I’m an ex-Army officer and founder of Women in Defence UK. I founded the group in 2011 as I realised that despite the thousands of women working in defence, we were very thinly spread.

 

All too often I was one of a handful of women at defence conferences or gatherings. At the start, I thought we might get about 40 or 50 members; we now have over 12,000 followers, and have interviewed senior defence leaders such as the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Chief of the General Staff, the First Sea Lord, the Chief of the Air Staff and the Commandant General of the Royal Marines. These are 'real' interviews, no pre-sharing of our questions. We raise key equality topics and ask the questions our community want us to set.

 

Our mentoring programme brings together talent from the defence sector, and our Women in Defence UK Awards have attracted over 2700 entries from across the Armed Forces, MOD Civil Service, defence industry and the defence 3rd sector.

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Whether you're male, female or non-binary, join us on our journey as we try to make defence a better place. 

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Angela Owen OBE

Founder, Women in Defence UK