The 101st International Women’s Day took place on March 8th. We take away from events around the world three important observations: – Education for Girls: think of the cascading impact of government policies. Educating girls has a tremendous cascading effect with a direct measured impact on child mortality, disease, early marriage and economic growth, to name a few. Check out this United Nations podcast to see how quickly education can make an impact. – Confidence for Women: We have asked many women around the world what they would wish each other on IWD and many of you have responded: view this video-montage. One of the dominant themes to come out is one we have already identified in previous research and executive interviews: you urged one another to have greater confidence in yourselves. The interesting thing is that Confidence is not a given: you can do a lot to shift it upwards, be it through coaching or affirming experiences. – Fairness for All: you also asked for Fairness, something which may seem perhaps counter-intuitive in our mostly politically correct businesses. If there is one thing that companies should think about regarding women in 2012, it is to create a Fair environment: not only transparent processes but also the awareness that unconscious bias exists and can be addressed for example. And a Fair environment will also lay to rest any accusation of favouritism towards women from their male colleagues, so it’s a great way forward in 2012.
+44(0)20 7036 8899
info@whitewatergroup.eu
