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Each year, the King’s Global Institute for Women’s Leadership celebrates the feminist contribution of Brenda Trenowden and awards an essay prize in her name.

This year, in Brenda’s honour, GIWL will host a timely discussion on whether women can really ‘have it all’ - and whether the cost of trying has become too high.

Women's skills and ambitions have never been higher. Neither has their burnout.

Across boardrooms and public discourse alike, a particular narrative has hardened: that to lead, to build, to matter, requires total commitment. High-profile voices — from Emma Grede to a growing chorus of founders and executives — have become its most visible advocates. Work-life balance, they argue, is a myth if you want to be leading these high stakes competitive environment.

But this raises harder questions about the model of work it takes for granted. The model of success — always available, visibly present, unencumbered by other responsibilities outside of work — remains the implicit standard against which performance and ambition are measured. Yet, is this model inevitable? Has flexible working delivered the liberation it promised — or introduced new penalties, disproportionately borne by women? And if the structures underneath it all — care systems, career pathways, workplace design, parental leave — were built around assumptions that no longer hold, what does that mean for who gets to succeed, and on whose terms?

Organisations experimenting with four-day weeks and flexible arrangements are beginning to challenge some of these assumptions, but the picture remains far from settled.

The generational dimension adds further complexity. Young women today report the highest rates of mental ill-health of any demographic group. Some are rejecting partnership and motherhood altogether; others are drawn toward more traditional arrangements – aka “tradwife” as a form of exit. Both responses deserve attention not as individual preference, but as signals about what the current settlement is delivering.

This is a frank, multigenerational conversation about who the ideal worker was built for, whether a different model of success is possible, and what we can do now, while structural change remains slow, and if we do not what type of consequences we will be facing.

 

Celebrating the Brenda Trenowden Feminist Analysis Essay Prize

The event will also celebrate the winners of the Brenda Trenowden Feminist Analysis Essay Prize, an annual award offered by GIWL in partnership with the Gender Studies Network and Feminist Perspectives. Named in tribute to Brenda Trenowden’s pioneering work, the prize recognises outstanding feminist research and analysis by King’s College London students. The winning essays will be published in a special collection, available at the event.

Brenda Trenowden was an exemplar of inclusive leadership. She used her intellect, kindness, passion and energy to bring people together to help make the world a better place. She had a stellar career that was driven by purpose. Brenda was a tireless advocate for gender equality. In tandem with a successful career in financial services in Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Bangladesh and the UK, she spearheaded efforts to improve diversity and advance feminism not just in business and sport, but across the range of charities and interests in which she was involved.