Be a women’s health hero 4.

Actions to try

Measure with Meaning now : consider surveying your own workforce to get a gauge of how many people have experienced (or are experiencing) gender-specific health concerns. This provides a useful, and often surprising, backdrop to policy development and is a good way to build allyship.

Review internal policies to ensure they cover the full breadth of women's health issues. Involve staff in the development of the policies and listen to their feedback on how they have been framed or implemented in the past.

Communicate clearly and often with all employees about the intent and practice of policies and their own role in making sure the business lives up to them (e.g. how to support people as a manager, how to be an ally). It is important for all staff to know that whilst women alone experience many of the issues, supporting them is everyone’s role and is good for the business too.

Identify and train Women’s Health champions (in the same way that many businesses now have Mental Health First Aiders). Communicate clearly about the availability of support and how people can access it easily.

Forinspirationonbeingawomen’shealthhero,seethe casestudies,particularlythosefrom Channel 4, Dark Horses andDiageo.