(L-R) Tess Ward, Tracy Edwards, Karren Brady and Gemma Cairney
Marking another historic International Women’s Day, Badoo, the world’s largest dating app, banished all male staff from its London and Malta based offices, to honour and celebrate their incredible female workforce.
In celebration of such a momentous day and historic year, Badoo brought together an inspirational all-female cast and conducted a panel for its female workers, including; Femme podcast host and model, Daisy Lowe, business aficionado and Lord Sugar’s right-hand woman, Karren Brady CBE and the first woman to captain an all-female sailing team around the world, Tracy Edwards MBE. The panel was hosted by television and radio presenter, Gemma Cairney and a bespoke menu was created by admired chef, Tess Ward and laid on for the female employees.
Sharing personal thoughts, life-stories and motivational insights, the truly inspirational panel discussed pertinent topics, such as gender equality, the power of saying no and how to succeed in traditionally male-dominated industries from football to catering.
On being a working-mother, Karren Brady CBE commented; “It’s not important if you’re not there for every sports day. Teaching your kids independence and the importance of valuing themselves is the best thing you can do.
“The minute you think you know everything is actually the minute you know nothing!”
Badoo prides itself on its ambition to address the gender-balance within the tech industry, which has been a traditionally male-dominated arena. Over a third (36 per cent) of Badoo’s workforce is made up of women – over double the industry average of 17 per cent* – a figure which the brand is continually looking to increase by encouraging new female entrants into the industry.
Commenting on the day Head of Analytics, Candice Ren said: “ With the help and inspiration from some of the UK’s most respected women from the world of business, sport, fashion and lifestyle our fantastic female employees have been celebrated.
We wanted to host a positive and empowering session at our offices in recognition of our female workforce’s achievements and indisputable value to our business. Today we’ve hopefully done just that! “
In addition, to honour the occasion, Badoo’s meeting rooms were renamed from famous cities around the world to strong women and suffragettes, such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Amelia Earhart, Malala Yousafzai and Virginia Woolf.
