35 Women Under 35 2020: Britain's brightest young business leaders
As the UK heads towards the worst recession for decades, these talented young businesswomen will be helping to rebuild the economy and rebalance the scales.
For the past 20 years, Management Today has made it a mission to fight for gender equality in business. It all started with the annual 35 Women Under 35 list, unearthing new female role models and spotlighting the contribution of Britain’s young businesswomen - whose voices were still being largely ignored in the media.
Two decades on, we sometimes get criticised for continuing to run these awards. For example, why not have 35 Men Under 35? Why have an age limit? We’re all for fairness, but the simple truth is that women continue to be grossly under-represented, underpaid and under-promoted in the UK.
There are still only five female CEOs in the FTSE 100 and only one in three of Britain’s entrepreneurs is female – a gender gap that’s equivalent to 1.1 million ‘missing businesses’. Even though women are more likely to enter the workforce with higher qualifications than men, they earn less per hour. And the pay gap increases sharply at the point couples have children – by the time their first child is aged 12, the average hourly wages of mothers are a third lower than those of fathers. Any progress that had been made in gender equality over the past 20 years has been reversed by the pandemic.
That’s why Management Today keeps pushing for parity and continues to celebrate Britain's next generation of female leaders.
This year’s 35 Women Under 35 list, sponsored by Accenture, is as impressive as ever. Among others, there are partners at magic circle law firms, managing directors of creative agencies, the founder of a vegan burger company and a social entrepreneur tackling sea plastic. All of them have achieved extraordinary things in a remarkably short period of time.
We're proud to announce that our very own Trisha has made the list! Read her profile below:
Trisha Sircar, global programme director, Xaxis – 29
Sircar joined the global programme management team at media and tech firm Xaxis last year. Now she’s leading it, working to super-charge a pioneering culture, build a global climate for innovation and establish a cross-team mentorship programme. Sircar gives motivational talks for young talent at events such as Media Insight Day, holds creative workshops for several London universities and is part of the Bloom network. She won the 2019/2020 WACL Future Leaders Award, a purpose-led grant scheme for the most talented young female leaders working in media, marketing and comms.
