Firm-wide participation in this important focus was immense during our growth period where we saw the steering committee grow from 5 people in 2011 to over 60 people in 2017 and participation at events regularly exceeding 100.
EYWN hosts events throughout the year on changing current themes from humbly beginning with one annual event around International Women’s Day (IWD) to hosting over 25 annual events in 2016/2017 including the Flagship IWD, monthly lunch & learns, some focused on Level 1&2s only, client networking events and our annual holiday event.
The events aim to inspire, connect and develop all professionals with a focus on gender parity related topics. Themes in the past have included:
As we approach the start of 2018 and reflect on what the EYWN has achieved to date, it is clear that we have heavily contributed to change within EY overall in terms of fostering greater focus on D&I at all levels across the firm from assistants to senior management. Our input has been influential in establishing the firm’s D&I strategy which included the launch of three new networks to compliment EYWN and Unity including the International, Disability and Mental Health networks.
With D&I at the forefront of EY, the EYWN will continue to evolve and refocus goals for 2018 and beyond. Our plans include putting more emphasis on bigger impact events and winding down monthly events which were successful in raising awareness and combating unconscious bias. Our future goals will be dually focused on providing the tools women and men need to be successful as well as progressing the gender parity approach in business through connecting, inspiring and offering development opportunities. We are so excited to continue to grow and play a part in accelerating the rate of change towards gender parity.
