"Women" is not a monolithic category; and organisations that simply count women rather than truly seeing them are leaving most women behind. The barriers facing a Black woman in a leadership role look nothing like those facing a white woman in a junior one; a young disabled woman navigating flexible working has a completely different experience to someone navigating menopause alongside caring responsibilities. Through real organisational examples and frank conversation, our panellists explore what it actually takes to move beyond surface-level inclusion, understanding where policies create blind spots, where cultures quietly exclude, and how leaders can begin to see and respond to the layered, overlapping realities their people live every day, across race, class, disability, age, sexuality, and caring responsibilities.

IVF, egg freezing, miscarriage, recurrent loss... these experiences are probably happening to people in your organisation right now, but the vast majority are navigating fertility treatment or challenges in silence, taking annual leave for appointments and wondering whether to tell their manager. In this frank, human conversation, we hear from those who've lived it, and the employers who've started doing better, exploring what meaningful fertility support actually looks like in practice, why it matters for retention and culture far beyond the individuals directly affected, and what any organisation can begin to put in place. An honest discussion about one of the least understood workplace experiences.

Enhanced maternity leave has become a recruitment selling point, but enhanced shared parental leave, or equal parental leave, remains rare, underused, and seen in too many workplaces as a perk rather than a norm. As long as that's the case, the burden of career disruption will continue to fall disproportionately on women. Featuring employers who've genuinely rethought parental leave and tracked what happened next, this session explores what changes in a team and a culture when men and non-birthing parents actually take extended leave. Here we make the practical, evidence-rich case for one of the most powerful levers available for reshaping gender equity at work, with real-world examples of how shared parental leave and inclusive parental support can reshape retention, culture and expectations.

For too many women, the return to work after maternity leave, a caring break, fertility treatment or health-related absence is where their career quietly stalls; the project that was reassigned, the promotion that went to someone with "more recent visibility." This session is about fixing the moment organisations lose women. Our panellists share what organisations with genuinely high retention rates do differently, and what managers can start doing immediately to make returning employees feel like they've come back to an opportunity, not an obstacle course. A discussion on how employers can better support women returning from maternity leave, caring breaks, fertility treatment, health-related leave, or other life stages, and what makes the difference between just returning to work versus being able to stay, and truly progress.

Menopause affects over half the population, can last for years, and has a direct and documented impact on sleep, concentration, confidence, and working life, yet most workplaces still treat it as too awkward to address, or a policy on the shelf, leaving women to manage it silently at precisely the stage of their career when they should be at their most influential. In this session, we hear from employers who've built genuine menopause support: real policy, trained managers, peer networks, and cultures where women don't have to pretend. It will leave you with a clear picture of what good looks like, and the tools to persuade your CEO that there's no excuse to ignore it.

Workplace gender equality cannot be achieved by women alone: the structures and cultures that hold women back are sustained by people in positions of power, and in most organisations, that still means a lot of men. Our panellists, who have challenged bias in hiring rooms and actively sponsored women's advancement, talk honestly about what meaningful allyship actually requires, what gets in the way, and what organisations can do to encourage more men to pick up the baton. Expect a conversation that's candid, specific, and genuinely useful for everyone in the room. From supporting women's advancement to taking equal parental leave, from challenging discrimination to amplifying underrepresented voices, male allies have the power to influence organisational culture and address systemic bias.

The day ends where it should: with the receipts. The launch of the 2026 Women in Work GEM Report brings together research, evidence, data, and benchmarks from across industry to define — clearly and rigorously — what good looks like for women at work right now, connecting the human stories heard throughout the afternoon with the measurable standards organisations can and should be held to. You'll leave with the report in hand, a clearer benchmark for your own organisation, and a set of markers for action that you can take straight back into your next leadership meeting.