In a letter to members to mark International Women’s Day, ICF President Caroline Quinn has written to all Irish Concrete Federation members highlighting the increasingly prominent role played by women in the Irish quarrying and concrete products industry.

The ICF President’s statement is as follow,

Dear ICF Member,

Today, Monday 8th March is International Women’s Day and as President of the Irish Concrete Federation, I would like to use the occasion to celebrate the positive role played by women in our industry and to ask you all, as members of our Federation to join me in acknowledging the achievements of women in all of our companies.

This year, one of the themes for International Women’s Day is ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world,’ celebrating the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighting the gaps that remain.

Women are at the forefront of our battle against COVID-19, as front-line and health sector workers, as scientists, doctors and caregivers. Similarly, women have played a major part in keeping our businesses operating over the past year, in spite of the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic. While traditionally, leadership roles in the Irish concrete and quarrying industry have been predominantly male, this is changing and I am aware of the valuable contributions made by women in our sector on a daily basis. We also see the value of these contributions to an ever-increasing extent in the ICF, through participation on our committees and at our events, a trend that I am certain will continue in the coming years, to the benefit of our organisation and its members. While COVID may have changed how we meet and communicate with each other, as ICF President, I want to assure all of the women working in our member companies that their contribution to ICF is highly valued and will influence and shape our organisation into the future.

The overall campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose to Challenge’. We all need to work together to challenge gender bias and inequality and we can start within our own companies. And from challenge comes change. So let’s all ‘Choose to Challenge’.

Wishing you the best for International Women’s Day.

Caroline Quinn
President, Irish Concrete Federation