Sport was to the fore at a special breakfast hosted by Liberty Insurance yesterday marking a week of activities centred on International Women’s Day today.
A special gathering of women who have made a mark in business and sport included a discussion with Irish sporting heroines Fiona Coghlan and Annalise Murphy, as well as Dr Ashleigh O’Donoghue of NUI Maynooth and Marie Louise Delahunty from the Central Bank.
Hosting the event on behalf of Liberty Insurance, Director of Personal Lines Deirdre Ashe said: “We are delighted to celebrate International Women’s Day by welcoming national and international thought leaders to our offices to harness the benefits of gender parity.
Employees from Dublin, Cavan, Enniskillen and Newtownards attended the event held to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women, while acknowledging the ongoing action needed to accelerate gender parity.
Read more about the power of Women’s sport through our daily coverage here.
Liberty Insurance was the breakthrough major sponsor of Women’s sport in Ireland when taking on a joint sponsorship of the All Ireland Hurling and Camogie Championships in 2013 and giving equal billing to both in all advertising and promotion.
Last year it was the power behind bringing Clare Balding over to Dublin for a special event hosted by Sport for Business at Croke Park and over the past year has been our partner in the promotion of Women’s sport through Sport for Business.
Yesterday’s discussion focussed on diversity in both the workplace and sporting arena, the financial services sector; role models and mentors within and outside of business; and media coverage of women’s sports.
“My mentors were my team mates. Their dedication and commitment were a huge inspiration.” @CoghlanFiona @LibertyIRL pic.twitter.com/pFulkdLxZG
— Sport for Business (@SportforBusines) March 7, 2016
“Americas Cup has no women sailors and I want that to change.” @Annalise_Murphy @LibertyIRL #IWD2016 pic.twitter.com/pAzXFhs74j
— Sport for Business (@SportforBusines) March 7, 2016
Another of the key comments from the morning was Marie Louise Delahunty’s telling us that “The Central Bank has 47% women in workforce, 40% at senior management level. Mentoring and flexible working two key elements in that success.”
