Diversity and Inclusion

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Amplifying the voices of the amazing women we work with

This International Women’s Day we want to celebrate the global communities of women we have been privileged to lead, join and be part of over the last year.

In particular, we wish to call-out the amazing women we have got to know through our Leadership for Gender Equity programmes.  Your passion and courage fuels our purpose at WDI.

We’ve heard stories of how women tenaciously navigated obstacles and opportunities to enable their authentic ‘superpowers’ to manifest through qualities such as commitment, compassion, creativity, and collaboration.  From these stories, we’ve learnt much about what’s driving and motivating women leaders and what’s needed to create a gender equal workplace.

We have collated three key themes from our Leadership for Gender Equity community that includes women leaders from tech to research, regulatory to healthcare, diplomacy to finance, across 15 countries. This International Women’s Day, we want to amplify the voices of the amazing women we’ve worked with.

We recently partnered with Elsevier delivering WDI’s Women’s Leadership Programme as a core component to Elsevier’s Developing Female Talent Programme 2020, which reached women in 11 countries.  Elsevier continue to prioritise gender balance and inclusion as a strategic imperative.  Awards recognising their leadership in this area include Best CEOs for Diversity 2021, Best Company for Diversity 2020, and Best Company for Women 2020.

The impact of the 2020 programme has been significant and we are delighted to be partnering again with Elsevier in 2021 for their Developing Talent For Gender Equity Programme.

Why?  The pandemic has impacted women leaders significantly because of an amplified carer tax, that has created a regression in the progress to gender balance.

The ‘broken rung’ of the talent pipeline into executive roles is significant and especially alarming when you take an intersectional perspective.  The significant under-representation of women of colour in senior leadership roles is only one such example.

Yet the business case for diverse talent and inclusive cultures has never been stronger, both economically and morally, so how do we overcome the barriers to change?