Unlocking Opportunity for Women: An Interview with Vida Stewart on International Women’s Day

“Education Is the Key to the Door”: Unlocking Opportunity for Women Through Lifelong Learning

At the heart of LASER’s mission is a belief that education has the power to transform lives. On International Women’s Day, we spoke to our CEO, Vida Stewart about the role of adult learning in tackling inequality, supporting women’s progression, and creating a fairer society through inclusive leadership.

LASER's mission is centred on delivering change through the power of education. From your perspective, why does adult learning remain one of the most effective ways to tackle social inequality?

Education is empowering and enabling. It isn’t the only source of power, but most significantly it increases your options. In any society where inequality exists, the ability to make informed choices is one of the most powerful tools for change.

Adult learning gives a second (or third, or fourth) chance to anyone who, for any reason, hasn’t been able to take advantage of traditional learning opportunities earlier in life, including better employment prospects and life opportunities. Importantly, it starts by building confidence which is the first step towards change. Adult learning reopens a door that may feel long-since closed behind you – or worse, one that feels had been slammed shut in your face. It says: “you’re important, you have value, you can achieve. Nothing is set in stone. No matter how small the steps, changes can be made”.

We have a duty to make education accessible to everyone, and to remove barriers, real or perceived, that make anyone feel that learning isn’t for them. It is. Learning is for everyone.

Looking at society more broadly, what difference have you seen access to adult learning make to people’s confidence, opportunity, and long-term outcomes?

I’m really glad you put confidence first! Confidence can be the absolute key to that door.

So many people are capable of far more than they believe. For a variety of reasons, they haven’t been supported or had the opportunity to achieve, and that can lead to a downward spiral of thinking: “I can’t do that”. Adult learning interrupts this cycle.

Building someone’s confidence and seeing that transformation from “I can’t” or “That isn’t for me” to “I can” – or “Well I’ll at least give it a go” – is astonishing. When confidence grows, opportunities become easier to see, easier to take or easier to actively create. That might be in the form of employment for the first time, a career change or returning to work. It might lead to further study or to making a positive contribution to a community in some way.

Alongside these tangible outcomes, there is an equally powerful change: people begin to feel valued and recognised, sometimes for the first time or in a different way. The long-term impact extends beyond the individual to their families and communities. When people feel more fulfilled and empowered, they see life in a new light and think differently. They can make different, better-informed choices, and that’s how wider change begins.

International Women’s Day is often a moment to pause and reflect. Over the past few decades women’s participation in higher education has increased significantly (from around 45% in the mid-1980s to over 55% today). What do you think this tells us about the role of education in creating opportunities and breaking barriers?

It’s important to remember that when women were first allowed to attend university in the UK, they weren’t even permitted to graduate with full degrees! They were still locked out of accessing graduate professions, equal pay (and sadly, in too many cases, we still haven’t fully resolved that issue) and recognition. Not because of a lack of ability, knowledge or skill, but quite simply because of a lack of recognition and opportunity. Without those, no barriers can be broken. Education gives women the opportunity to evidence what they can achieve and be recognised for it. In turn, that can break down barriers in all kinds of ways – professional, financial, economic, political, social, personal. What’s more, it’s exponential. When children see their parents learning, achieving, being recognised for it and they see the changes that follow as a result, it also reshapes expectations for the future. Education changes generational outlook.

Even with progress in learning opportunities, where do you see women still facing barriers in progressing in their careers?

I was fortunate to be brought up to believe that as a female I could do and achieve anything “the boy next door” could. It came as a shock to me growing up as I started to realise that the world doesn’t always operate that way – and sadly, many years later it still doesn’t for too many people and communities.

I suppose it’s a bit like an onion’s layers. Where there’s inequality it usually comes from the core, with each layer adding more depth and complexity and making it harder to break out from. That can include cultural and societal acceptance and expectations, unconscious bias, the disproportionate burden on women of caring responsibilities and family commitments which often result in the need for career breaks. This is in conflict with a rigid working structure, demands around working hours, presence in a physical workplace, lack of flexibility, and so on. Of course some roles require certain working hours or conditions, however many employers simply refuse to be flexible in even considering alternatives to traditional expectations and still operate around traditional demands of working hours, place of work and so on, regardless of what might work for both sides equally well. There is huge untapped potential of women (and indeed some men) who are willing and keen to work but not necessarily able to fit into a standard 9 to 5:30 model.

It’s shocking that pay gaps and glass ceilings still exist, particularly in higher-paid sectors. The barriers then self-perpetuate. Along with inequality of all kinds, it’s inexcusable and unacceptable.

Access to adult learning and skills development can be particularly transformative for women whose learning or careers have been interrupted, for example due to childcare or limited access to education. How can education later in life help reopen doors and create new opportunities?

It comes back to confidence and opportunity.

With age comes experience and a different kind of knowledge and skill. Later-life learning doesn’t just lead to qualifications; it can give women a boost whereby they realise they do have potential. For some women, that means returning to a previous role; for others, it offers completely new directions.

There are far more bite-sized and flexible learning options than in traditional school or college education models. No-one needs to feel overwhelmed by taking on a huge qualification, or by sitting in a classroom, and all its implications. For women who may also be bringing up families or have other caring responsibilities, or who have had poor experiences of traditional learning demands during childhood, this flexibility makes it possible to commit, learn, achieve, and be recognised. Learning can be manageable, part-time and tailored around other commitments. A slowly, slowly approach is often more effective in building confidence and, as a result, can lead to stronger long-term outcomes.

Lifelong learning plays an important role in career progression. How can continuous professional development help women step into leadership or adapt at different stages of their careers?

Again, a bit like a broken record, I’m going to start with confidence.

CPD can be bite-sized and therefore much more manageable right from the start. It can fit more easily into busy schedules. It allows women with family or caring roles to update knowledge and skills, fill specific skills gaps, or target very specific skills or knowledge needed for that next step up the career ladder, such as a move into management or leadership. It’s also important to recognise that engaging in CPD visibly demonstrates that a woman is willing and able to take responsibility to push themselves further or adapt and develop what they’ve done in the past.

Leadership roles have traditionally been built around assumptions about career paths, availability, and uninterrupted working patterns. As a female CEO, how do you see diverse leadership teams helping challenge these assumptions and create more sustainable ways of working?

By showing that the “proof’s in the pudding” and leading by example!

Making demands and trying to change expectations and the status quo is pointless if you can’t deliver. Like anything, without the evidence to back it up, it’s just words. When women succeed in leadership roles without conforming to traditional assumptions, it proves that those assumptions aren’t essential to success. It is by far the strongest and most effective way to challenge these, and to inspire others to do the same.

I see many really good examples of successful and inspirational women around me, both within our education sector and beyond. I hope that by successfully leading LASER in the way I’d want to be led myself, I can contribute – in a small way – to inspiring and nurturing future leaders who feel empowered to challenge norms and push their own boundaries.

Finally, on International Women’s Day, what message would you like to share about the role education and leadership can play in creating a fairer society?

Education is the key to the door, and good leadership sets examples of routes that can be followed once the door is open.

Good leaders take their responsibilities for creating a fairer society seriously. There’s no more effective way to do that than to lead by example and deliver results. Nothing feels like a job well done more than seeing a learner transform their life through the empowerment that lifelong learning brings.