Female talent must be better nurtured, Arena panel says

Female talent must be better nurtured and encouraged to target senior roles to ensure diversity in all levels of hospitality businesses.

That's according to a panel of hospitality leaders speaking at Arena's Face2Face event held at the Royal Lancaster London ahead of National Women's Day.

The all-female panel agreed that, though the sector had one of the most diverse frontlines, there remained an imbalance of gender equality within senior roles.

Oakman Group managing director Joycelyn Neve said that she often felt imposter syndrome when she started her own hospitality business.

She added: "We need to nurture female talent, and all talent, but with the awareness that women won't push themselves forward in the same way as men. We're introducing mentoring opportunities with Oakman Group now so we can start having these conversations."

Aramark UK managing director Helen Milligan-Smith told the audience that she had repeatedly been asked: "How do you do the job that you do with the children?" A question, she said, that was rarely if ever levelled at men.

Sally Beck, managing director of Royal Lancaster London, added that attitudes had to change with regard to men's responsibilities too. "Society doesn't allow men to be flexible," she said.

UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls referred to the gender pay gap in hospitality, in which 58% of men are in leadership roles while 54% of women are in the lowest paid roles.

She said: "It's important to remember how far we've come. We can see a more diverse workforce and four years after the first report we are much further ahead in terms of gender equality and tackling the equality in the boardroom, but we need to model the change we want to be.

"The job's not done until it stops being newsworthy that this is an all-female panel."