International Women's Day 2024

#InspireInclusion

Professor Rachel Ashworth, Dean of Cardiff Business School writes: “The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day theme - Inspire Inclusion - prompts us to imagine a gender equal world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination; a world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. However, the five-year analysis summarised by Chwarae Teg in their latest State of the Nation Report shows us that we still have plenty of work to do to achieve these goals.

While we have made some good progress, women continue to earn less than men, are less likely to be in work, and are more likely to be out of the labour market due to caring responsibilities. Having shouldered significant caring responsibilities during the pandemic, women now find themselves at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, particularly ethnic minority women, disabled women, and women on low incomes.

Staff and students at Cardiff Business School remain committed to promoting equality as part of our Public Value purpose which means working internally and externally to develop economies, societies, and communities that are inclusive, fair, and sustainable.”

Here are some examples of the public value research conducted by women at Cardiff Business School:

Disability rights

Professor Debbie Foster researches the lived experiences of disabled people in the labour market.

In 2023 she was named as one of 100 Changemakers by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales and was also nationally recognised in the Disability Power 100 as one of the 100 most influential disabled people in the UK.

She is recognised for her work as Co-Chair of the Welsh Government's Disability Rights Taskforce, which was set up in response to the 'Locked out: liberating disabled people's lives and rights in Wales beyond COVID-19' report co-produced by Professor Foster. The outcome of the Taskforce is a new 10 year Disability Rights Action Plan for Wales, which will be co-produced by disabled people and Welsh Government.

The Gender Pay Gap

Suzanna Nesom, a doctoral student at Cardiff Business School, is an applied microeconomist interested in spatial and gender inequality. Her research focuses on regional differences in the Gender Pay Gap in Britain.

She previously worked on Welsh Government’s Gender Equality Review with Chwarae Teg.

Read Suzanna’s recent feature on ‘Five insights into why the Gender Pay Gap varies across areas within Britain’.

Sustainable accounting and finance

Professor Jill Atkins’ main research area is the role of institutional investors in enhancing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices in companies they buy shares in and hold in their portfolios.

She also researches accounting and finance for biodiversity protection and nature restoration. As part of this, she developed the concept of ‘extinction accounting’ which provides a framework for organisations to report on how they are protecting biodiversity and preventing species extinctions in their business activities.

Delve into Professor Atkins’ recent feature, where she unpacks her public value research area.

Consumption and influencers

Dr Rebecca Mardon studies consumption through a sociocultural lens, focusing on how digital technologies can transform consumption practices and impact consumers' wider identities, relationships, and well-being.

Her current research projects explore:

• How notions of ownership and sharing are influenced by digital technologies.
• Social media influencers' evolving relationships with their followers
• The occurence and persistence of seemingly irrational conflictual behaviours within online consumer collectives, and markets more widely.

Alongside Professor Kate Daunt, she has written for The Conversation about her research into social media influencers: 'Why you might start to hate the influencers you once loved' and 'How online beauty gurus get followers to trust them by posting negative reviews.'

Public value procurement

Professor Jane Lynch is the Director of the Centre of Public Value Procurement at Cardiff Business School and has expertise in public procurement, social value, innovation in procurement, and supply chain collaboration.

She recently won Individual of the Year at The Government Opportunities (GO) Awards Wales 2023, the leading public procurement excellence awards.

Professor Lynch was featured in episode 3 of The Power of Public Value podcast, discussing sustainable procurement for future generations.