Thoughts on university leadership
Groups that include both men and women are more intelligent, they achieve greater profitability and they make working environments better. Norway’s segregated workplaces are not optimal.
This is why we need to work to recruit more women to professions in which they are underrepresented — and more men where they are underrepresented. Workplaces that could be better for men and women are one of the topics we discuss today, on International Women’s Day. Read more why you need a woman…
Gender-enhanced science is research in which deliberate efforts are made to include differences between men and women in research projects, especially those leading to product development.
The leading cause of fetal death resulting from maternal trauma is from car crashes. Yet seatbelts are developed based on research on male bodies. Read more…
Medical science improves our lives by developing treatments for illnesses. But if a treatment is going to work for everyone, research and testing must be done on a varied population. The challenges of science often lead to just the opposite situation. One way to test if a drug is actually having the hypothesized effect is to give it to several people who are otherwise as similar as possible. Medical treatments may therefore be developed without sufficient testing on both men and women. Read more…
The “obvious” tension between diversity and quality leapt onto the front page this week through a debate at Smith College. And just in case you’re unsure, the putatively obvious connection is that increasing diversity decreases quality.
The debate at Smith presents a new twist on this issue, and it offers at least two lessons to university leaders everywhere. Click here to read these lessons…
This posting first appeared as a guest blog at University World News on February 19th, 2012. European universities are failing in the way they use human resources. Women are underrepresented at the top levels of academia, and there are good reasons to think that this damages universities. In the 27 countries making up the European Union,… Read More…
Everything we know about improving gender diversity points to one uniquely important success factor. The pursuit of enhanced gender equality flourishes or flounders with the interest and investment of an organization’s top leadership.
To get CEOs on board, they need to believe in the cause themselves; they need to believe that gender diversity matters. We must provide the best arguments we can so the people at the top will care.
Women matter. Women in leadership matter. Women in leadership make companies better. And it isn’t that hard to get more women into leadership positions.
These statements convey the core message of four reports, all called Women matter, that were produced by McKinsey & co. between 2007 and 2010. These reports have become extremely influential, providing basic research for pushing the discussion about gender balance forward. The research results in Woman matter help us argue that creating the circumstances for women to advance is not just right, it’s also smart.
Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, has become one of the clearest and most articulate voices on corporate gender diversity.Yet her facts, arguments, and eloquence, haven’t reached Sandberg’s closest colleague. It seems that even a woman at the top can’t convince the man she works side-by-side with.
How many women has Mark Zuckerberg put on Facebook’s board?
There are none. Facebook is run by white men. This shows both a lack of confidence in Sandberg and an apparent disinterest in the relevant research. Sheryl Sandberg now has the opportunity to call him on it.
A manifesto has emerged from the European Gender Summit, held in Brussels in November, 2011. The manifesto is the result of a public consultation building on the recommendations of of the genSET project and others. The European Commission invited the scientific community to recommend specific actions that could strengthen the role of women in science and innovation in its new research program, Horizon 2020.
The fourth and final Women Matter report from McKinsey, Women at the top of corporations: making it happen (WM4), gives us good research and a strengthened foundation on which to expand policies and practices.
How will you get the attention of your top leadership? How will you implement development programs and institutionalize the work of gender diversity? Find your answers to these questions. Your organization’s success depends on it!
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