Women of the World Contributor – Tina Backhouse

I am Tina Backhouse and I am a 48 year old single mother, living in Winchester. I have spent all my career in the Pharmaceutical Industry at various levels.

I am a passionate campaigner for Gender Equality and to fight the notion that equal rights for women means that men are losing something. It’s not PYE, that’s not how it works but I believe that there is a massive educational piece around this. I am a founding member of the Women’s Equality Party and also a Chair of Governors at a local school and both these give me different insights into the same thing..gender inequality starts at a young age and i believe that this has not changed in my lifetime. I recently helped run a business enterprise day for Year 7s at a local secondary school and in all the groups I worked with, the boys had elected themselves as the CEO and the girls were pushing themselves into the creative design roles. Of course there is nothing wrong with this IF that is exactly what they wanted but begs the question is it and why is it?

I believe so much that we have a responsibility to support each other – it saddens me that some of the most unfulfilling bosses I have had in my career have been women – whether they believe that you are a threat to them or believe that they have to behave in a certain masculine way to succeed, I’m not sure but I am here to try and change this. Let’s big each other up, support each other and help each other grow. Then we can take the equality we deserve.

I am really excited to be part of this project and see what the power of she + she can achieve

Tina Backhouse