Cherie Blair backs Women 1st campaign

19/10/2009 15:54:14

People 1st, the sector skills council for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism (HLTT) industry, has launched a new campaign aimed at getting more women into senior management positions.

The Women 1st initiative aims to redress the fact that while 59 per cent of the HLTT workforce is female, only six per cent of hospitality company directors are women.

Cherie Blair has lent her support to the event, acting as key note speaker at the launch of the scheme, which is designed to double the number of women in board-level hospitality jobs by 2015.

Speaking about the initiative, Sharon Glancy, business solutions director at People 1st, said: "A number of research studies have shown that those organisations with significant numbers of women in their senior teams do better on a number of performance measures, including innovation, good governance and financial results, relative to their industry competitors."

People 1st has also recently launched a new initiative to get more 'career ambassadors' into schools and colleges to advise those considering working in hotels or restaurants.

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