needs to be noted
After the fourth occurrence in a short time, I decided this needs to be mentioned. In the past two weeks I have spoken at two industry conferences, conducted a workshop at an incubator and spoke today at a National Lab. At each venue, I had a woman approach me (usually between 25-35) and tell me how happy she was to see/hear me. They tell me they still don't have women role models to look up to in leadership roles. They still wonder if there is a way for them to be successful given very few other women have been in the field. They tell me how important it is to see by example a woman in the front of the room. So I would ask all of us: What does it say to women employees/customers/audiences to have no/few women on boards/executive teams/panels/as speakers? And what perspectives are we losing- what products are not coming to market, what technologies are not being developed, what companies are not being funded - by only hearing from half of the population? I believe we can do better - you may not notice but the potential women leaders of the next generation do.
A shout out to: Biofuels Digest / ABLC Next, SynBioBeta, IndieBio and JBEI for having me.
at Merrick & Company
9yI was fortunate to work for a couple of great women leaders early in my career, one of which was Dr Sue Ion (now Dame Sue Ion). This gave me the impression that women leaders in the engineering profession was the norm. It took me a decade after that to realize it is the exception. Thanks for reminding us of this. Anecdotally, I believe there are more women studying engineering than when I was in college (would be interested to see whether the statistics support this). How do we encourage them to stay in the profession and progress into leadership roles ?
Experienced Recruiter, Industry Columnist, and Recruitment Consultant
9yVonnie, I wish you would participate in our young scientists forum at the AAAS SCIENCE website. We want to inspire young women via a frank discussion there about the career issues they will face, and we need mentors like yourself to occasionally answer a question by a poster. Check it out - link is http://scforum.sciencecareers.org/viewforum.php?f=1
Futurist (Prospectiviste) specializing in the transformation of sectors and organizations in the light of the major changes underway - Board member (life sciences and agriculture)
9yNever realize this unquestionable statistic was due to a fierce will of men to disqualify talented women. Thanks for making me think about it.
Former Senior Manager for Communications & Outreach (retired)
9yBerkeley Lab (hopefully NOT the National Lab you had visited) has recognized this gap and has sought to recognize those who are making a difference in mentoring and inspiring career growth opportunities: https://sites.google.com/a/lbl.gov/women-at-the-lab/
Business Executive | UN Speaker
9yI agree 100%. We need to have more women on boards, CEO's who not only can lead companies but provide a different market perspective for increased growth and profitability