Women Mean Business: What are the real roadblocks to women's success? Follow the Telegraph's summit live
Women Mean Business: Why the Telegraph has launched the campaign
Penny Mordaunt : If we all reach our potential, our nation will too
Mary Portas: 'Alpha male culture isn't working - we need to rip up the workplace'
Christine Armstrong: The working parent myth - and what we're all really thinking
Salary secrets: How a negotiation coach asks for a pay rise Work-life balance advice from Britain's leading businesswomen
Panel: Closing the gender gap
Our next session, hosted by Telegraph feature's director Victoria Harper looks at what is driving the gender pay gap.
Changing the perception and image of women in the workplace
The social conditioning of what makes for successful traits in business
Closing the gender pay gap
Speakers: Avril Palmer-Baunack, executive chairman, BCA
Vanessa Vallely OBE, founder, WeAreTheCity
Sarah Churchman OBE, Chief Inclusion, Community and Wellbeing Officer, PwC
Wies Bratby, Women in Negotiation
Moderator: Victoria Harper, features director, The Telegraph
Twitter is abuzz with #WomenMeanBusiness
We have had dozens of tweets so far this morning. Here are just a few. Keep using the #WomenMeanBusiness Hashtag.
Wonderful opening session @Telegraph#womenmeanbusiness overwhelming evidence that there is still so much to be done by women for women. But, let’s not forget the positive role men play along the way.
— Sam Smith (@realsamsm1th) October 31, 2018
Arrived just in time to hear @nualawalsh01 and panel kindly sharing the message that we all suffer from impostor syndrome, regardless of gender and position @TelB2BEvents#WomenMeanBusinesspic.twitter.com/chnAzsNJyt
— Jacana Bresson (@JacanaJade) October 31, 2018
Our CEO @arappoport with the #incredible@clarebalding at #WomenMeanBusiness@The@Telegraph. Clare was part of a brilliant panel discussing " How work needs to start working for Women" pic.twitter.com/10SYqPDlXK
— emoquo (@emoquo) October 31, 2018
Sexual harassment in the workplace
Devika Wood, the founder of Vida Care has opened up about her experiences of sexual harassment. Members of the audience audibly gasped as the 28-year-old told her stories.
Devika Wood: "I have imposter syndrome. I saw Clare Balding, Mary Portas earlier and now on this panel, I feel like an imposter.
"Today, I put a dress and heels on for the first time because I am used to making myself feel and look less attractive.
"I was put in sexually compromising positions by shareholders. I was told that I could take someone’s money if I did something in return. I have friends who have been in exactly the same situation. I am so passionate about what I’m going to do, but I shouldn’t have to do that to get it.
"I had a domestic abuse relationship when I was 18/19 and had no confidence in myself. I found it very hard to address men in a boardroom."
Michael Cole-Fontayn: "The privilege of being able to mentor is making sure that you are able to understand some of the issues being faced. What Devika demonstrated is that she is stepping up to her own power. The point about being as early as possible in the journey to help young women declare ambition and say ‘It's ok to want to be in the boardroom’."
What can workplaces do to benefit women?
Nuala Walsh:"It's time to give people reasons to incentivise this change."
Brenda Trenowden: "I look at organisations where women are more empowered by being more successful and the leaders always prioritise this to make it happen.
Men tend to be oversponsored compared to women. Women don’t have as many natural sponsors, that’s to say people putting them forward and praising them in group scenarios."
The next panel: What are the real roadblocks to women's success?
Exit strategies: knowing if/when to leave the corporate/entrepreneurial world
What initiatives can be introduced to benefit women?
Is moving away really moving forward?
Speakers: Devika Wood, founder, Vida Care
Nuala Walsh, vice chair, UN Women
Michael Cole-Fontayn, independent chairman, Association for Financial Markets in Europe
Brenda Trenowden CBE, global chair, 30% Club and Head of FIG Europe ANZ
Moderator: Julia Llewelyn Smith, journalist, The Telegraph
Jill Pay talks about her time in the House of Commons
Jill Pay: "As luck would have it, I read a copy of the Daily Telegraph and saw the advert for Serjent at Arms at the House of Commons. Every person who had the job before me was in the military, and the one that wasn't, was a diplomat. I was down to the last two in January 2008 and the other person was a Brigadier, so they had a choice to make."
"One of the highlights of my time there was the visit of Nelson Mandela to address Parliament.
"The day Nelson Mandela made the address, at about 6:00am, a tall grey-haired man in a tracksuit jogged up to a policeman and asked if he could have a look inside parliament. The policeman said: 'I'm very sorry sir, we've got a huge event here today, there's no way you can get in."
The man then said: "I know about the event, I'm Nelson Mandela." He was duly let in to have a look around and then jogged back to his hotel.
"He made a very different entrance at 11am for the speech."
For 650 years it was a position held by a man. But in 2008 Jill Pay became the first female non military sergeant at Arms at the House of Commons - smashing through that glass ceiling #WomenMeanBusinesspic.twitter.com/X5CpIInOGD
— Francesca James (@FrankieJ4m3s) October 31, 2018
Julie Baker, from NatWest speaks to Jill Pay about becoming the first female and non-military Serjeant at Arms at the House of Commons.
Julie Baker, Head of Enterprise & Community Finance at NatWest speaks to Jill Pay about how she broke the glass ceiling to become the first female and non-military Serjeant at Arms at the House of Commons.
Through Pink Shoe network Jill has also been supporting women achieve their ambitions and leads on the development of the UK Economic Blueprint for Women, designed to stimulate the growth of women-owned businesses.
Flexible working
Question around flexible working and unconscious bias.
Dame Helena Morrissey: "We need to move to this idea that it's not how many hours you work. You want to pay a person for doing their job. We look at law firms who get paid by the hour, but you could be paying for incompetence."
Clare Balding: "It's important to make it desirable to be like that."
Natalie Cummins: "We did a big survey in our agency and their was overwhelming support at every level for flexible working. The least enthusiastic were line managers running big groups of people. I think it's really important that if you do move to a flexible working model, everyone has to embrace it, it's not optional."
@maryportas making eloquent case for humanity in the workplace. ‘If someone has a face on ask yourself why, what’s going on with them.’ The power of goddess, love it! #WomenMeanBusiness@TelB2BEventspic.twitter.com/8IqhikVZX8
— Jane Fordham (@Fordiham) October 31, 2018
Questions from the floor
Question: At a junior level, sometimes it feels like the only option is to lean in and not attempting to change the culture. What are your thoughts on that?
Dame Helena Morrissey: "You have more power than you think. People want young pwople to tell them about digital and about young people's consumer trends. You need allies. You can't do it by yourself."
Mary Portas: "Use the power of a group and go to a boss together saying 'this isn't working, this is what we'd like to change'."
"Women allowed to be strong doesn't just happen. It happens because you're empowered by other women" Clare Balding, BT Sports @TelB2BEvents#Womenmeanbusiness@clarebalding@UKRI_Newspic.twitter.com/bMv6tMe3uP
— Innovate UK (@innovateuk) October 31, 2018
Mary Portas: "You look at what Philip Green has done - this is just hierarchical power."
Dame Helena Morrissey: "There isn't a certain formula for being successful. I think that's a great opportunity. It's about inclusivity. "
Clare Balding: "When I first started in the media industry there was definitely a fear that they would only have one woman on this show. So basically I'll need to kill you or it'll be me.
"We have generally rewarded aggressive behaviour. I think one of the things we need to introduce into all media is the 360 review. Jimmy Savile wouldn't have happened if there had been that.
Mary Portas: (who has introduced the 360 review in her business) "You just behave better.
"You look at what Philip Green has done - this is just hierarchical power. The idea that 'I am not accountable to anyone.' Someone at Arcadia should have said 'Why don't we change the culture here so everyone is accountable?'
"It's time to put the Power of Goddess at the centre. If we do that we get into the seats of power. If I was the BBC I'd stop the Apprentice because that's the antithesis of all this.
Natalie Cummins: “We are giving coaching women to park the lean in attitude - you don’t need to be pushy and aggressive to get ahead.”
How Work Needs to start working for women
Our first panel is addressing the following points:
Why the 9 to 5 isn’t working
Are the challenges facing men and women really so different?
Is helping women in the workplace hindering men?
Are women their own worst enemy?
Speakers: Mary Portas, founder and executive creative director, Portas
Dame Helena Morrissey, head of personal investing, Legal & General Investment Management
Clare Balding, broadcaster, BT Sport
Natalie Cummins, chief executive officer, Zenith Media
Moderator: Claire Cohen, associate features editor, women's editor, The Telegraph
"Don't tell working women about logistics"
The Rt Hon. Penny Mordaunt has hailed the Telegraph's Women Mean Business event as being "really important". Mordaunt said the business world should look to working mothers to learn something about natural entrepreneurship.
"Don't tell working women about logistics or procurement," she said. "Don't tell these people about hard work. These entrepreneurial mothers are the invention of necessity and I want them to thrive.
"I wish our great business schools would spend more time studying them."
Mordaunt hailed a new era for women in the workplace where they should no longer have to endure being "patronised and at worse being assaulted by a generation of men that elevated confidence to entitlement".
Penny Mordaunt, International Development Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities
"This is a really important event. We could have £95bn added to UK economy by 2025" if we address the inequalities in men and women starting businesses.
"We talk about entrepreneurship because its always a choice. These people don't do it to appear on the front cover of Forbes or fortune magazine. They do it because they have to.
"The fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the US is black women. They run 2.4 million businesses. And which group has the least access to capital? Yes, you guessed it."
Inspiration opening address from @PennyMordaunt ‘don’t ask a single mum juggling work if she knows anything about logistics’, good point! �� #WomenMeanBusinesspic.twitter.com/sBhsKMB2CA
— Toddle Born Wild Skin care (@ToddleBornWild) October 31, 2018
The Chair's welcome
Telegraph Managing editor Jo Morrell is on the stage and opening the summit.
"Today, together, we will examine issues through interviews, panel sessions and seminars. We will look at glass ceilings, ageism, the start up funding gap, male allies in the workplace and making the workplace work better."
Jo introduces Penny Mordaunt.
On the agenda
Today we have a jam-packed schedule of business leaders, leading female voices and Telegraph journalists talking about a range of subjects including 'What are the real roadblocks to women's success?' 'Is the focus on women holding men back?' and 'How to boost the UK economy by investing in female-founded businesses'.
The conference room is starting to fill up...
The calm before the storm: The final touches being added to the main auditorium. #NatWestWIB#WomenMeanBusinesspic.twitter.com/DsTFeVG5x8
— NatWest Business (@NatWestBusiness) October 31, 2018
The Telegraph's campaign so far