched its Army Women’s Network (AWN), which has the Chief of the General Staff, Gen Sir Peter Wall KCB CBE ADC Gen, as its Patron.

To celebrate International Women’s Day on Thursday 8 March, the AWN invited members and non-members, female and male, to attend its first conference. The day was opened by Brigadier Nicky Moffat, the highest ranked woman in the army and the only female Brigadier, who was followed by guest speakers including, Donna Halkyard (Head of Diversity & Inclusion at BAE Systems), Lt Col Peter Stradins (Diversity & Inclusion policy for the Army), and the Army’s Opportunity Now Account Manager, Kathryn Nawrockyi.  

International law firm Eversheds continued its annual celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) this year with a focus on celebrating the successful and inspirational women working in the firm’s offices around the world.

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Eversheds is one of the world’s largest law firms.  They are proud to be number one of the top ten law firms in the UK in terms of the number of senior women employed.  A significant factor in the decision of Tyco, a multi-national manufacturer and service provider, to contract provision of legal services out to Eversheds was the legal firms record on diversity.  However Tyco was keen to influence progression of diversity within its supplier organisation and made integral to this contract eight diversity objectives, the delivery of which would lead to the award of a six figure sum.

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Established in the USA over 50 years ago, and entering the UK market in 1994, Enterprise Rent-A-Car provides a car replacement service in local markets at 330 locations throughout the UK. Working in local communities across the UK, Enterprise quickly recognised the value of being a diverse business.  As a result, a one and a half day training package supported by robust accountability measures was developed to deliver extremely high levels of engagement with diversity amongst managers.

motivate: commitment and engagement

Equality and diversity has been part of the ethos at the Open University since its inception in the 1960s.   The Open University is open to people, places, methods and ideas and as such, equality and diversity underpins the founding purpose of the OU, to promote educational opportunity and social justice by providing high-quality university education to all who wish to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.   The OU has long recognised that attracting more women into higher education would be fundamental to achieving this mission and it would lack credibility with potential female students without a gender balance in its academic and support staff. 

The OU has always believed that bringing women into positions of leadership in the University will ensure that the OU’s vision remains central to its activities and that a balance of experiences and leadership styles will improve the strategic decision making. Equality and diversity need to be embedded into decisions about the curriculum, learning, teaching, student support and research at the highest level.  To do this the OU needs the benefits of a diverse leadership team bringing a broad range of different perspectives to these issues. 

Shell, as an established world leader, sees a diverse staff and an inclusive work environment as vital to building relationships and trust – key ingredients to their continued success.

The Home Office is a central government department which is working to build a safe, just and tolerant society.  This case study sets out the business case for diversity at the Home Office, including the drivers, programmes/initiatives, goals and strategy, organizational benefits and the department's future plans.

John Lewis is a retailing Partnership of 65,000 employees, all of whom share in its profit.  This case study sets out the business case for diversity at John Lewis Partnership including drivers, programmes/initiatives, goals & strategy, business benefits and the company's future plans.