It's time to celebrate! Today is International Women’s Day! Some of my friends from Thompsons were at the Scottish Parliament on Saturday at the Scottish Women’s Convention Conference. Thompsons sponsored the Evening Reception which celebrated 100 years of International Women’s Day. Speakers at the event were Trish Godman MSP, Agnes Tolmie, Chair of the Scottish Women’s convention, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, The Rt Hon Elish Angiolini QC, Lord Advocate, Annabel Goldie MSP, Elaine C Smith and Cathy Peattie MSP.
International Women's Day is celebrated the world over to recognise the achievements of women in political, social and working fields. In some countries such as China, Russia and Vietnam, International Women's Day is even a national holiday!
The Scottish Women's Convention was set up by the Scottish Executive in 2003 and it works to develop ways in which to ensure women in Scotland can influence the strategies and policies which affect them. It provides a means of communication for women from all backgrounds and has a network of over 300,000 women in business, churches, trade unions and voluntary organizations.
Thompsons works with trade unions to ensure that women are equal within workplaces through, for one example, pursing equal pay claims. The Equality Act 2010 means that equal pay claims can now also spread to the private sector as well as the public sector.
