The SheEO Blog

RECOMMENDED: The National Assembly on Gender Equity & Inclusion - in MELBOURNE - 19th April 2012

Friday, March 30, 2012

If gender balance is a priority in your business and you're truly committed to harnessing the full potential of your female talent, you can't afford to miss this event in Melbourne in April. With a star studded line up of speakers and experts - from business leaders to journalists to politicians - this is your chance to hear first hand what is working in organisations that are winning the war for female talent, and learn about best practice strategies, policies and programs that are getting real results. Read More

Thumbs up to Virgin's Velocity Rewards - frequent travelers can now take parental leave without losing status credits

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Every now and again I come across a business doing something that I think makes really good sense. This is one of them. So good on you, Virgin Australia, for giving our status credit it's own parental leave when we take it too. Read More

Winners of 2011 EOWA Business Achievement Awards announced - CSL, NAB, Maddocks and Rio Tinto amongst winners

Friday, November 11, 2011

Finalists and winners in the 2011 EOWA Business Achievement Awards were announced this week to recognise organistions that are implementing innovative programs to enhance women's workforce participation, and individual leaders who are champions for change in supporting and advancing women in business. Read More

Only 3 days left for the earlybird offer to Executing Womens Initiatives in Firms event

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Don't forget that earlybird pricing to the forthcoming Executing Women’s Initiatives Within Firms event end on 17th December. This important one-day connected forum will explore important issues for the advancement of women in firms including: Read More

Don't forget to post your comment to win a registration valued at $995 to Executive Women's Initiatives Within Firms

Thursday, December 09, 2010

Don't forget that we're giving away a registration to the forthcoming Executing Women’s Initiatives Within Firms event. Valued at $995, this registration will give you access to this important one-day connected forum, the following critical issues and more will be explored: Read More

How can we attract and retain more women in professional firms? The realities of being a woman in professional services and driving change from within

Saturday, December 04, 2010

In a past life I worked in a global consulting firm and I think that if you’ve never worked in professional services it can be hard to visualise some of the obstacles women face in forging professional careers. At the time there were no female partners I could turn to for advice. The firm was run by men who shortlisted team members for new projects at Friday drinks at the local pub, with the night often ending with partners snogging their PAs (not everyone was invited but the brave and the stupid regularly turned up up for the drinking competitions in the hope of winning a spot on the big accounts). Their past times included racing Porsches on the weekends and entertaining clients at sporting fixtures. Team building endeavors included canyoning, skirmish, go carting... get the picture? Read More

Comments

Madge commented on 05-Dec-2010 02:40 PM

yet, it seems, another conference where women talk to women. none of the speakers is men and yet it is acknowledged that men basically control, one way or another, the working lives and opportunities of professional women. a conference entitled "Executing Women's Initiatives..." isn't likely to attract any but the most new age of men. those there will likely be the ones who have helped the women in their firms and who are speaking on this day and who don't need to hear the story anyway. it is my view, too, that unless women talk to men in language that is not jaded, pejorative and archaic that change will continue to be as slow as it has been.

sphinxx commented on 05-Dec-2010 03:08 PM

Great points Madge. There's always room for more speakers and agree the addition of some good guys doing good work to support the advancement of women would be a good thing.

I'm very happy to pass on your suggestions as to men the organisers could invite - any names you can share? I know from my own efforts it can be difficult finding men who are leading these gender diversity initiatives but when we do find them they always have great content to contribute.

Please do contact me privately if you prefer at mail@sphinxx.com.au

Susan commented on 06-Dec-2010 08:06 AM

I think the biggest challenge for women in the workplace is the male colleagues, friends and brothers, as well as some women, who think discrimination is a thing of the past and that issues of workplace equality center around women wanting to have children!

Marle commented on 06-Dec-2010 09:37 AM

Hi,

I think the biggest challenge for women is to find balance...
Work-life balance: Even though we work just as hard (even harder?) than our male counterparts and put in the same hours, we are still expected to be a good wife, amazing lover, great cook and a kind mum.
Career balance: Driven, but without isolating people. We're expected to fit in with the "boysclub" and join in the at the pub, but still stay professional and hang on to your credibility.
In my experience I can confirm - This is a man's world!! However, females can be successful when they find the right balance. I have several male colleagues that treat me with respect and support me in my career, but these relationships took some work.

Lynette Pinder commented on 06-Dec-2010 03:13 PM

The biggest challenge is to convince people that a part-time Executive can perform their role effectively. Working an 80 hour week does not mean better output, in fact it may just mean you are less efficient. Part-time positions at Senior Executive level are difficult to find, particularly in Government. Maybe it is a cultural issue - would you be happy to work for a senior manager who was only in the office part time?

Michelle commented on 07-Dec-2010 04:13 PM

The biggest challenge facing women in my opinon is 2 fold.
1) How do you progress as far as possible in your twenties, when you don't necesarily understand the unwritten politics on gender, and are still naive in career success through merit only.
2) How to manage your career through the childbearing years so that you don't lose momentum and currency in your skills base. So that when the children are older you can continue your career.
If we can assist women to get through these two periods by the time they are in their mid late 30's they will have the necessary experience and business savvy to continue their career progression and in this way we will get more women into senior leadership roles, and thus begin a real top down change.

Rinske Geerlings commented on 09-Dec-2010 03:42 PM

The biggest challenge?

Not falling into the trap of acting like a man, and as a result being neither a woman nor a man.

This quote (by a man!) sums it up:
"Women who aim to be like men lack ambition"

Madge - again commented on 09-Dec-2010 05:35 PM

Dear Sphinxx thanks for the opportunity to suggest the names of some blokes for the conference. i will put my thinking cap on though none immediately leap to mind. i previously commented on the less than thrilling title of the conference - worthy perhaps, enticing no. it could perhaps have been called What Women Want at the Board Table (not on which brings to mind John Brown and his wife c1990) which would have been a play on the film suggesting some humour in a serious topic. (I do acknowledge there is a fine line in using previously sexed-up words which is a topic for another time.) men might be slightly more intrigued and perhaps interested in attending even once they got past the blurb. you might even get away with using phrases like "gender equality" and "glass ceiling" , "equity" and "diversity" with a different approach. if these words and phrases leave me cold i imagine men would respond similarly.

Tereasa Trevor commented on 09-Dec-2010 10:35 PM

The biggest challenge facing women is the art of actively supporting, encouraging and mentoring each other. I've found the greatest support, and the greatest challenges coming from women. We can be each other's biggest advocates, yet so often it's the case that gossip, politics and pretense gets in the way.
Sometimes I think it's been forgotten that women created a movement out of collective dissatisfaction with their choices. Now it's up to this generation to carry the responsibility of choice by making decisions that continue to allow greater choice for ourselves and others.
That means understanding flexible work arrangements. That means discovering how to support and ask for diverse work styles. It means building networks and programs from the ground up if need be.
Encouraging and understanding, without more of it, we're not going to embed the changes we seek.

Kim Wilkinson commented on 10-Dec-2010 06:07 AM

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges for women is changing the attitude of men, as a whole, to working with women in senior roles. As individuals men will often respect a female's skills and support her ambitions, however, in a group situation they band together and resist change.

Bridget Ransome commented on 10-Dec-2010 12:01 PM

I believe the biggest challenge for women in firms today rests with our belief in ourselves. If we constantly defer to what others have (for example, men in business) we only serve to highlight our own lack. Highlighting a lack of something or constantly comparing ourselves to others that have more of what we want only focusses on creating more of the same in our lives. Women should be proud of their individual abilities, characteristics and successes.

Sarah Wilshaw-Sparkes commented on 23-Dec-2010 06:46 AM

I think the major challenge in professional service firms is the lack of true partner commitment to seeking solutions that will enable them to hang onto their female talent while still meeting client expectations. And right behind that challenge lie the unconscious biases in the heads of the leaders (affinity bias etc).

These challenges are really problematic for women to actively address themselves because they are about attitudes in other people's heads. Anything we do that lies within our immediate sphere of influence to "solve" the situation will not get to the core of the problem.

The GFC hasn't helped: it strongly refocused professional service firms on clients and away from their talent, who simultaneously became meeker.

Another challenge not listed in the comments above is the ghettoisation of concepts like flexibility and balance as wimmin's issues. Men want choices too but that isn't talked about. Interestingly, I know of one firm where in fact some men as well as women had short working weeks, and ALL of them, men and women, failed to maintain their original part time arrangement. Some ramped up from 60 to 80%, others returned to 100%, others left the firm. I think part time is very problematic in the overdelivery culture of these firms.

Also interesting is a comment I heard that when dads have a 4 day week, they focus on work 4 days and then focus on the child on the fifth. The mum in the same situation never stops thinking about the child...

The SheEO commented on 23-Dec-2010 10:47 AM

Really interesting points you raise Sarah - and really shows where we need to focus some firm attention - ie on men and women, not just "wimmin" as you point out. Thanks very much for the comment.

Tracy McGawn commented on 11-Jul-2011 03:02 PM

I wonder if you are going to do another seminar? Unfortunately I missed out on this one. I guess I'm in the position where this is most critical, being a female manager in an audit division. I'm one of two female managers in the office, and being 29 I'm
starting to think about the possibility of maintaining my career at the same time as having a family. My company is being supportive of any changes that I may require (so the boss tells me - putting it into practice will be the big test), however I doubt there
is the actual possibility of being a partner. I would also like to support the young female talent that has joined our firm over the last year or two. However having nothing to benchmark against what is ok and what isn't, I'm going to have to be the pioneer!
Any comments/suggestions/inspirations would be greatly appreciated

The SheEO commented on 11-Jul-2011 10:56 PM

Hi Tracy we don't currently have anything planned... but there's always events being added to our recommendations page. Sounds like you have a lot to contemplate... if I can help please don't hesitate to use the contact us page to drop me a line. Good
luck with it! jen

Why we need to become more proactive about gender diversity, and avoid 70s style conscience-raising when tackling female advancement blockers - as observed by female architect - plus what it is the role of women only networking events

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

What happens when you gather together 200 female architects to discuss the advancement of women in this archetypal “old man’s profession”? They “trade horror stories” and sympathise with one another, as described by event organiser Sandra Kaji-O’Grady, a professor at Sydney University. Read More

Corporate Express CEO leads by example in the advancement of women

Sunday, November 28, 2010

I was delighted to learn that Paul Hitchcock, CEO of Corporate Express Australia Ltd was announced the 2010 winner of the EOWA Award for Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women. I have watched Paul elevate the status of women at Corporate Express ever since I was invited to present to an internal gathering for International Women’s Day at their head office last year. This is truly a best practice example of how quickly change can be accomplished, when it is driven from the top. Read More

Yes I still want to receive your tips and recommendations on good ideas and articles to share!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thank you to all of you who continue to contact me with ideas, articles and good news to share. I love receiving your tips and guest blogs and I'm very happy to publish them. If you've sent something during November that hasn't appeared yet on The SheEO Blog, I send my apologies. It is coming - and just caught up in a bit of backlog with all the travel over the past month for our final Ascend development day series and a number of presentations I was engaged to deliver around the country side. Read More

Guidelines for the Formation of a Mastermind Group - a guest blog by David Solomon - Part 2

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

In Part 1 last week we looked at both the obvious and not-so-obvious benefits of being involved in a Mastermind group. Today we’ll look at how to set up and run an effective Mastermind. The ideal size of a Mastermind ranges from four to nine members: any more than that can be hard to manage and hard for everybody to fully participate. Ideally the group would meet in person, but it is possible to conduct a Mastermind group remotely. However, one thing is constant - the members of the group make a commitment to attend regularly and to contribute to each others' success. Read More

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Latest Posts

RECOMMENDED: The National Assembly on Gender Equity & Inclusion - in MELBOURNE - 19th April 2012

Comments

Thumbs up to Virgin's Velocity Rewards - frequent travelers can now take parental leave without losing status credits

Comments

Winners of 2011 EOWA Business Achievement Awards announced - CSL, NAB, Maddocks and Rio Tinto amongst winners

Comments

Only 3 days left for the earlybird offer to Executing Womens Initiatives in Firms event

Comments

Don't forget to post your comment to win a registration valued at $995 to Executive Women's Initiatives Within Firms

Comments

How can we attract and retain more women in professional firms? The realities of being a woman in professional services and driving change from within

Comments

Why we need to become more proactive about gender diversity, and avoid 70s style conscience-raising when tackling female advancement blockers - as observed by female architect - plus what it is the role of women only networking events

Comments

Corporate Express CEO leads by example in the advancement of women

Comments

Yes I still want to receive your tips and recommendations on good ideas and articles to share!

Comments

Guidelines for the Formation of a Mastermind Group - a guest blog by David Solomon - Part 2

Comments