On Tuesday 1st March 2016 I attended an event in Leicester organised by unionlearn. It was titled 'Celebrating Women’s Potential' and it was looking at the barriers to learning in and out of the workplace for women. The event was organised by Lisa Stones and Mick Brightman, Senior Union Support Officers (SUSOs) for unionlearn in the Midlands.

They named the event after a book ‘Calling Time on Women’s Wasted Potential’ written by Mary Alys who sadly died in 2013 from cancer before she saw it in print. Mary was a huge supporter of adult learning having worked in formal education before joining unionlearn in the Midlands.

I sat next to a woman called Annmarie who is a lorry driver for Argos in Northampton and a ULR for UNITE. We were asking each other questions about work and life and I was amazed that previous to this she was a driver for Hovis in Avonmouth. Like me, Annmarie didn’t do a lot in school and never passed any exams, her one regret being not taking school seriously. She loved travelling so joined the Army and took her HGV courses while serving which proved invaluable to her when she left the forces.  Annmarie helps to run a learning centre at her branch and is also undertaking an Equality and Diversity course with Leicester College.

The event was attended by women in the main but there were some men there. We participated in a quiz about equalities and how the roles of men and women are often stereotyped.

The quiz was demonstrated on iPads via the Use-IT app.  You can ask your Project Worker about access to this app or if you want to find out more about Equality and Diversity courses you can contact Leicester College. You can get in touch with our project via our email: [email protected]