Women in Work - Lantra Learner of the Year

Baroness Prosser, vice chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, spoke passionately as keynote speaker at the celebratory dinner held by Lantra to mark the third year of its Women in Work programme. She stressed the historic inequalities that still persist within our society that make career fulfilment more difficult for women employees than men.

It is ironic that women still do not fit well with conventional employment patterns when they have such potential to improve the UK’s performance as a mature economy. My experience as the Chief Executive with the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is that women are excellent team workers and communicate well in busy work places. Our workforce of 40, full and part time, is predominately female, talented, energetic and committed. Employers miss out on huge potential by not modifying work roles to make them women friendly where this is possible.

The Government funded Women in Work sector pathway has enabled Lantra to support over 880 women to access training and mentoring is support of their jobs. Two of my team in Gloucestershire benefited from the support and were very grateful for the support that they received.

The overall winner of Lantra’s Women In Work award was Tracy Guiller who found that training as a forester lifted her depression and resulted in her finding a new job. Tracey’s experience is a great reminder of the importance of mentoring and the value that can accrue when opportunity is fully supported.

"Learning how to fell these massive trees really did something to me. It was as if my depression was felled too. I think the hard physical work in a peaceful woodland and the achievement of passing a difficult course lifted me mentally, emotionally and spiritually."

Tracey Guiller