Celebrating International Women’s Day And The Value Of Mentoring

For International Women’s Day, Gemma Morgan, Senior HR business partner, People & Culture at BCD Meetings & Events, reflects on this year’s theme, Give to Gain, and creating workplaces where women can thrive.

International Women’s Day gives us a moment to ask ourselves what kind of workplace we’re really building. This year’s theme, Give to Gain feels different. It’s a reminder that progress doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when people choose to share what they know, open doors for others and build systems that make opportunity possible.

For those of us working in people teams, that message lands with particular weight. We sit at the intersection of people, policy and culture and see the gaps that hold women back, but we also see the extraordinary potential that’s unlocked when those gaps are closed.

For years, mentorship has been treated as a nice to have for women, something that sits politely on the edges of career development. Anyone who has ever benefited from a great mentor knows how transformational it can be. Mentorship offers insight, confidence and perspective.

The knowledge harnessed through mentorship is often the decisive factor in career acceleration, yet it remains unevenly distributed. Working in the People & Culture team at BCD Meetings & Events means I’m able to help shape that access. When mentorship is done with intention, it delivers real results.

Give to Gain doesn’t stop at mentorship. Women’s careers are shaped by life stages that workplaces have historically ignored or minimised. Parenthood, menopause, fertility journeys, and more are defining chapters in women’s lives. If we want workplaces that genuinely reflect the breadth of talent available, we have to design for these realities rather than expecting women to quietly navigate them alone.

If this year’s theme leaves us with anything, it is the understanding that progress doesn’t come from one big moment. It comes from many people choosing, in small ways, to help someone else move forward. And that is something worth carrying long after International Women’s Day.

 

Written by Gemma Morgan, Senior HR business partner at BCD M&E