Chief Operating Officer
A warm welcome to Cianne Jones
"I am committed to tackling inequality, supporting women to fulfill their potential and challenging structural and societal barriers wherever they exist"
We had a chat with Cianne, you can read it here
What drew you to become part of WHEN?
According to the Sustainable Development agenda we should have achieved Gender Equality globally by 2030. However, with just 8 years left to achieve this auspicious goal it is overwhelmingly clear that we are not on track. Whilst we have seen progress in some areas it remains that women are still underpaid, undervalued, over worked and have less access to opportunities.
I am dedicated to ensuring that gender equality is not an unrealised goal and I am excited to be working with WHEN and building a strong, committed movement for change.
What are you looking forward to bringing to WHEN?
WHEN has truly inspiring goals that will not only accelerate gender equality but also build a strong community and movement of women dedicated to achieving this goal. I would describe myself as a serial planner and goal getter and I will bring my experience of building strong diverse teams, strengthening organisational systems and developing detailed strategic implementation plans to WHEN to drive our mission forward.
As a black woman with lived experience of navigating the higher education system WHEN’s aim of achieving equity of opportunity in higher education particularly resonates with me. As PhD candidate at UCL I am aware of the underrepresentation of black women and the challenges women face in pursuing and developing their career in academia knowledge of which I will bring to WHEN.
I also understand and appreciate the benefit of collective action by women for women. I have dedicated my professional and personal life to supporting women; I qualified as a family solicitor supporting survivors of domestic abuse, I founded Women in Leadership an award-winning women’s charity, I became a mentor with the Cherie Blair foundation to support women entrepreneurs, I sit on the board of Irise International a charity tackling period poverty and I am a guest lecturer at Corpus Christi College Cambridge leading seminars on Gender and Human rights.
I am committed to tackling inequality, supporting women to fulfill their potential and challenging structural and societal barriers wherever they exist.
What do you see as your big priorities for the first year?
I am excited to be joining WHEN in September and big priorities for this year will include raising the profile and extending the reach of our flagship programmes, improving the experience of our members by introducing more opportunities for networking and personal development and finally bringing as many of you together as possible for an exciting hybrid WHEN conference in May.
What do you need from the WHEN membership to support you to succeed?
It would be incredibly useful to receive feedback on what has been working well, what you think we could improve and what you hope to gain from the membership. As a fast-growing organisation I am keen to ensure that everything we do is responsive to the needs of you, our members. We will be circulating a survey in September, and I would really appreciate hearing from you all.
I am so excited to start my journey with WHEN and look forward to meeting you all at our upcoming events. If you would like to say virtual hello before then please do connect with me on LinkedIn.
