Is a part-time office administrator role still a typically female role – and if so, why? In this special #IWD2025 blog, Jess explores what it's like to be the only woman in the office in 2025 and challenges Spiral's men to help #AccelerateAction.

Whilst there have been many women employed at Spiral over the years, some of our more keen-eyed followers may have noticed that I am the only female employee at Spiral right now. So it’s no surprise to anyone how or why the authorship of an IWD-focused piece has fallen to me.

I must admit, watching my colleague Jacob edge cautiously toward my desk, visibly unsure of how to go about asking the woman in the office to write the women’s blog post whilst avoiding any risk of tokenism felt like some kind of inverted joke. But it did spark an interesting discussion about my position at Spiral and administrative roles in broader industry, especially when considering the historic context too.

Looking at admin and bookkeeping roles ‘on paper’, even now they often come across as typically gendered, especially in one of the top five most male-dominated industries in the UK like ours: information and communication. The more archaic consensus being that the women-folk cover phones, postage and paperwork while the men do the ‘real work’.

More to that, and as with many companies our size there’s also no real necessity for administration to be a full-time role, which in many ways has contributed to the overall national gender pay gap. Most administrators are women, and most admin jobs are part-time.

But possibly the most restrictive problem with administration being a largely ‘female’ role is that it usually has the least opportunity for upward mobility in the work place, compared to other positions.

The upshot

Part-time admin roles like mine have for decades now been providing women with the opportunity to balance work with family life. The shorter hours allow more time to cover child-raising outside of school time, reducing overall childcare costs while allowing working mothers to retain the right to their own direct income.

These working arrangements also allow women to minimise ‘gaps’ in CVs while continuing to develop work experience and pursue upward career progression without having to make too many sacrifices around family.

It’s undeniable that these elements of the job go a long way to creating personal autonomy and maintaining career opportunities for working mothers.

Now, as a 30-year-old child-free woman in 2025 under far less expectation to become a primary parent than my predecessors (should my life ever take that turn), I have found a way to make use of the very same ‘set-up’ for a different purpose, but one that means no less to me than starting a family might to others.

As the team is aware, I have been pursuing my own creative aspirations outside of Spiral, but at the moment – and likely for the near future – these aspirations won’t cover my day-to-day living costs. And if they’re ever going to, I need enough time each week to develop progress on these aspirations without risking financial instability. Which is why this job at Spiral works perfectly for me.

The part-time hours are enough to cover my overall living costs while still allowing me to dedicate approximately half my week to these other pursuits. This really helps me avoid burnout too, meaning I can maintain quality of work in all areas without risking my mental and physical wellbeing.

So, to round up that thought, yes my position here could be seen as stereotypical at a glance. But the way I see it, this role at Spiral supports me perfectly in managing my own endeavours and reaching that bit further toward my creative aspirations. And in return, I do my best to keep the office organised and in good working order.

A great deal as far as I’m concerned.

Team pledges (throwing it back at the boys)

This year’s campaign theme for International Women’s Day is #AccelerateAction, promoting increased momentum in dismantling systematic barriers and biases faced by women everywhere.

A quick look at the official IWD website will tell you:

"At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity, according to data from the World Economic Forum."

On first read this is a fairly dismal prospect. Most of us struggle to imagine how the world might look in 2050 at this rate, making any guesses at the state of global society in the 22nd Century seem pretty absurd. And, as far as I and likely all other women are concerned, that’s an entirely unacceptable finish-line for reaching global gender equality.

However, on further scrutiny there is a silver-lining in that statement; active progress on gender equality is happening. And it is working. The point is, it’s just not working quick enough.

For me, a key part in achieving this goal is consistent and continuous open discussion across genders. Meaning it’s vital that men be a part of the conversation for this to work (just so long as they’re not leading it…)

So with that in mind, here’s how Spiral, an (almost) all-male team, are working to #AccelerateAction on gender equality. Led by me, a woman.

In conclusion

The first thing that stood out to me when looking at the team’s pledges all together is just how many areas of life we can still identify gender inequality within, even now; the professional world, family structure, homelife, personal relationships, creative arts and entertainment. And that’s without touching on the larger global issues where gender equality has even further to push, like politics, war, healthcare and education.

But what I think we’ve managed to achieve in putting together this IWD blog, is sparking deeper and more open discussion around issues like these.

Over the last couple of weeks while tasked with considering their pledges, I’ve noticed a clear increase in discussion around women’s rights and gender equality amongst the Spiral team. And more importantly, I can see that my male co-workers now feel that bit more confident in being part of the conversation, especially in terms of directly asking me about my experience and view on certain subjects, without fear of over-stepping or ‘getting it wrong’.

For me, it’s not just the pledges that have inspired Spiral to Accelerate Action on gender equality, it’s the engendering of open group discussion on the subject both across genders and between men directly. Having seen the positive effects of this process myself, I would now encourage any company – no matter how big, small or gender-oriented – to initiate a similar practice and see how this creates a positive change in the mindset of your workforce.

If you’d like ideas for your own pledges and actions, visit the official IWD Pledge page – or, if you’d like to go one step further, head over to the official IWD Giving Directory, where you can find and donate to a range of charities working toward reaching global gender-equality. Hopefully this century!