Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations

2016 was quite a year for gender equality – we started with the pledge of CEO’s to combat gender disparity at the World Economic Forum in Davos at the beginning of the year, and in September 2016, at the UN’s General Assembly, Step It Up for Gender Equality was launched. We are seeing a global shift to accelerate gender balance with Governments, Global Organisations, Senior leaders committing to make a difference.

A great addition to these steps was the launch of Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations, (ECWO) part of Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) in The Netherlands, in February 2016. This is the first dedicated Academic Centre to advancing women in leadership across multiply sectors globally. It’s concerning that even though women represent a higher percentage of graduates than men (51% in 28 EU states, 2016), when they enter the workplace women are continually faced with challenges that inhibit the growth and success of their careers.

Professor Dianne Bevelander who created ECWO states that it’s not surprising women struggle in the workplace as most business schools teach male-centered principles to leadership that have been developed by men, for men. The impact of this could be a key contributor to the culture we see in many organisations, with a mere average of 4% of women being represented at C-Suite in the 28 European States (EU Commission, 2015).

A few weeks ago I attended the Women in Leadership Executive Programme at ECWO. Providing opportunities for women to advance is really important to me, yet when I arrived at RSM I became unsure about following a programme with only women. Would it provide me with the right tools, was it going to be a men bashing two days, how will this help me advance? Through the guidance of Prof. Dianne Bevelander I was reminded how important and necessary a women only leadership course is.

The experience was similar to being a member of PWN Global where we provide a platform for women to come together to share, learn and advance. It’s a safe place to have a dialogue about challenges and experiences without being judged or questioned. The openness and honesty in the discussions we had at ECWO were enlightening and helpful, though slightly shocking that so many women continue to face the same hurdles again, and again, and again. This course recognised the importance of inclusion, addressed biases that we as women have, that can hold us back, and most importantly, it was a programme that supports female advancement not fixes them!

Women need to have a learning environment where they can develop as leaders, where they can identify their added value to organisations, and where they can be taught to be strong, courageous leaders of the future. The Women in Leadership executive programme is part of a series that ECWO offers and I would highly recommend them to other professional women. Research tells us that men and women prefer male leaders, recognise them as role models for leaders (Mercer - When Women Thrive, 2016; Esther Mollema’s Mindbugs research, 2015). This skewed perspective is something that we can change by being aware of our own biases and making the shift towards embracing female leaders for all the great qualities and economic benefits they can bring to teams, organisations and Nations. Dianne told us ‘it’s not about being right, it’s about doing the right thing’.

The Women in Leadership 2-day programme is a powerful, interactive, thought provoking learning opportunity for women who want to make a difference. For more information about ECWO and the executive programmes go to: http://www.rsm.nl/ecwo/about-ecwo/

_{Author: Wendy Mackey Jones, Executive Director, PWN Global}

_{Date: October 2016}