Academy to experiment with new times as Airmic seeks to boost female attendance at meetings.

Airmic Academy is going to arrange some of its workshops so that they start later in the morning to see if this encourages a greater turn-out among female members.

Last month, Airmic News revealed that women are significantly under-represented at many association events. Although around 40% of the membership is female, just 21% of attendees at the annual conference and annual lecture are women. The figure for Academy sessions is 28%, still on the low side.

Some people have speculated that women are put off attending male-dominated meetings, such that the imbalance remains self-sustaining. However, others have suggested that timing may be the key.

Claire Combes, Head of Risk and Internal Audit at Intu Properties plc emailed:  “An interesting article in Airmic news regarding women.  One thing worth thinking about is that, for a large number of families, women still take on the primary childcare duties.  This may mean leaving work promptly and therefore events out of core working hours are harder to attend.”

“The gender deficit at our events is something that we are actively considering,” says Membership Manager Georgina Wainwright. “Airmic has an exceptionally high level of member participation for both genders, but we would naturally like to see the benefits shared equally.”

If you have any views on this subject, please email the editor at mark.baylis@airmic.co.uk