International Women’s Day WEN Cafe: Invest in Women

On International Women’s Day 8th March 2024 we were delighted to gather at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff for a special WEN Cafe event. The UN’s IWD theme this year is ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate progress’. With this in mind, we brought together a panel of fantastic speakers representing a variety of industries and sectors including STEM, business, and the arts, all with personal stories about the impact of investing in women.

Attendees networked and mingled over tea and coffee before Deputy Minister for Social Partnership, Hannah Blythyn MS, opened the event with a speech charting her own journey into politics as well as the journeys of other women who have been invested in – such as the mentees from WEN’s first mentoring scheme and now the cross-equalities Equal Power Equal Voice programme.

Following the opening address, WEN Director Victoria Vasey chaired a panel discussion between our three guest speakers. Sadly, National Poet of Wales Hanan Issa was unable to join us on the day, and we send our best wishes to her for a speedy recovery. Anne Collis, co-founder of neurodivergent business network NeuDICE, Abi Emmett, Head of Construction at Welsh National Opera, and Charity Rose, engineering geologist and campaigner, made for an insightful panel that left our audience members feeling motivated and inspired.