eve-olution newsletter May 2004
Contents
- Jane Campion – eve-olution's Strategic Coach
- Have Your Say
- Employment Law Update
- eve-olution Masterclass Teleforum
Jane Campion – eve-olution's Strategic Coach
Unfortunately Jane is unable to produce her coaching tip this month. Rest assured she will be back in the saddle next month.
Have Your Say – What Needs to Change?
by Tracey Carr, CEO eve-olution
This year I was thrilled to be invited to sit on various Advisory Boards on Women's Enterprise feeding directly to the Mayors office and the DTI and am currently participating in a Tri-Lateral Summit sharing Best Practice in Women's Enterprise between the UK, USA and Canada.
These formal groupings have given me unique insight into the gap between women's understanding of the barriers that they face, both in the Corporate and Entrepreneurial world, and the recognition and understanding of these barriers by formal bodies.
This week the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, made radical moves to create an equal society by appointing women to some top positions including Head of Police and Head of Fire. What prompted him to make such a radical stand for equality?
Gavin is only 36 and was brought up by a Single Mother whom he says was an excellent role model. Could it be that we are beginning to see the effects of a new generation of Mothers who broke away from the traditional Mothering role?
What is our responsibility as role models to our sons and daughters? How important is our example? Could this be one of the most powerful ways that we can influence thought – by literally being the change that we seek in the world?
There are distinct flip sides to the Diversity coin and any organisation that aspires to true equality must educate women and men about gender differences and seek to understand it's own cultural prejudices and barriers in moving toward fairness at work.
The Advisory Boards and International Summits that I have been privileged to attend are asking the question 'What can Government do to help advance the development of Women's Enterprise?'
And this is our chance to feed back from 'grass roots' what really needs to happen to move away from the current conversation and toward positive and pro-active action that makes a real difference.
Do we need legislation such as they have in the US where organisations bidding for Public Sector work must have a minimum percentage of women to qualify for bidding?
Why aren't companies doing more to understand and promote difference? Who holds them accountable for poor track records?
Some interesting ideas have emerged from my consultation and the mood is definitely toward being 'braver' about how we tackle this hugely complex subject and the call from Diversity Directors in our largest Corporations is for a Senior Role Model who acts as 'Champion' and talks openly on the subject. Somebody who is unafraid and also willing to ask difficult questions.
In order to complete the picture and inform policy from 360 degrees we would like to hear from you on some of the following questions:
- What can Government do to encourage Women's Enterprise?
- What can Government do to change the culture in large corporations?
- What, if anything, is being done to promote difference in your organisation?
- Why do women themselves say 'Don't single me out?'
- Who should be the 'Champion' who asks the difficult questions?
- Are women ambitious enough? Do they want true equality?
Please feel free send your comments to me directly at tracey@eve-olution.net and I guarantee that your thoughts and feelings will be put forward in a positive way and that collectively we can affect real change.
Employment Law Update
Are Employees using the new right to flexible working provisions under the Employment Act 2002?
The right to request flexible working was one of a number of measures introduced by the Employment Act 2002, but have many employees taken up the opportunity to ask for more flexible working arrangements? The Department of Trade and Industry have recently published a survey of 3,500 parents, which aimed to find out how the provisions have been working.
There has apparently been an extraordinary response to the provisions by those entitled to apply, but overwhelmingly only by the mothers. One in four women have asked to change hours. Eight out of ten have had their request granted. One in ten have reached a compromise with the employer. This is the good news.
The bad news is that just one in ten of those men eligible have asked to change hours. The reason for this is because they fear it will adversely affect their career and they will be passed over for promotion or sidelined. Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary acknowledges the problem and has said "for a man to say he wants to balance work and family is so counter cultural that many men fear it is going to be career death."
Despite the optimistic results in the survey by the DTI, there also seems to be other evidence to suggest that the new legal provisions are not always being followed quite so diligently, for instance apparently the correct procedures for considering any relevant request are not always being followed.
These provisions are something for all employers and employees to keep in mind, as these types of provisions are more and more being introduced into legislation. They are all part of the ever-changing working practices necessary to reflect an ever-increasing diverse and inclusive workforce.
eve-olution Masterclass Teleforum
The second in a series of six eve-olution Teleconferenced Masterclasses took place on Wednesday 28th April. These sessions allow alumni of the Creative Female Leader Programme to keep in touch through facilitated debate of current issues relevant to their work as senior women in business. It's also an opportunity to share successes and coach each other on any specific issues they are currently facing.
The one-hour sessions are held as a teleconference, for one hour on a Wednesday evening, once a month. This flexibility enables busy women to keep in contact and to continue the learning they began together on the Creative Female Leader Programme.
Our current group of six hails from a range of backgrounds, partly high-level corporate and also self-employed. Recent discussions have centred around whether 'Women Lack Ambition' (hotly debated following this months article in the Harvard Business Review), how we can be true to our values in the workplace, and how to silence the 'gremlins' of self-doubt and master your own self-confidence in everyday situations.