DLKW Lowe Asks 'Where Did All the Women Go?'

How much could creative and corporate Britain gain by attracting back some of the talented, experienced and qualified women who leave the workforce every year because the demands of a career and childcare just don’t fit? What happens to them? Why don’t they then come back when the children are older? Where do they go?

A major research initiative has been launched to identify and tackle the answers to these very questions across a broad range of industry sectors. DLKW Lowe is representing the creative industries and exclusively partnering with She’s Back to support the research and is calling for industry women who themselves have taken time off to complete the survey here.

Richard Warren, CEO DLKW Lowe comments, “Here at DLKW Lowe we talk about our creative work truly ‘working in the real world’ so it follows that our agency should reflect modern consumers. We are proud to be working with She’s Back as part of our strategy to take a more progressive approach in this area and build a balanced, diverse workforce.”

Lisa Unwin, founder of She’s Back, the organisation leading the programme, comments: “Businesses across Britain recognise the value in having a diverse workforce and specifically in having a good representation of women at senior levels. And some even set targets to prove they are serious about it, 25% of FTSE Board members to be women by 2015 being one of the most well known. But look around corporate Britain and you will see that whilst there has been progress, it is stubbornly slow”.

Co founder, Deb Khan, adds,  “Gender diversity at leadership levels remains a difficult nut to crack. While one answer is attracting back to work the vast number of women that leave to look after their children, there are currently limited programmes available that help women to get back on the lad- der, and at the right rung. This research survey will identify the actions that women and organisations can take to improve the situation.”

One early contributor added, “You are definitely onto something here. Every woman I’ve spoken to about this has a tale to tell and a frustration about their wasted talents”.

The survey is focused on individual motivations and how, in understanding them, targeted programmes can be developed, which will ultimately improve the rate at which more mature women are able to fulfill their own potential and play active and leading roles in the economy. The survey seeks to answer the questions of what stops these women returning? What support would they require? And most importantly what practical steps could organisations take in order to attract these women back.