Editorial

An inspirational afternoon

The first Treasury Today Women in Treasury Lunch was held in London on Thursday 31^st October. Our pioneering Women in Treasury initiative was launched in January of this year and continues to grow in ambition. In the project’s first year we have profiled leading women in the industry, launched a study into the professional experiences of these women and now hosted our first Women in Treasury event.

The aim of Women in Treasury is to support, inspire and raise the profile of women in our industry. Now with the Women in Treasury Lunch we have also succeeded in bringing these women together and facilitating networking and a support structure. Only by understanding the challenges women face in our industry and highlighting them can we start to push for change and get rid of some of the barriers. Networking is such a key ingredient for a successful career and it was fantastic to see so many of the women that attended speaking with one another, sharing stories and debating the findings of our Women in Treasury study.

More than 150 women gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel in London for the exclusive release of the Women in Treasury study results. Then our panellists; Maeve Robinson, Assistant Treasurer, Omnicom Group; Marie-Astrid Dubois, Assistant Treasurer, Honeywell; Jenny Knott, CEO, Standard Bank and Pam Walkden, Group Treasurer, Standard Chartered Bank were part of a discussion that focused on four key themes that emerged from the study:

1. Job satisfaction.
2. Equality.
3. Mentoring.
4. Vive la différence.

The panel group and subsequent open question and answer session revealed some galvanising, alarming and inspiring truths and clearly support our feeling that platforms like Women in Treasury are vital if we wish to see equality in our industry.

A summary of the results from the study together with pictures and in-depth commentary from the Lunch will be published in the January 2014 edition of both Treasury Today and Treasury Today Asia.

We would like to thank all those women who took part and attended our inaugural event and would like to invite all other women in the industry who are interested or intrigued by the initiative to take part in our future events.