That’s right, ladies. Having women in business and in powerful positions can make our country so much better. Obviously, millions of people thought so when they voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Special Envoy for Women and Children (SEWC), the African Union for Peace and Security Council (AUPSC), as well as Bineta Diop, and I’m foundedr of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Cherie Blair herself, took part in a panel at the Fortune-Time Global Forum in Rome, Italy.
They argued that businesses should harness the power of women to grow. Diop said:
“It’s not just about doing good. It’s also doing the smart things because women have the capacity and knowledge and competence to bring another dimension into the workplace.”
Placing women in leadership roles could really help an organization.
As Women of HR reported:
“In 2007, a not-for-profit organization Catalyst reported that Fortune 500 companies having females as board members show significantly better financial performance than those having low female representation. The surveys took into account three points- return on sales, return on equity and return on the investment and found that companies having better female representation excelled on all the three parameters.”
Women are often better communicators than men. We are also great at networking and building relationships with potential business contacts.
Research from the Harvard Business Review shows that women rate higher than their male counterparts in relationship building skills. This works for inter-office relationships, as well as client satisfaction.
Gallup reported some advantages to having gender-diverse teams:
- They offer different viewpoints and ideas, which can help in creative problem-solving.
- They can help your company serve a more diverse client base.
- They can also help companies attract and maintain talented women.
Many fields, especially those in science and technology, are still male-dominated. It’s getting better, but professions such as software development are lacking in women. These companies, and many others, would benefit with more women on their teams. We have gained many rights, ladies, but we still have more work to do.
Watch Bineta Diop speak about women in leadership roles on the panel:
Watch this TedTALK for more information on the research into women in leadership roles:
Featured image by Ray_LAC via Flickr, available under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
