Midcounties Co-op celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March with an event at the Black Country Living Museum, honouring the heroines of co-op history.
The ‘Women in Co-operation’ event celebrated the work of the Bloxwich Women’s Guild, which was founded in 1883 and played a vital role in establishing the co-op movement. Doreen Shaw, 95, who served as its president for over 30 years, was guest of honour.
And former Guild secretary Edna Marshall spoke at the event, alongside co-operative heritage specialist Anne Ransome and young co-operators Daisy Clifford and Emily Sandilands. They discussed the influential role of women in co-op, from the 19th century to the trailblazers of today.
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Midcounties director Olivia Birch said gender balance was important for good governance on the society’s board, and for promoting businesses and mitigating risk.
Fairtrade Fortnight (25th February – 10th March) was also on the agenda; this year’s campaign, ‘She Deserves’, was aimed at helping women in developing countries, such as the Côte D’Ivoire and Guatemala, to earn more than 74p a day – currently the average daily wage.
Related: Women co-operators share their journeys for IWD
Among those attending the event was Jennie Simpson, who earlier this year won a trip of a Fairtrade coffee farm in Guatemala, where she saw how Fairtrade supports farmers in developing countries. A video of Jennie’s experience was shown at the event, which provided insight and prompted discussion of how the co-op movement supports women throughout the global supply chain.
She said: “The Women in Co-operation day brought together women from across the country with a shared commitment to co-operative values, including democracy and equality. Everyone learnt important lessons – on the movement throughout history, and also what else can be done to support women across the supply chain.
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“The presentation on Fairtrade and the ‘She Deserves’ campaign was particularly thought-provoking. Since returning from Guatemala, I’ve been doing everything I can to encourage people to choose Fairtrade, so I was proud to see the video from the trip feature as part of the event.”
Tarra Simmons, general manager for co-operative social responsibility at Midcounties, said: “We wanted to show our support for International Women’s Day and celebrate the hundreds of women that have made co-operative movement what it is today.
“There was a strong feeling of solidarity on the day and we’d like to say a big thank you to all of our speakers that helped to make the day a success.”