I’ve mentioned we’re recording a special episode of the Women Talking About Learning podcast for the 100th edition and are waiting for comments from listeners about what they’ve thought about the podcast. What we hope is that we’ve moved the needle a bit in the representation of women in the workplace learning sector.

What we don’t know – and can’t tell – is whether it has made a difference. We can pat ourselves on the back, feel happy we’ve achieved 20k downloads and amplified some 200 women’s voices but don’t know what effects – if any – it has created.

This is why we’re so keen to amplify a survey from Helen Marshall. Helen is the founder of WomenIn, a WhatsApp community of 650+ women in L&D. The survey is seeking to find out whether the needle has shifted since Don Taylor analysed data for 1100+ people in L&D in 2015. At that time, the female/male split for support roles was 2:1, the female/male split for high-responsibility roles was 1:2.

There have been initiatives on a regular basis – International Women’s Day, Gender Pay Gap reporting – as well as some specific L&D related activity – WomenIn, Women In Learning, the podcast – but there hasn’t been any measurement to establish whether any difference has been made.

This is why Helen’s survey is so important.

There are three things you need to do now; firstly, please make sure to submit your response as soon as practicable and take your time with the answers. A survey is only as good as the data which supports it.

The second thing you need to do is repost this piece. If you’re on LinkedIn it’s simple – just hit the button at the bottom and make sure you add a comment. It will get in front of more people if you comment – LinkedIn’s algorithm works that way. Make sure to tag someone in with your comment too – let’s amplify the survey and the podcast.

Lastly, send use a short audio about the Women Talking About Learning podcast – what difference has it made and what do you think about it?