If women don't have the same rights, opportunities and pathways as men, then as a planet we are not harnessing the full potential of the people who live on earth. 50% of the world's population is female, but at the moment, that is where equality ends.

SDG 5 is… GENDER EQUALITY - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Expert guest Helen Oldham is someone who has blazed a trail of business success in often male-dominated sectors and now works to provide opportunity, investment and support to female founders and women looking to progress in the world of work. In her career Helen Oldham has turned around massive media organisations as a Managing Director. Now she is the co-Founder of Lifted Ventures which backs female entrepreneurs and also a founding trustee of the female employment charity Smart Works.

In this episode, Kate and Helen discuss...

The global context. What is the nature of the challenge to improve the current situation where, if existing rates of progress continue, it will take hundreds of years to get equality in leadership roles? Helen thinks the stats speak for themselves... in a start-up context female founders out-perform male ones... so why don't they get the same access to funding? Releasing the potential of women by giving equal access to funding and opportunity can boost business, innovation and the green sector on a global scale.

A national and regional focus. What particular challenges does the UK face? Helen talks about her work with Smart Works and outlines some of the hurdles women in the UK face getting into work. She also recounts stories from her own career where she has faced obstacles and prejudice. Helen and Kate discuss recent government policy changes around angel investment and Helen has direct feedback to regional investment funds about the levels of female representation on funding panels.

Finally Helen and Kate bring the conversation to a practical focus. What can be done to actually deliver SDG 5 at global, national and regional scales? Plus, how can we help? What one thing can we stop doing, and what one thing can we start doing that will make a real positive difference, right now?

To find about more about Lifted Ventures, go to liftedventures.co.uk

To find out more about Smart Works, visit smartworks.org.uk

The 17 is a podcast themed around the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A new episode is published on the 17th of each month, and explores a different one of the 17 goals in detail or discusses a topic linked to sustainability.

The UN SDGs represent an all-encompassing plan to protect the future of our planet, it is our responsibility to know what they are, understand them, and make sure that we are doing our bit to help.

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The 17 is produced by Bwlb - www.bwlb.co.uk