WiP’s stated aim – To encourage networking and mutual support among women – has probably been its richest gift . WiP created life-long friendships. Networking and training meant help freely given and a platform for self-development and advancement.
At a more radical level, WiP helped form identities, validate these and instil values. Most experienced the confidence that comes from being part of a sisterhood.
At a professional level, WiP’s aim To promote the status of women within publishing was reflected in those members who went on to become divisional directors and c.e.os; others set up their own businesses or branched out into other areas.
Yet the gender pay gap, while diminishing, is still unacceptably high in a business sector where women are by far the most numerous. And for many reasons – some personal, some societal, some unacceptable – the majority of senior roles are filled by men and not women.
Backlash and backsliding and shifting external politics mean that our work is never finished. The price of equality is eternal vigilance.