Celebrating International Women’s Day at Rightmove: Fostering Inclusion, Empowerment, and Growth
At Rightmove, we believe in the power of diversity and the strength it brings to our organization. It’s International Women’s Day, and we lined up a set of events designed to inspire, empower, and celebrate women in technology.
Why International Women’s Day Matters
International Women’s Day is not just another day on the calendar. It’s a global celebration of women’s achievements, a call to action for gender equality, and a reminder of the work that still needs to be done. At Rightmove, we’re committed to fostering gender diversity and empowering people to show up as their true selves.
International Women’s Day serves as a reminder of the progress made towards gender equality and the work that still lies ahead. It’s a time to celebrate the achievements of women worldwide and to reiterate our dedication to creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.
The progression of women is not just a matter of equality, but a driver of our success. Diverse perspectives lead to better decision-making and innovation and we’re committed to ensuring strong representation of women at all levels of our organization.
– Johan, CEO at Rightmove
And did you know that…
- At Rightmove, we are 47% women;
- On the Rightmove’s Board and Group Leadership Team, 50% are women;
- We recently placed in the top 10 in an annual study by FTSE 100 Women Leaders on Boards.
But gender diversity in the workplace isn’t just about meeting quotas—it’s about harnessing the unique perspectives, talents, and experiences that each individual brings to the table. By creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and heard, we drive innovation, creativity, and success.
Our Program
March 6th – Inspire Inclusion – Allyship in Action with Shola Kaye
March 8th – #IAmRemarkable Workshop with Ana Sampaio
March 11th – Science & Strategies Women’s Empowerment with Jay Rai
March 21st – Women in DevOps Community Meet-up
These events aim to foster allyship, self-confidence, empowerment, and community-building among women in our organization and beyond. We’re honoured to host renowned speakers who can share their insights and expertise to inspire positive change.
💜 Vicki is a Product Manager and Finn is a Software Engineer in the Act team. A huge THANK YOU to them for planning and organising such a special moment on March 6th with Shola Kaye for all Rightmovers. Thank you to Jennie, our CPO, for empowering us and supporting all this. And finally, thank you to Sara, Engineering Manager, who is organising the Women in DevOps meet-up. 💜
Voices from Women in Tech
To gain insights from the women in our organization, we asked them two questions:
- What do you love about being a Woman in Tech?
- What change would you like to see next year?
Here are some of their inspiring responses.
Natalie is the Director of Data & Analytics, and she emphasises the opportunity to collaborate with exceptionally talented people. She challenges the perception of tech as a dull career choice.
I absolutely love being able to work with so many talented individuals. People in tech are so damn smart it hurts. The stuff that comes out of their mouths and the articles they write blow my mind, while expanding it. And the tech community is so supportive. There are these magical groups of supportive individuals from diverse backgrounds at Rightmove who build each other up and work hard to make positive changes. It makes being a woman in tech really special.
The perception that it’s a boring career choice. It’s far from boring. It’s diverse and so relatable to all areas of our lives, This change needs to start in schools where the subject is taught without ‘context’ and so becomes boring. It’s important that we don’t just teach how to use technology. It’s the why that’s really the interesting bit. It’s why I enjoy talking to students about careers in tech.
– Natalie J, Director of Data & Analytics
Ruth, Service Design Manager, bridges across many teams, products and customers in her role, and this shows through her main passion:
I’m passionate about people and tech. I take pride every day in leading my team with enthusiasm, courage and kindness. Technology enables me to express myself through my work at Rightmove and outside of work too.
The change I would like to see is a wider adoption of technology that promotes the use of inclusive language in everyday writing. Everyone is accountable for making changes to how they communicate but it can be hard to take the blinkers off and break old habits – think words like manpower or salesman. This is where technology built for inclusion can chip away at the language we use internally and with our consumers, customers and users of our services.
– Ruth, Service Design Manager
Jo is a Customer Operations Manager who advocates for more women of colour in senior roles at Rightmove and across the UK industry, emphasizing targeted recruitment, mentorship programs, and a supportive environment to empower women to excel and contribute diverse perspectives to workplace success.
I love being a woman in Tech at Rightmove because I get to work with people who are always wanting to make things better/easier and, I’m always learning. The industry is always evolving, presenting new challenges and technologies to explore, which keeps me engaged and motivated in my career.
I’d like to see more women and in particular, women of colour in more senior roles at Rightmove, and within the wider UK industry. Seeing is believing.
I believe this can be achieved through targeted recruitment efforts, mentorship/buddying schemes, and creating a supportive work environment where all women feel empowered to thrive and advance in their careers. By promoting inclusion at all levels and through different means, we can create a more equitable workplace where women and, in particular women of colour feel empowered to contribute their valuable perspectives to Rightmove’s success.– Jo B, Customer Operations Manager
Tash, QA Engineer in the Customer Operations team, says there are many brilliant women at all levels at Rightmove and she loves having the opportunity to work with them and learn from them.
The representation matters, it shows possibility, creates community and stops you from feeling isolated.
On a personal note last year my manager asked me if I’d be interested in working towards a more senior role. He said he used to wait until people approached him but he realised women were far less likely to put themselves forward – this really stuck with me. He had a way of doing things but was willing to change it to be more inclusive when he saw it might be excluding people who are less likely to promote themselves (often women). He was right, it would have taken me much longer to put myself forward and him just asking that question made me feel so valued. Questioning assumptions about why someone is behaving in a certain way and trying little changes in approach to be more inclusive can have a big impact.
– Tash B, QA Engineer
Tash also touches on how we’re facing a gender gap at Rightmove. We have a higher proportion of men in the higher paid roles, which unfortunately is a common issue in tech companies due to the gender imbalance in STEM overall.
We have a gender pay gap at Rightmove because the majority of our more highly paid staff are men, we also have a fairly even gender split overall. A lot of the more highly paid jobs are in the tech side of the company and we know that there are a lot less women than men in the tech market. It would be brilliant if as well as recruiting externally we could invest in the people we have and create realistic career progression and training paths into the technical roles. The Associates Program is a great step in this direction but it needs more consistency and to be more open for existing employees.
– Tash B, QA Engineer
A four-day working week is a work schedule arrangement where employees work for four days a week instead of the traditional five. This approach aims to increase work-life balance, boost productivity, and improve employee well-being. Tash mentions how impactful would that be, particularly for women.
I would also love us to trial a 4-day working week. Quite a few companies have now adopted this and there has been overwhelmingly positive feedback generally – there has also been evidence it can help women in particular. The burden of domestic and caregiving tasks still disproportionately falls on women and some reports have shown that the 4-day week can help balance the scales.
– Tash B, QA Engineer
Rachel is an Associate Software Engineer in our Internal Operations team. In her tech journey, she values the supportive community, empowering her as a career changer in a male-dominated industry. Over the next year, she hopes to witness diversity within teams and the closure of the gender pay gap, emphasizing the importance of equal representation at all levels, particularly in mid/senior leadership roles, to address this issue effectively.
My favourite part about being a woman in tech is the true sense of community; I’ve been inspired and empowered by many women – and people generally – in tech. This was especially valuable to me as a career changer; the tech community helped me believe it was possible to retrain and take a new path as a developer, in an industry which is often seen as male-dominated. This community spirit extends to my experience at Rightmove where we are encouraged to be ourselves, be bold, and be supported to try new things.
A year is quite a challenging period of time to see true, meaningful change, but across the next year I’d like to see the trajectory of change accelerate in the industry; seeing more diverse teams and closing the gender pay gap. While it’s great that there’s more equal representation of women at the top level, it’s important that this is felt at all levels of business, including mid/senior leadership roles; this is especially important in relation to the gender pay gap. It’s been reported for a number of years that this is the principal reason that a gender pay gap remains, but if we know the problem, then we should be challenging and tackling the speed at which we’re seeing that change.
– Rachel N, Associate Software Engineer
Closing thoughts
As we commemorate International Women’s Day, it’s crucial to confront the biases that perpetuate inequality in the tech industry. From biased hiring processes to the persistent gender gap in leadership roles, these obstacles hinder progress and limit opportunities for women.
At Rightmove, we’re committed to breaking bias and fostering a more inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal chance to succeed. By challenging stereotypes, promoting diversity, and advocating for change, we can bridge the gender gap and unlock the full potential of our workforce.
We hope this post has inspired you to proactively identify commonly held biases, implement processes to proactively break them and therefore champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
💜 To all the brilliant women who were willing to participate – thank you for your thoughtful insights. A special thank you to Si, Engineering Manager, who came up with the idea for this blog post, challenged me and helped me write it. 💜
