Meat industry leaders pledge gender equality
Industry leaders representing nine businesses across the meat processing, retail and foodservice supply chain have agreed that more progress is needed to improve gender inclusion within the sector.
The group came together at a recent round-table forum organised by the Meat Business Women trade organisation.
Laura Ryan of Meat Business Women, said: “Reflecting on the headlines from our 2023 industry research on gender representation, collectively we agreed more can be done. It’s clear the meat industry lags behind other sectors with women only making up 33.5% of the workforce, down from 36% in 2020.
“It is heartening to see such ambition and commitment from senior leaders on how we tackle this important issue. We outlined next steps to develop actionable industry-wide initiatives to increase gender representation.”
She added: “There were some great examples shared and discussed among those present, highlighting where we can take learnings from other sectors and programmes.”
Emily Deer, director at Newton Europe who are partnering with Meat Business Women on this initiative, said: “Meat Business Women has inspired us all to reflect on our own experiences, share our insights and consider how we might better work together across the industry on some actions that put gender diversity front and centre. Ahead of International Women’s Day, it was encouraging to develop meaningful opportunities to expedite gender equity across all meat sector businesses.”
Pictured in the image above are…
Seated left to right: Andy Dawkins, CEO, Avara Foods; Katharine Haenelt, MD, OSI Europe; Laura Ryan, Founder and Global Chair, Meat Business Women; Bob Carnell, CEO, ABP UK; Laura Henderson, Supply Chain Director, McDonald’s UK & Ireland.
Stood left to right: Niall Browne, CEO, Dawn Meats Group; Ross Eggleton, Group Operations Manufacturing Director, Morrisons; Jean-Marc Spanhero, Food Service Business Unit Director, Pilgrims Europe; Emily Deer, Director, Newton Europe; Brian Farrell, CEO, Kepak Foods; and Ash Amirahmadi, CEO, Sofina Foods Europe.
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