A week before her appointment as the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May spoke to LWF members at a networking event hosted by J.P. Morgan. She highlighted the many successes of women during the last 50 years, but added that there is still more to do.
“In business, politics and civil service women are breaking the glass ceiling. Believe you can do it and go for it,” May told the crowd.
She spoke of the need for women to both support and challenge each other to aim higher and be their professional best. May also discussed the upcoming negotiations as Britain prepares to leave the European Union. “During Brexit negotiations, we must have a positive, outward-looking vision to make life better for young people,” she said in reference to pursuing an open trading relationship with the EU.
May is only the second woman in the country’s history to hold the keys to 10 Downing Street. May became the UK’s most senior female politician in 2010 after being appointed home secretary – a role she held until last week – and has been a prominent advocate of positive action to recruit more women into politics. First elected to Parliament in 1997, May joined the shadow cabinet in 1999 and three years later became the Conservative Party’s first female chairman.
LWF members also had an opportunity to network with LWF Patron Mary Macleod, female MPs and members of the All Parliamentary Party Group for Women in Parliament, and Rt Hon Maria Miller MP (Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee).
