Looking back at 2015: Our top news stories of the year

Continuing on our series of looking back at the past year, we delve into some of our favourite and most important news stories of 2015.

This year has seen a rise in the support and action towards gender equality; the formation of the Women’s Equality Party and for WeAreTheCity, the launch of the first Rising Stars Awards.

We look forward to bringing you all the latest news, debates and thought-provoking articles in 2016!

January

Kelly-Hoppen-goal_edited-1The new year started with a bang with the announcement that hiring was top of the agenda for women entrepreneurs in 2015! Business is GREAT Britain surveyed a 1,000 businesswomen who said that hiring new staff was a key priority of the year, effectively creating nearly 140,000 new jobs.

February

Ashley Graham made history in February, becoming the first plus size woman to feature in Sports Illustrated.

You can read the full story here

March

March celebrated International Women’s Day on the 8th, a day which recognises the achievements of women throughout history, alongside calling for greater gender equality. The month also saw Royal St George’s golf club, the host of the British Open, end its 128-year ‘no women’ rule. The club voted to allow women members for the first time in its history!

April

In April, we asked some of the most influential and inspirational females from the corporate, entrepreneurial and political world to impart some of their advice and tips on leadership, networking and what they would advice to their younger selves.

You can read all the invaluable tips here

May

WeAreTheCityJobs-FeaturedIn May, we announced the revamp of our jobs board, Careers City to WeAreTheCity Jobs! The rebrand of the job board was intended to bring it under the WeAreTheCity brand umbrella and demonstrate to users that all associated services will offer the same high quality service they have come to expect.

WeAreTheCity Jobs promotes opportunities for key clients such as Morgan Stanley, Worldpay, CGI, BNY Mellon, Lloyds and Societe Generale – check it out here

June

In June, we reported the ‘historic moment’ when a man won the Women in Banking and Finance Award for Achievement, for the first time.

BP group treasurer Alan Haywood on Friday claimed the WIBF Champion for Women award, one of four awards presented at the annual award luncheon. He is known to have challenged senior leaders about the gender gap and to have gained support for a women’s network in the London office of BP’s integrated supply and trading organisation in 2010. Since then, he has promoted the network and has continued to be a strong supporter of gender diversity and inclusion as a factor in business success.

You can find the article here

July

In July it was announced that the target to achieve a quarter of women in boardrooms, set out by Lord Davies, was achieved. The target was initially set in 2011 by Vince Cable and the government announced that the total percentage of women holding director, executive and committee roles had reached 25.4% and all-male board had been wiped out across the FTSE 100.

Read the full story here

Womens Equality PartyJuly also saw the creation of the Women’s Equality Party, a political party set up by Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig, in order to promote and create a gender neutral country. Since their launch they have established a solid membership, released their first manifesto, and raised enough money to be able to stand candidates in elections in 2016.

August

In August, we asked whether 2015 was finally the year for celebrating women’s sports? On the back of the 2012 London Olympics and the 2015 Women’s World Cup, female sports have grown and are gaining a bigger following. The FIFA Women’s World Cup saw the BBC cover and show every game, with 2.4 million viewers staying up to watch England in their final match. Companies such as Nike encouraged women to take up sports through their ‘This Girl Can’ campaign.

September

rising stars logoSeptember saw the crowning of our 50 Rising Stars, as the winners were announced in a glamorous evening at the House of Commons. The Rising Stars awards, the first of its kind, were introduced to showcase the pipeline of female talent in the UK and to create role models across 10 different industries and professions.  The awards focused on celebrating the achievements of women under a management level regardless of age.

You can read all about our awards ceremony here, or discover more about the awards themselves in our dedicated section.

Here at WeAreTheCity, we are now working on the second Rising Stars awards, with nominations opening on February 1st. Click here for more details and to register your interest in our awards.

October

October marked the 60th anniversary of the Women of the Year Awards! Over 400 women joined Sandi Toksvig, president of Women of the Year, in the star studded event which saw six attendees crowned ‘women of the year’. The winners were chosen from across a range of different industries for their work in important matters facing females today.

Find out more about the winners and the awards here

November

In November it was announced that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne had made a U-turn on his tax-credits decision and has announced the ‘tampon tax’ will now go towards supporting women’s charities.

You can read the all the details about Osborne’s Autumn Statement and Spending Review here

December

margaret-thatcher-featuredDecember revealed to us the ‘Most Influential Woman’ of the last 200 years, with Margaret Thatcher topping the poll. Others in the list were Emmeline Pankhurst, Suffragette leader; Rosa Parks, civil rights activist and the nursing pioneer, Florence Nightingale.

Find out who else made the list here

You can read the first article in the series here, and discover a round up of the best bits of our Culture section.

About the author

Alison is the Digital Content Editor for WeAreTheCity. She has a BA Honours degree in Journalism and History from the University of Portsmouth. She has previously worked in the marketing sector and in a copywriting role. Alison’s other passions and hobbies include writing, blogging and travelling.
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