The Female Factor
Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, has maintained that "Women account for one-half of the potential talent base throughout the world and therefore, over time, a nation's competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its female talent".
This statement sums up the role of women in rebuilding the economy, as well as the part they will play in mending society on the whole. The term "Female Factor" refers to a series of articles published in the New York Times that highlight women's role in the economy.
"The Girl Effect" was a panel discussion at the WEF that was started by the Nike Foundation and headed by Nicholas Kristoff of The New York Times. The panel focused specifically on woman's issues in developing countries, seeking to encourage women to get an education in order to make more informed choices about their lives.
Speaking about her experience in Davos this year, Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkley, commented that this might have been the first time that tampons were highlighted as a big idea at the WEF. The thinking behind this being that if young girls do not have adequate sanitary protection, they will be too embarrassed to go to school and will ultimately sacrifice their education. This type of discussion, as basic as it may seem, signals the level of grass-root issues that are still being addressed within developing economies.
We are beginning to notice a shift in the attitude towards women's role in the economy and in society at large. At Davos, the Nike Foundation has taken notice of the fact, and have invested directly into the growth and education of the girls who will soon have a large part to play in global economic turnaround.
Large companies displaying this type of foresight are beginning to pour more resources into cultivating female talent, which they are realizing will serve in their favour in years to come. For example Glodman Sachs launched a "Returnship Programme" in 2009 that offers women who have temporarily put their careers on hold (for reasons such as motherhood) an opportunity to build inroads back into the business place. The "Returnship Programme" offers so-called "on-rampers" an opportunity to sharpen their skills and talents during an 8-week course. As a result, the company was able to hire half the participants from the pilot course for placement in various divisions.
Leader of the Women's Leadership Initiative and author of "Women Lead the Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World" Linda Tarr-Whelan contends that "women are the most underutilized natural resource we have to jumpstart economic growth". They increasingly make up the majority of college and university graduates across the US, and on a global scale, control up to 80% of all purchase decisions.
Business and economy aside, women are also beginning to play key roles in mending the social fabric in countries that have experienced civil unrest. In an article published on The New York Times entitled A Female Approach to Peacekeeping, journalist Doreen Carvajal explores a UN peacekeeping initiative in Liberia, which recruits women to bring peace to the war-torn country. Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says about the campaign: "What a woman brings to the task is extra sensitivity, more caring, I think that these are the characteristics that come from being a mother, taking care of a family, being concerned about children, managing the home."
What women offer to both business and civil society is a unique set of social skills such as the ability to see situations more holistically and to read between the lines. Women also display the urge to create communities around themselves – an obvious benefit in the workplace where one would expect all the players to be working towards the same goal. These skills are less measurable than the masculine, left-brain skills such as logical, linear-style thinking. Judy Rosener, PhD, a professor at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California made this comment:
Having studied professional women and men in the workplace for over 25 years, I am convinced the reason women have continued to be disadvantaged when it comes to "climbing the corporate level" is due to the fact that most policies (recruitment, performance measures, evaluation and benefits and perks) and practices (how tasks are assigned, etc.) are based on male attributes which are easily measured. Women who exhibit "female associated attributes such as comfort with ambiguity, ability to pick up subliminal cues, develop relationships, etc. which are much needed in today's global environment are difficult to measure...What is needed is to change perceptions...policies and practices that devalue female attributes.
Corporate and political entities are making provisions to get women on board. Already back in 2002 the Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry proposed a law requiring 40% of the board members of privately owned companies to be women. According to US based research company Catalyst, and backed up by a similar report done on gender balance and performance by McKinsey & Company, having women in leading positions is linked to better financial performance. Companies that realise the positive financial impact of an equitably female-based approach to business have by and large escaped the severity of the financial meltdown.
If the Nike Foundation and Goldman Sachs, amongst others, are beginning to invest in women on such a recognisable scale, shouldn't all companies be doing the same thing? These progressive programmes can see how their women's subtle skill set and sheer consumer force has the potential to bring about the much-needed changes in corporate business as well as the wider global economy.
Observation by Loren Phillips
Photograph: REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly
