World Women Trade Fair

Ms. Okoli-Owube, 31, faced this dilemma first hand.  Even with a university degree, she found herself struggling to start a business and learn business skills at the same time. When she “saw a local newspaper advertisement last spring for 10,000 Women, a global entrepreneurship program run by Goldman Sachs, she and about 100 other women jumped at the chance to apply.”

As reported by the New York Times in Business Skills for Women in Emerging Markets, the welfare of girls and women has long been on the agenda of international agencies. The World Bank, for example, announced steps earlier this year to increase support for women entrepreneurs by channeling some $100 million in commercial credit lines to them by 2012.

But corporations have also begun to take their economic power more seriously, especially in emerging markets.

Many corporate programs employ microloans, grants or gifts to promote business education. Goldman decided to take a different approach after its research showed that per-capita income in Brazil, China, India, Russia and other emerging markets could rise by as much as 14 percent if women had better management and entrepreneurial skills.

“It’s not only philanthropy they’re after,” said Geeta Rao Gupta, president of the International Center for Research on Women. Goldman “had the idea that investment in women means a return on the gross national product of the country, and on household income.”

The company set aside $100 million over five years to bring business education to 10,000 qualified women business owners in developing countries, a commitment that remains unchanged despite banking industry turmoil.

Ms. Rao Gupta said the long-term view that Goldman and others were taking in emerging markets might help form a new economic stratum in societies where women’s participation in business traditionally had been restricted. Laws and customs in some countries, for example, bar women from opening bank accounts or require a husband’s permission to set up a company.

“This is the next step for women because it’s investing long term in business skills,” said Ms. Rao Gupta, whose institute researches and provides technical assistance for women in developing countries.

It has been said: “If you want to help a country, help the women in it.”  We applaud this commitment to women in developing countries.  We hope it continues and expands.  There is no question, in my mind, it will be a success in enpowering these women and consequently helping their families and their entire communities.

Photo Credit: World Women Trade Fair – The Goal of the International Handcrafted Gift and Home Textile Expo . is to assist women entrepreneurs living in third-world countries to ACCESS  GLOBAL MARKETS , and to also create awareness of the potential of TRADE as a mechanism for development and poverty reduction in developing countries. They use fair trade practices and eco-friendly products that do not destroy the environment. They are helping to reduce the level of poverty through community projects-building schools, health clinics, and providing training programs to other artisans leading to job creation.

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A non-profit, non-partisan organization and forum, The Women’s Conference educates, inspires and empowers women through an annual convention and the WE Empower network. Under the leadership of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver, The Women’s Conference has grown from a small government initiative for working professionals into a far-reaching organization, a life-changing experience, and an international network of women from all walks of life, backgrounds and perspectives.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

First First Lady Maria Shriver is calling on all attendees of The Women’s Conference 2008 to help alleviate the food shortage in California. As Honorary Chair of CaliforniaVolunteers, she believes that all 37 million Californians have the ability to serve and make a positive impact in their communities. By launching the largest statewide volunteer matching network at www.CaliforniaVolunteers.org, the people of California can connect with thousands of volunteer opportunities.Lady Maria Shriver is calling on all attendees of The Women’s Conference 2008 to help alleviate the food shortage in California. As Honorary Chair of CaliforniaVolunteers, she believes that all 37 million Californians have the ability to serve and make a positive impact in their communities. By launching the largest statewide volunteer matching network at www.CaliforniaVolunteers.org, the people of California can connect with thousands of volunteer opportunities.

Shriver has transformed the Women’s Conference into one of the nation’s largest and most successful one-day women’s conferences, with past speakers including Oprah Winfrey, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jane Fonda, Queen Noor of Jordan and Suze Orman. She also created the Minerva Awards (named after the Goddess Minerva on the California State Seal who epitomizes courage, wisdom and strength), given annually at the conference, to highlight the achievements of California women who make extraordinary contributions to their communities and the state.

This is the type of community building and empowerment which AdvancingWomen.com fully supports and is dedicated to supporting.  Do you have any thoughts or stories you want to share with others, any experiences about how you’ve helped empower others or been empowered yourself?  If so, please do share them.

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Women In Leadership-AdvancingWomen.com

There currently are 12 women CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies heading up these giant enterprises from health care, to agriculture to food and beverages.

Considering that almost half the workforce consists of women, and half of management and professionals are women – Why so few? Leaving aside for the moment the systemic issues in our society which devalue women’s work, let’s look at an area we do control: ourselves.  At the heart of the matter may be the hesitation of women to sell themselves, to practice AFTO, “Ask for the order”. Even salespeople sometimes fail to directly “ask for the order” that they have worked hard to acquire. Women can make the same mistake. Women often wait to be invited to participate, whereas men, in general, seem to have a level of confidence in believing that others want to hear what they have to say. Women have often been trained in humility, but humility does not breed opportunity.

A workshop at a New Jersey campus offers seven tips for women leaders that can be categorized as wellbeing, networking, asking, negotiating, focusing, fitting, and announcing. These seven outliers define how asking for the order can help women become more outspoken about what they want. Examining these seven tips for women leaders from the perspective of having an “ask for the order” mentality can equal success. Let’s look at a couple of them:

Networking

Build a network of mentors and allies who will challenge and support you. Networking is the avenue to gaining knowledge and introductions, and it’s the time to make the best of what you’ve got. Because application of performance improvement is a very good way to demonstrate its benefits, strive to showcase what you have done to apply your knowledge. Apply a networking approach that includes attention, attitude, and attendance to help you realize your networking goals.

• Maintain attention; stay alert to opportunities
• Maintain attitude; stay motivated
• Maintain attendance stay in the forefront

Asking

Know what you want and ask for it, whether it is a promotion or a new assignment. This is the key component in asking for the order. This mere act of doing in conjunction with the other tips for women leaders can bring about amazing results.

Negotiating

Rather than permit a NO to stop you, negotiate to an even better YES, but only when the time is right. We need to weigh the situation and determine if it is better to seek to change the condition, do nothing, or run away from the situation. There are times appropriate to each of these choices. Sometimes it is best to work through the issue. Other times you must run for your life. And other times it is best to do nothing when in doubt. So there is more than fight or flight in decision making, there is the option to freeze. Ask for the order when the time is right.

• Fight means to battle or negotiate to solve the situation.
• Freeze means to do nothing and tolerate the situation.
• Flee means to run away or leave the situation.

Focusing

Define your unique leadership values that will contribute to the success of the organization or community. We are all unique and special, but we need to identify how that bears upon the leadership role we seek. Asking for the order in this area means to be able to identify what you bring to the role. It might help you to identify your strengths, opportunities, and restrictions, permitting you to focus upon those areas in which you excel, where you can find support, and where you have weaknesses or threats standing in your way. This can be a kind of self-evaluation process to determine readiness for the targeted endeavor.

• Evaluate your strengths (Internal Environmental Factors)

Strengths are those internal assets you posses that will aid you in your ability to accomplish your objectives. Strengths are among your internal environmental factors.

• Explore your opportunities (External Environmental Factors)

Opportunities are those external aids that can assist you in managing the problem at a particular time and enhance your ability to accomplish your objectives. Opportunities are among your external environmental factors.

• Estimate your restrictions (Internal and External Environmental Factors)

Restrictions are those internal and external conditions such as weaknesses or threats that can impede your progress or your ability to accomplish your objectives. Weaknesses are those restrictions among your internal environmental factors and threats are those restrictions among your external environmental factors.

Fitting

Seek a match between you and the task or job. Do what you like. Chances are the job is one that best fits your personality and skills. In order to know this you might use some of the personality type indicators that can help you to assess where you might best fit into a leadership role. Once you are sure about your match for the job, you will have greater confidence in asking for the order.

Go ahead….ask for the Order

Sharon L. Bender, Ph.D. is an educator and author. She is also the inventor of a plethora of problem solving models. To contact Sharon, please visit sharonbender.com.

To read all of this go to Women In Leadership-AdvancingWomen.com

For some reason…who knows why…could  be generations of stereotyping ….plenty of things about women in the workplace still puzzle many a male manager.

As an HR leader and working woman for a generation, Liz Ryan has compiled a Top Ten list of tidbits that the women in your workplace would love for you to know. We’ve selected four to share with you but for the rest, go to Women In The Workplace, AdvancingWomen.com

• Don’t assume that I don’t know what I’m doing.

It shouldn’t happen, after all these years, but female software engineers still report that their male colleagues say things like “Check her code again, just in case.” Because she’s a woman. And it shouldn’t happen, but when a woman gets promoted, someone is sure to say “Well, they must have needed more women in management.” What if she’s just, well, qualified? Can we assume that men and women are equally equipped to do their jobs?

• Don’t worry about my family – they’re fine.

Working women report being caught in a vise – when they’re going great guns at work, their bosses still give them less challenging assignments or stall their career growth “for the sake of your kids.” They’re my kids, for Pete’s sake! I’m perfectly capable of deciding how many hours at the office, how much travel, and what size job I can manage while parenting them. You, as my boss, have nothing to do with it.

• Don’t dismiss my non-linear judgment.

It’s well established that women’s and men’s brains operate differently. But there’s a great tendency in the corporate world to pooh-pooh and belittle the non-linear, intuitive decision-making that so many women are so good at. If I’m getting the right answer most of the time, I deserve to get airtime: even if I don’t lay out my argument in your favored Powerpoint-style, data-driven format.

• Don’t make me your mother, or your child.

It happens every day: a working woman realizes that her male boss or co-worker has substituted her for his mom or daughter, to her utter dismay. If you’re treated with respect, kid gloves, deference and have no influence in decisions – and are “protected” from bad news – then you’re Mom. If you’re treated graciously and carefully and kept out of difficult or thorny situations, you’re somebody’s surrogate daughter. Women won’t tolerate that. We are just who we are – women that you hired, women who will make your company thrive and flourish, if you let us.

Liz Ryan is a former Fortune 500 HR executive, workplace expert , writer, consultant and speaker (http://www.asklizryan.com). Liz lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Let us know what you think, or comment and share your own workplace stories.

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Image via Wikipedia

Changing Expectations and Strategies to Achieve Successful Career Integration

Society is sending women conflicting messages about which elements constitute success for a woman. Should she bake a perfect blueberry pie and chauffeur around kids with sparkling white socks, or should she aspire to be a corporate attorney for a Fortune 500 company and hire a nanny and a cook to shoulder some of the household duties.

In fact, both of those images conjure up a type of perfectionism women should aspire to, which, in itself, is a problem. The fact that both ideals are diametrically opposed makes a choice even more painful. To achieve great success in one area, almost certainly means giving up on great success in the other, at least, as both work and family are structured today.

Starkly put, this ambivalence about women’s role assumes that it is not possible to fulfill both roles as well as one should and, consciously or unconsciously, results in the “dumbing down” of women, who often choose less demanding careers, or avoid some career tracks altogether.

At times, women have taken it upon themselves to lower their expectations at work, in order to fulfill their obligations at home. A woman might choose to stay in a position in human resources, for example, rather than seek as job as a line executive, responsible for profits. Her career prospects would definitely be enhanced as a line executive but that career path might force her to travel, or subject her family to frequent moves.

This avoidance of career opportunities not only extracts an emotional as well as career price, hindering advancement but also affects the balance of power in the home, as the primary wage earner garners more prestige and respect and increasingly dominates the decision making. This unfortunate cycle leaves the woman with even fewer choices and increasingly less opportunity to grow and move along a successful career path.

Kim Babjak in StartupNation Blog writes Take me serious, or else!: “How do we get taken seriously about being sister-preneurs?  My husband, I love to death and have been with for 25 yrs… needs to be continually trained and educated on the principals of homemaker/entrepreneurism. I am sad to say that the topic of the current Sara Palin phenomenon that I do not understand; how can you be a mom and run the world?

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We thought you might want to hear more from the co-founder of The New Agenda., a new non-partisan group for women’s rights.

Amy Siskind, co-founder of The New Agenda

“On September 10 our own Amy Siskind was the guest on Tommy Christopher’s Unusable Signal on BlogTalkRadio.
Amy talked with co-hosts Tommy Christopher and Tom Fitzsimmons about the founding of  The New Agenda and explained the group’s non-partisan mission and goals.

We’ve excerpted a few snippets from the hour-long interview to share here. Just click on each link to transform it into a tiny little in-line mp3 player” — to listen, go to The New Agenda.

( Disclosure – I am also a co-founder of The New Agenda, a group characterized as a “big tent”, with members having a whole range of different idealogies but joined in their commitment to women’s rights.  So I guess it would be fair to say, like all members of The New Agenda, I am a committed supporter of women’s rights and the goal of advancing women…. as if that weren’t perfectly clear to all who follow AdvancingWomen.com and this blog.  However, the reason I will be following and reporting on The New Agenda from time to time, is because the group has formed and taken a bold, activist and leadership role in protecting and advancing women’s rights in multliple venues and on many levels. For women everywhere, this should be extremely newsworthy and relevant to their lives.   If you have comments or feedback, agree or disagree, we invite you to share your thoughts )

Blogger, Bud White contrasts JFK’s choice of Lyndon Johnson to unite the party and give it geographical balance with Obama’s refusal to choose his closest contender Hillary Clinton, defining it as a poor political decision, reinforcing his worst traits.  He also goes on to cast it as a sexist decision which has infuriated and energized some women and as turning the tide of some women against him.