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Women in Business
Bidding for a better opportunity and equality
Continued from page 16
business community who may have found it more of a challenge. Assisted childcare and state-sponsored nurseries for the under 4’s would afford support as would private sector endeavours such as work place crèches; however both run on economies of scale and the latter are usually witnessed in countries with firms of significantly larger workforces than the local arena.”
Workplace crèche
No local firms are reportedly offering at-work childcare, although one accountancy practice is said to be considering training staff to look after employee’s young children so they can stay in post at a time when it has become difficult to recruit staff.
Every February parents of children can apply for one of 366 free morning or afternoon placements for three year olds at government nurseries. Private nurseries cost £300-400+ per month, but Gibraltar’s close-knit residential community means that grandparents often become carers for children
ofworkingmums. Forthosearrivingtowork in Gibraltar from elsewhere, no such support is available.
“I believe everyone should be able to choose, if they wish to work part time,” says 34 years old Gemma Vazquez, Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses (GFSB) chairperson, and one of seven female partners out of 40 at Hassans.
Although GFSB Board has not discussed maternity leave, she concedes: “I fully realise the constraints and difficulties that it causes for employers, particularly for a small shop or firm. It’s very difficult to have someone on maternity leave for 6 months to a year, particularly after money has been spent training that individual.”
Determined mothers
Amanda Eccleston is RBS International (RBSI) Director of Conduct and Regulatory Affairs in Gibraltar, responsible for bank- wide compliance and risk management at NatWest, having joined RBSI 28 years ago. A mother of three teenagers, she is a passionate advocate of achieving a work – life balance and believes her employer’s approach to
Desiree McHard, Managing Partner, BDO (Gibraltar), became the first female president of the Gibraltar Society of Accounts (GSA) in 2015
flexible working has helped her with family and career.
After having a full year off for each of her first two children and returning to work more quickly after her third child, Eccleston reflects: “I am an ambitious person, so was keen when offered promotions to progress my career.”
For determined mothers like Amanda, RBSI support enabled her and colleagues to succeed while fitting around a busy life outside work. RBSI has “a big push at the moment in terms of placing more senior
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Gibraltar International
www.gibraltarinternational.com