Spring is finally here and we've survived the Beast from the East and the frantic deadlines that can come with the financial year end. The extreme weather in March certainly stopped many of us in our tracks, at least for a bit, but also saw many reaching out to help which brought us together in new ways.
March was also Women's History Month, and I was privileged to celebrate International Women's Day at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, hosted by the Scottish Women's Convention. It was wonderful to be amongst such a diverse and phenomenal group of women. #PressforProgress was the theme for IWD2018, and, for me, this should be focus across the spectrum of equalities and human rights. The words of Martin Luther King Jr resonate so strongly in these times: " Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
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Less inspiring perhaps, but necessary, is falling in line with
GDPR. We've taken stock of our own approach to handling personal data, as well as reflecting on how this impacts on the use of equality data. Equality data certainly has been used effectively to quantify the true
extent of the gender pay gap
, nearly 50 years since the introduction of the Equality Pay Act in 1970.
And finally, Arc of Inclusion is founded on the principle of collaborating to harness our strengths. This Spring has also seen wonderful collaborations developing with a focus on accessibility and adventure.
