Business For Good

Championing women’s rights, IWD moderator Sonya Lennon discusses her motivation

By Business & Finance
07 March 2022
Pictured (from l-r): Sonya Lennon, Founder ofWorkEqual, Eimear Redmond, One4all Rewards Field Sales Manager and Angela Smith, CEO of WorkEqual

Irish charity WorkEqual will host a diverse line-up of speakers for an online event, ‘Examining Bias – Perspectives on Progress’, on Tuesday, 8th March, at 11.00am.

WorkEqual is calling on companies across Ireland to join the event to help further the conversation around gender and intersectional bias, with a focus on developing solutions to empower progress for all. To register for the IWD event please click here. To further support WorkEqual please donate here. 

Pictured (from l-r): David Monaghan, Deputy Editor, Business & Finance; Angela Smith, CEO of WorkEqual; Sonya Lennon, Founder ofWorkEqual; Lewize Mc Auley Crother, Founder ExitEntry and Eimear Redmond, One4all Rewards Field Sales Manager

The event, which is being produced in partnership with Business & Finance and sponsored by One4all, will be hosted by broadcaster, entrepreneur and founder of WorkEqual, Sonya Lennon. She spoke to us about her motivation to champion women’s rights:

“I believe in fairness, some of my toughest childhood memories involve me being misrepresented, undermined or dismissed.I sometimes wonder if it was that emotional pain that led me to chart my own course through life, as a commercial pirate or entrepreneur if you prefer.

I was healthy and bright and sociable. I had only one perceived career weakness, I was a woman.

In so doing, at every point, I made my own decisions, created my own cultures and, to the best of my ability, treated others as I would have wished to be treated, with respect and dignity. Who doesn’t want that?

I was a loved child in a loving family. Value was placed on my education and on me as an individual. I was healthy and bright and sociable. I had only one perceived career weakness, I was a woman. It didn’t bother me, it didn’t bother my people, I was engaged in a career of fashion, music videos, commercial styling, I was exactly who my sector expected me to be.

At Work Equal, we are working towards an Ireland that is immeasurably better socially and economically because women are treated with equity and respect in our workplaces.

It was only through engagement with thousands of women through Work Equal and the research that I have immersed myself in, that I now understand that not all environments are as welcoming to women. Whether that woman is a carer or a lawyer, deep systemic issues exist that preclude her from meeting her potential.

At Work Equal, we are working towards an Ireland that is immeasurably better socially and economically because women are treated with equity and respect in our workplaces.

We support individual women to succeed at job interviews and beyond and we advocate for cultural and policy change in our businesses and legislation. If you want to be part of the creation of a fairer and more equitable Ireland for everyone, join us for our International Women’s Day event on March 8th. This year’s theme is breaking the biases, biases we all hold.

How do we challenge our own biases and the biases of others, how do we respectfully challenge unawareness of bias and build together a better place for everyone to work, live and thrive?

Some extraordinary guests share their experiences and insights, tips and take out to help you and your company. Oh, and by way, in so doing, you also help our clients to move towards economic independence, for them and the next generation”