Speak Out Week 2023 line-up announced

London Business School’s (LBS) Student Association, in partnership with student diversity clubs Women in Business (WiB), Out in Business (OiB), Black in Business (BiB) and First-Generation, Low & Intermediate Income (FLII), has announced plans for the 2023 Speak Out Week, an annual event dedicated to raising awareness of, and providing education on, harassment and bullying, and the School’s commitment to not tolerating that within the LBS community.

An exciting programme of events has been arranged, including a masterclass with Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour Aneeta Rattan on Monday 17 April about ‘Confidence in dealing with microaggressions and allyship to support’. During the masterclass, Aneeta will deliver an insightful introduction and share some tools for the audience to engage in discussions with representatives from the LBS diversity clubs (BiB, WiB, OiB, FLII).

On 18 April, The Great Debate, hosted by OiB, BiB and WiB, will invite students to debate and challenge pre-conceived notions on topics across gender, race and sexuality. There will also be a WiB Empowerment Workshop on 20 April focussing on how to respond to sexist and undermining comments. The first half of the workshop will showcase situations women often face in the workplace or social situations, as well as an array of alternative responses to use. The second half of the workshop will see participants pairing up to practice and get comfortable with using alternative responses.

WiB has also put together a guide for managing sexism, bullying and harassment, the Little Blue Book, which will be made available to students during Speak Out Week.

Blue is also the colour of choice for Sundowners, the Speak Out Week kick-off event on 13 April, when the student community is invited to come together to celebrate diversity and stand against harassment.