City Women’s Network celebrates 30 years of history

City Women’s Network, based in London, has been celebrating its 30th anniversary in style.

In the past year we have held five special events, which have been interesting, successful and fun. We have addressed serious issues regarding women’s progress in business and behaviour in the boardroom. We have been stimulated by the success stories of women making it to the top. And we have had the opportunity to make new friends.

We have gone to bed late and risen early: we held two ‘grand’ dinners and one breakfast- time discussion. We have explored new venues: we went to the House of Lords, to the Mansion House (the Lord Mayor’s home), to an ancient livery hall in the City and a modern office block south of the Thames.

We have been helped by fantastic speakers, including Cherie Blair, wife of the former prime minister; leading business men and women, including the then chairman of HBOS (which was being taken over by Lloyds TSB), the current chairman of Royal Mail, the chief executive of easyJet (the airline), the Vice President of the CBI, which styles itself as the voice of industry, a senior head hunter and the chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association. At the House of Lords last month we enjoyed listening to a peer, one Dame, one woman who has had no less than 26 non-executive directorships and who is one of our founders, Joni Nelson, who came from Philadelphia especially for the event. They all had long-standing connections with CWN.

Joni reminded us of how CWN started. A group of mostly American bankers, appalled by what they were experiencing in London in the 1970s, were looking for mutual support from their peers and hit upon the idea of an informal association, which in time became formalised as CWN. At first, some joined surreptitiously, not wanting to alert their employers to their involvement, and asked for letters about forthcoming events to go to their homes. Some were even afraid of circulars being sent home. Fortunately times have changed.

Women are on quoted company boards, but not as many as we would like. They run businesses, charities and government organisations. Women are successful in many walks of life. There have been many improvements in the last 30 years. But again and again we have heard it is not easy to succeed. More needs to be done to ensure that more women can use their talents fully.

Why did our anniversary programme succeed? With the help of our patron, Janet Gaymer, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, we drew up a marvellous schedule of events. We shared our contact books to make sure that we invited the best speakers. And we started planning two years ago. We formed a committee of three to organise this programme of events, which ran alongside our other events, and they proved both dedicated and generous with their time. We marketed the events to other networks, to friends and colleagues. Above all, we invested huge amounts of energy. We were fortunate too in attracting sponsorship—even in these economically challenging times—from Merrill Lynch, BT Group, Manches and others. This meant that the whole programme was sure to produce a surplus even after covering the cost of one free event.

What are the benefits of holding an anniversary programme of this kind? It has given us confidence about organising ‘seriously interesting’ events, and attracting large numbers. (One of our anniversary events drew 180 bookings; our membership is only 150!) We have raised CWN’s profile, with press coverage in the Financial Times and other publications and on websites. This may be helping us to recruit more members. We have formed strong links with other networks, which we will build on further. We have also raised money for good causes; a project in Laos and Wellbeing for Women, a women’s health charity. This was an unforeseen but welcome outcome.

We are now thinking about how to build on this record. We are considering holding another big event next year, using the experience we have gained. Whatever we decide we will hold true to CWN’s 30-year old mission of providing mutual support and encouragement. CWN is proud of its past and can look forward to the future with increased confidence. Clare Dobie, 1 May 2009

About Clare Dobie

Clare Dobie is President of City Women’s Network. She runs a marketing consultancy for City firms, Braxted Marketing Measures, having been previously Global Head of Marketing at GAM, an asset manager, and before that, a Managing Director at Barclays Global Investors, one of the largest asset managers in the world. Until 1993, she was a financial journalist working at the BBC, Investors Chronicle, The Times and Independent, where she was City Editor. She is also a non-executive director of a hospital, a charity trustee and a charity volunteer.

Print Print this page