SEONA Shand asked me a direct question: “Why do you think more men don’t attend the Women Mean Business events?” before mentioning, by name, three that do … including a certain Richard Corrigan (me).
I can’t speak on behalf of all men of course, but I can give you several reasons why I do - and hazard a guess or two why others don’t.
With my business development hat on, I would never discount any opportunity to network, get in a room with potential customers and build my network.
You might say when it comes to business I am colour, race, gender, religion “blind”. A prospect is a prospect.
My history with Women Mean Business events goes back several years to when I was sales manager at Tiger Tiger.
We were looking to promote the facility as a business event venue and as the Chamber always has high quality events, this was another opportunity to promote and engage. Speaking specifically about events which might benefit my business, I found that most of our customers or our points of contact - for lots of reasons - tended to be female.
Therefore, an event specifically mentioning women in the title was bound to be a target-rich environment. And so it proved to be.
What shouldn’t have surprised me, although it did, was how welcome I was made to feel at these events.
The attendees and organisers would typically comment on my “bravery” and enlightened attitude.
I was just delighted to have a room full of people to talk to ... that’s my happy place.
Now here is the thing, if you are a networker like me you may find that the most difficult thing to do is to try and speak with those you have identified from the delegate list as a “target” and then to get around the room to introduce yourself to “everybody”.
There is never enough time for pure networking.
If there are 80 women at an event and I am the only man, my follow-up calls and emails are easy ”Hi, I was the guy at the event yesterday didn’t get the chance to introduce myself".
If I’m lucky I may even get a mention by Seona as the chair, a la “ladies ... and Richard”!!
But do you know what? I really enjoy the Women Mean Business events and it has nothing to do with “business” per se.
One of the first events I attended had guest speakers including Jeanette Forbes from PSL who had a fascinating tale to tell of how she built up her company from essentially nothing by overcoming huge obstacles including overt sexism and gender bias.
The inspirational element of this event for me was beyond PSL experience.
It was the fact that none of the female colleagues on my table or any others I spoke to that day had knowingly experienced the glass ceiling or had stories to compare with Jeanette's.
All were young professionals under 30 years of age, I guessed.
There are still issues surrounding maternity leave and returning to work and gender pay equality, and there is even an entire department at my current employers BiTC which is focused on the equality agenda. It’s a very big deal .
Getting a balance across all industries of male-female representation is very much a work in progress, however it is inspiring to see where we were, where we are, and as a father of two young girls, who could be astronauts, doctors, hairdressers, stay-at-home mums, or CEOs, I can’t wait to see where we are going.
So why don’t other men attend in greater numbers?
I suspect for some they don’t feel that they would be welcomed. After all its “Women” Mean Business.
I think if they are being honest, some men possibly wonder what they might actually experience at a “women’s” business event.
Will there be bingo, or talk of Jimmy Choos and Louis Vuitton handbags?
Perhaps they think that women are from Venus and men are from Mars?
My best guess is this; for years women have not been given an equal platform in business and most men know this and believe that it’s wrong.
Because we are fathers to daughters and husbands to wives we see the world through that prism.
It’s not fair.
Perhaps a “women’s” event is subconsciously a way of assuaging guilt.
“Isn’t it fantastic that there are events for women without men, I'll not interfere with that then.”
Which is a shame because what they might experience is; a different way of looking at “things”, some inspirational women and men who have tales to tell, barriers to have overcome, and a room full of (at least) 50% of the future business leaders of Scotland.
And as long as the events continue to be held at the Mercure Ardoe House, they are missing out on the most amazing desserts!