International Women’s Day is a good moment to ask a simple question: are our workplaces structured so women can keep progressing, or are they quietly pushed out as life changes?

It’s easy to talk about inclusion; the harder test is whether everyday working practices actually make progression possible. This matters especially in areas like telemarketing, which is often associated with rigid hours, close monitoring and high-pressure roles.

At Blueberry, we’re proud to say that women have been able to move into senior roles and stay in them as their responsibilities outside work have evolved. Our senior management team is now predominantly female – not because of a target or quota, but because the conditions are there for our colleagues to progress and keep progressing.

Having women in leadership actively shapes how we operate as a business. When leadership includes people actively juggling childcare, family responsibilities or other commitments outside work, flexibility stops being a policy on paper and becomes something designed to function in real life.

Leaders who understand the balancing act of life are more likely to ensure no one is held back by what they’re juggling outside work, giving everyone a genuine chance to progress.

“Leaders who understand the balancing act of life are more likely to ensure no one is held back by what they’re juggling outside work, giving everyone a genuine chance to progress.”

This thinking sits behind our involvement in the West Yorkshire Fair Work Charter, which encourages organisations to adopt fairer, more supportive working practices. Initiatives like this matter because they move the focus beyond individual employers and towards raising standards across entire sectors.

Real progress also depends on creating opportunities for professional growth. Two members of our senior leadership team recently completed the Help to Grow: Management course while raising five primary school-aged children between them. Their experience reflects a broader point: ambition and leadership do not disappear when people become parents, but traditional working models often make it harder to sustain both.

Insights from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme reinforced our development-focused approach, helping us build flexible talent strategies, invest in colleagues’ growth across different areas, and create pathways that allow people to progress internally or pursue their own entrepreneurial ventures.

Across the organisation, women at different stages of their careers are continuing to develop and progress – from apprentices gaining industry recognition to colleagues completing advanced professional qualifications. We also work closely with Leeds Beckett University on initiatives such as the WECAN Network (Women Empowered through Coaching and Networking), which helps women build leadership confidence and supportive professional networks.

“Ambition and leadership do not disappear when people become parents”

Initiatives like WECAN sit alongside Blueberry’s broader talent development approach, including our award nominated ‘From Classroom to Career’ programme, which helps apprentices and early-career marketers gain real experience, mentoring, and the confidence to step into leadership.

By embedding fair practices, flexible working, and meaningful development opportunities into everyday operations, organisations can challenge long-held sector stereotypes about who can succeed in marketing. Providing training, mentoring, and supportive networks shows that businesses don’t have to rely on rigid models – they can actively create conditions where talent thrives, ambition is supported, and women can lead. Doing so doesn’t just benefit individuals; it reshapes the sector culture for the better.

International Women’s Day should serve as a reminder for organisations to look closely at how work is structured – who can realistically progress, and who quietly falls out of the pipeline along the way.

Find out more:

• About the WECAN Network: click here
• About the West Yorkshire Fair Work Charter: click here
• About Help to Grow: Management: click here
• About Goldman Sachs 10k Small Businesses: click here
• Pamela, Blueberry’s Client Services Director – Help to Grow journey: click here
• Zoe, Blueberry’s People & Resources Manager – Help to Grow journey: click here