This International Women’s Day on 8th March, we recognise the incredible women contributing to the textile industry. From textile testers, auditors, quality control experts, and those working in a variety of roles in the sector, women are at the forefront of progress within the textile industry.
At Shirley® & BTTG®, our colleagues are helping to ensure the quality, safety, and sustainability of products we rely on every day, and we celebrate them. We’d like to thank them for their efforts and commitment to our mission of creating a textile industry of higher quality, safety and sustainability. We are grateful for their leadership, diligence, and unwavering commitment to excellence which shapes our success. This International Women’s Day, we don’t just celebrate their achievements, but also the strength and brilliance they bring to our teams across the globe.
This Year’s International Women’s Day theme is Accelerate Action, bringing light to the calculation that ‘it will take until 2158 to reach full gender parity if we continue at our current rate’ according to the International Women’s Day organisation and the World Economic Forum. Additional to women’s personal lives, professional spaces are another core area which can significantly impact this statistic.
At Shirley® BTTG®, we’re committed to sustaining a workplace that fosters growth, equality, and opportunity for women in the textile testing, auditing and certification sector. It is without question that diversity is paramount to driving innovation and we continue to commit to supporting this as an organisation. The International Women’s Day organisation identify various actions which help to accelerate action, which we also support through our practices:
- forging women's economic empowerment
- recruiting, retaining and developing diverse talent
- supporting women and girls into leadership, decision-making, business and STEM
- designing and building infrastructure meeting the needs of women and girls
- providing women and girls with access to quality education and training
- addressing further areas supporting the advancement of women and girls
Additional to providing nurturing workplaces, we help to ensure them elsewhere through the OEKO-TEX® STeP Certification which Shirley audits globally. This certification sets the highest standards for social and environmental aspects of textile and leather production, additional to industrial laundries. This certification reflects a strong commitment to social responsibility, quality management, and health and safety, amongst other key aspects. It highlights the importance of fostering healthy and supporting work environments for all individuals, with attention to regulations that recognise and empower women.
Let’s continue to support and empower women in the workplace, this IWD and every day 💪.
