WIL EVENT REPORTS

WIL session during the Global Forum in ICT

Posted in WIL event reports
08 November 2011 - Brussels

For the second time, the organizers of the Global Forum in ICT have handed over to WIL the mission to engage the key ICT stakeholders gathering annually to this prestigious event, in a debate on promoting women in the information society. Several profound speakers brought forward best practices to nourish the female talent pipeline. The event was also an opportunity to officially present the WIL Women Talent Pool program.

The framework was set up by Mary Honeyball, Member Committees on Culture and Education & on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament and Cecilia Castano Collado, Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, who is running extensive research on gender and ICT.

MEP Mary Honeyball warned about falling under the complacency, that women have already ‘done it’ and called upon women in leadership positions to keep campaigning themselves. The MEP also stressed that in order to improve gender balance there is a need to focus on the practical arrangements, such as sorting out the work-life balance. We should take steps towards reaching more acceptance of flexible/part-time working including fighting the culture of presenteeism, in which it is those who are ‘there’, e.g. going for drinks after work, that aregetting promoted. We also need to start changing attitudes about parental responsibility. Affordable childcare should become part of the very fabric of our society.

Cecilia Castano Collado, Full Professor, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, spoke more specifically on women in ICT and shared her perspective on smart, sustainable, inclusive growth being gender inclusive growth. Dr. Castano took the opportunity to present the findings from a 2008 survey on ICT research groups in Spain. Gender diverse organisations and institutions are more flexible and open, closer to the people and society. What is needed, she argued, are changes both in cultural practices and policies aimed at institutional and cultural bodies to increase women’s participation and improve their access to leadership positions. Dr. Castano also stressed the importance of improving employer practices, the challenge being reforming private and public institutions in the field of science and IT. Another topic touched upon by Dr. Castano was the approach to ways of attaining a gender-balance - in her view we should change from the insistence on the presence of women to the insistence on having women on high-level positions.

Drawing on her 10 years of experience in the field and recent research on the topic, Samia Melhem, Senior Operations Officer Global ICT Department, World Bank Group, discussed the issue of ICT adoption and production by women in developing countries. Mrs Melhem stressed that in the developing countries there are huge disparities in how men and women adopt ICT and a lot of stigma associated with women; using the internet or a mobile by a woman is seen as daring. When the World Bank builds telecenters in the developing world to provide free trainings, it is usually boys and men that take advantage. Therefore there is a need for proactive policies to ensure a certain level of women participation in each project. One way of approaching the issue applied by the World Bank is hiring gender experts to conduct trainings on how to use mobile platforms. Mrs Melhem also discussed the participation of women in developing countries in the science and technology fields. There is a stereotype that women can’t be successful engineers or computer scientists. According to Mrs Melhem’s view, one solution to the issue is to create incentives – connecting science and technology with jobs. In order to build the talent pipeline early on, messages at primary and secondary schools need to be reformed.

Ingrid Andersson, Senior Executive Advisor at the Swedish Patient Certificate Scheme, shared her experiences working on a program with the OECD on fostering women entrepreneurship in the MENA region. According to research, women drive job creation, economic growth and social cohesion. When women intervene in society, democratization process is better implemented, investments in health and education and the creation of new companies being among the first visible results.

Jo Perrin, Director of International Public Relations, Verizon, touched upon the power of technology to create opportunities for women and the ways in which women can apply technology to their benefit. Mrs Perrin stressed the importance of networks - they give women a voice, more access to information, education, information and ideas and opportunities to share on a global basis. She also spoke about technology enabling us to create our own circles of trust, which can help people rise to higher levels of leadership. She also explained how Verizon advances its female employees through its own women’s network. The idea is focused around mentoring, community outreach, removing the geographical barriers and create Verizon committees across Europe and the globe. As a best practice case, Mrs. Perrin also presented Verizon’s ‘Getting To Know You’ programme, giving to women wanting to advance in the organization access to the senior leaders and organizing live sessions, during which women on top positions share their experiences and talk about their career paths.

Margot Dor, Director Partnerships & EU Affairs, European Telecommunications Standards Institute, presented a different view on the issue of female representation. She advised women to play the system, rather than fight it.

Alison Birkett, Asia Coordinator; Japan, Korea; UN Broadband Commission at the European Commission, stressed that the EU is concerned about the issue of the pipeline of women in ICT. The EU commission has set up a code of best practices supported by around 60 ICT companies and organisations in Europe, which looks at several aspects including education, recruitment, career development and returning to work after leave. Solutions to some of these issues are in the classroom, not just the boardroom; role models of successful women should render themselves more often. Mrs Birkett also spoke about the perception that women are not very good at technology, drawing on a unique example of the testimony of Ms Kate Craig-Wood, Female Entrepreneur, Technology Speaker & Green IT Expert, who underwent a gender reassignment and claims, that after the sex change, it has become very difficult to get the ‘guys’ to take her seriously when talking about technology. To conclude, Mrs Birkett listed possible solutions to push things forward: networking, mentoring, promotion and understanding.

During the event we have been presented research results, which show that gender diversity is related to excellence and innovation, women drive job creation, economic growth and social cohesion. When women go in, we can observe a better democratization process, investment in health and education and new companies creation. According to our guest speakers, in order to move forward and we need to go into the younger generation. There is a need of changes in the classroom, not just the boardroom. We also need to address the issues of work-life balance. Technology can be used by women to their benefit; it enables us to create our own circles of trust, e.g. networks, which can help people rise to higher levels of leadership, as well as makes flexible, family-friendly working more feasible.

Women Talent Pool


During the second part of the event, we took the opportunity to present the Women Talent Pool - a 36-months programme, built to help women on mid-level management positions grow professionally, through offering them networking and learning opportunities.

The main sponsors, Brigitte Dumont, Deputy Group HR, Executive Vice-president France Télécom, and Elena Bonfiglioli, Senior Director Health EMEA, Microsoft, explained why they chose to endorse this program and how it comes in prolongation of their companies’ strategy to boost women’s participation.
Their appeal to support the next generation of leaders was strengthened by the testimonies of the WIL members directly involved in the program, as well as two promising Talent Pool participants.

Katherine Corich, CEO Sysdoc, wants to be a coach because she believes that the challenges females face in the workplace aren’t around talent; there is a serious need for change in the workplace and organisations that lead some of the big decisions in the world. According to her view, this can be achieved only with diversity. She would like to see young women being coached to learn to challenge and deliver the change we need; “I want to see become better leaders to make the world a better place. I also want to see much, much more job creations and I think both of those are possible”. Katherine Corich also offered a piece of advice to younger women, to never compromise on themselves or their own values. She believes that she will also learn from the programme - interacting with new people and new cultures gives you a perspective perhaps you haven’t had before.

Sabine Lochmann, General Manager Market Access, Johnson & Johnson Medical Companies noted, that when  want to reach a leadership position, they are entering into competition with males. A platform such as WIL allows women to share their views and insights about leadership .The piece of advice Sabine Lochmann would give to women, is to trust in themselves and their vision about what they want to do and to stick to it. She believes that when we are giving, we are also receiving – globally and individually growing, thanks to these exchanges, talks.

The experience Isabella de Michelis di Slongello, Vice-president for Public Policy and Government Affairs, Europe, Middle East & North Africa, Qualcomm, shared with WIL members, is that it is the DO minded attitude, that really makes a difference. “To work in a global environment for one of the 500 Fortune companies, operating in 5 different time zones, be a mother, have a social life and still be doing some sports... it’s a challenge” she stated. It is nevertheless feasible and young talents need to know that these realities exist.

The testimonies of Role Models were followed by a short introduction of two Emerging Leaders: Aurélie Feld, Deputy Managing Director, PlaNet Finance and Marie-Hélène Briens, Sales manager, Top Markets, France Télécom, who spoke about their expectations from WTP. What they are looking for in the programme, is access to female role models, opportunities to develop their skills and competencies, being able to learn how to advance their careers.

After hearing the motivating testimonies of the Role Models and Emerging Leaders, we are confident that the programme is going to turn out to be a success and a learning experience for all of its participants. We are looking forward to the January kick-off and being able to share with you its outcomes.

Tags: Elena Bonfiglioli, Brigitte Dumont, Women Talent Pool, Isabella de Michelis di Slonghello, Orange, Jo Perrin, Cecilia Castaño, Girls in IT

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