International Women’s Day at M&S
We're celebrating amazing women throughout March. Find out more about our work with charity partner, Wellbeing of Women, and the incredible women who work at M&S.
Breaking Stigma: M&S and Wellbeing of Women
At M&S, we believe every woman deserves to live a healthy and fulfilling life. That's why we're proud to support Wellbeing of Women, an organisation that has funded pivotal milestones in women's health, including ultrasound scanning for pregnancy, discovering the benefits of taking folic acid during pregnancy and the link between HPV and cervical cancer.
Choose Wellbeing of Women as your Sparks charity
We donate to Sparks charities on your behalf every time you scan your Sparks card in-store or are logged into your Sparks account when shopping online*. During March, choose Wellbeing of Women as your Sparks charity and we'll double your donation.
By supporting Wellbeing of Women, you'll help improve the lives of women. Just £5 could help women and girls access vital, trustworthy information to make informed health decisions; £10 could help to ensure workplaces can actively support women at all life stages; and £20 could help to fund ground-breaking research to develop new treatments for debilitatingly painful periods
*For every transaction you make where you scan your Sparks card or are logged into M&S with your Sparks account, M&S will donate 1p to charity. Full terms and conditions
Meet some of the women inspiring and
driving change at M&S
Julie Reason
Julie, a customer assistant at our Leamington store was one of 15 colleagues who – through our CEO suggestion scheme – suggested we include guidance on the signs and symptoms of breast cancer in our fitting rooms. Thanks to Julie, this important – and potentially life-saving signage – is seen by millions of people every year.
Christine O’Hagan
Christine, a customer assistant in Derry has been instrumental in raising vital funds for our Northern Ireland charity partners. From cycling thousands of miles, raising £1,000 through ticket sales (many of which were sold in her own time) for Action Cancer, organising food and toy collections for a women's refuge and food bank to organising Christmas dinner for the homeless, Christine is a true community champion.
Claire Button
Breaking down the stigma around menopause is hugely important to M&S, so when Claire Button, one of our regional business involvement group chairs, suggested the idea of adding a menopause related absence code to our HR systems, we knew we had to make it happen. Thanks to Claire, by making menopause part of our company language, it’s becoming easier for colleagues to have more open conversations with their line managers.
Shwapna Bhowmick
Shwapna, Head of Region in Bangladesh, has been instrumental in instigating and embedding programmes and initiatives that empower women workers in the fashion supply chain, like digitalising wage payments so women have more autonomy over their own bank account, embedding gender equality in business practice and catalysing systemic change.
Busola Egunnike
Busola, who works in our customer service experience team, supports women in her community. Outside of work, she dedicates her time to coordinating events for a social enterprise that supports black women in higher education. Busola brings this knowledge and energy to M&S and is passionate about levelling the playing field for black women.
Manjula Sandamali
A colleague in one of our suppliers' factories, Sandamali was one of the first people to join the Sri Lankan stream of our programme, Marks & Start, which helps disadvantaged people into work. Sandamali is disabled from the waist-down so works from specially adapted equipment so she can sew garments. To borrow words from Sandamali, "If I think that I want to climb this tree, I think what method should I use to climb it, not that I can't.
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