Things that make us mad, a touch of stubbornness and the utility of baby wipes… The latest meeting of Housing Women Cymru picks up some tips from Sophie Howe.
16 June 2017 saw the latest successful meeting of Housing Women Cymru, a network whose aim is to promote professional and personal development to address the gender gap in leadership in housing in Wales. In an inspirational talk, future generations commissioner Sophie Howe shared her experiences with 25 women from a range of housing and related organisations.
After steering group member Gayna Jones opened the meeting, Joy Kent, who is supporting the work of Housing Women Cymru, interviewed Sophie who gave us a fascinating insight into her career, what drives her, pivotal moments and people in her life and her current role.
Sophie started off talking about growing up on a council estate – Ely in Cardiff. Her interest in politics and how society works started at a young age, on marches with her parents and with a growing awareness of the difference between deprived and more affluent areas (Ely and Rhiwbina where she went to school). She asked herself ‘why was I the only one in my street to go to university?’
Her voluntary and paid work has given her an immense amount of knowledge about how services do and don’t work for people and the disregard with which some people’s lives are held; volunteering in Julie Morgan’s constituency office, being elected as Wales’ youngest councillor at the age of 20 and working on sex discrimination cases in the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
In her more recent roles, she has been able to influence national agendas – as an advisor within Welsh Government, deputy police and crime commissioner in South Wales and now as Wales’ first future generations commissioner. What is common across all these roles is a consistent focus on trying to get public services to work better and be more attuned to the needs of people.
Sophie highlighted a number of things that have been critical to how her working life has developed:
- using things that have made her mad to focus her energies, particularly when she encountered criticism, sexism and stereotyping from her peers and in the media; ‘sometimes the things that make us mad define our careers’
- the importance of support from individuals such as Julie Morgan and John Smith
- a ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ approach, forcing herself to do things that were outside of her comfort zone through which she built credibility and traction; ‘you have to be in the room to take advantage of doors opening’
- having a good network of people who support her professionally, close friends who she can ‘rant at’ and family support
- stubbornness; ‘if someone tells me I shouldn’t/can’t do something, it makes me want to do it more’
- having the confidence to tell things as they are and challenge things that are wrong
- acknowledging that to be a good parent (Sophie now has five children), you don’t have to be there all the time; it is good for your children to see that you can do multiple things
- making it easier for those women who come behind her.
Sophie praised the housing sector for being fleet of foot, innovative and prepared to take risks as delivery partners for the Future Generations Act, which she referred to as the ‘common sense Act’. She sees home as core, resonating with the key principles of the Act and housing as well placed to take actions that have multiple positive impacts. But she also challenged the sector as to whether there is more we can be doing to take the Act from aspiration to reality and noted that the same challenge exists for the Adverse Childhood Experiences agenda.
Sophie’s talk generated lively discussions about the difficulty in balancing parenting and work, how we use social media and whether it is a safe space to openly share views and how we eliminate silo working. It was felt that the Future Generations Act might provide an opportunity for Wales to develop its own approach to tackling these issues.
Attending the network meeting was definitely two hours well spent; the room was buzzing with discussion and debate and members of the group left with Sophie’s advice to her younger self ringing in their ears:
‘Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there, hustle, just hustle and always take baby wipes with you!’
Housing Women Cymru is open to all women working or volunteering in social housing and its events are free. You can find the group and information about future events on facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/HousingWomenCymru/ and Twitter @housingwomen.
You can also get in touch via housingwomencymru@gmail.com
We are delighted that Carl Sargeant has agreed to speak at the network; we are looking to arrange our next event with him in the Autumn.