We're proud to announce our new page on Pinterest, the red hot social networking site that lets users create online scrapbooks. Traffic to the three-year-old site has increased tenfold in the last half a year, to some 10 million visitors a month and it's now the third most popular social network beating giants like LinkeIn and Tumblr. 

And it goes well beyond picking out wallpapers for your future dream house or pinning tasty-looking food.  It offers everybody a slick, easy place for people in creative professions to post their portfolios and résumés. And it's a great place to follow career experts like WoTo!

We've got great boards on Role Models, Infographics, Career Quotes, Must-Read Books, Offices We'd Like to Work In, and Career Inspiration. 

Follow our boards, repin and like! Pinterest is all about making yourself feel good!

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

• The Atlantic.com : Last position for USA on the list of the 23 best countries for Work-Life balance. "With the lowest child-poverty rate among developed nations, Denmark was named the best country for work-life balance in a 2011 report from the OECD.  All three Scandinavian   countries -- Denmark, Sweden, and Norway -- finished in the top seven in the ranking. So famous for their generous social safety net, which sharply divides liberals and conservatives between envy and consternation, northern Europe dominated the list, taking almost all the top ten spots. What constitutes a balance between work and life? The OECD settled on three chief variables: (1) The share of the labor force that works extreme hours; (2) leisure time; and (3) employment rates for women who have children. The United States, which leads most of the world in share of mothers who are working, lagged in leisure time and share of overworked employees. Onto the list, with some analysis below:..."

WOMEN & TECH

• USnews.com : Wanted : technical women. "Especially at a time when unemployment is high and our economy is weak, we cannot afford to lose anyone with the technical skills to create a sustainable future, improve health, build our cyber and physical infrastructure, and enhance personal and societal security. A diverse set of minds needs to tackle those problems. But we are largely missing out on women's intelligence, creativity, and values in solving the problems we all face. What is this so ? ..."

WOMEN & STEREOTYPES

• TheGrindstone.com : What is "Stereotypes Threat" and why are you letting it hurt your career ?. According to new research, women who flirt in the boardroom are more likely to underperform at work. The study says females who are the subject of a man’s amorous glances are less likely to do well because they get distracted. According to The Daily Mail , researchers asked 67 women to complete a math test, solving 12 problems in 10 minutes, with a male assistant. Results of the small scale study showed that women whose male partners objectified them scored lower than those whose partners behaved more professionally. Psychologists believe the lower scores could be because women start feeling anxious about sexist stereotypes, a phenomenon deemed ‘stereotype threat’, and get distracted.

• Youtube.com : Little Girl goes on rant over pink toys. Must see ! :-)

WOMEN & WORK

• The New York Times : Instead of work, Younger women head to school. "Workers are dropping out of the labor force in droves, and they are mostly women. In fact, many are young women. But they are not dropping out forever; instead, these young women seem to be postponing their working lives to get more education. There are now — for the first time in three decades — more young women in school than in the work force..."

WOMEN & AWARDS

Don't forget to apply to these great women competitions. You have few days / weeks left and it can change your life !

Cartier Women's initiative award     : application by march 13th 
Deloitte Social Innovation Pioneer    : application by january 27th
Astia Global Entrepreneur Program : application by february 3rd

WOMEN & 2012 

• The Grindstone : 6 bold predictions for career women in 2012. "This year has seen its share of great career moments for women, from Bridesmaids to Jill Abramson’s appointment as the first female executive editor of the New York Times. What will 2012 bring? The author of the upcoming book “Society 3.0: How Technology Is Reshaping Education, Work, and Society,” Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, has offered us a few predictions for the year to come. Here they are — plus one of our own...."

WOMEN IN BUSINESS: NO PROGRESS IN SIGHT
This week, Catalyst, the leading non-profit that seeks to expand opportunities for women and business, released its 2011 Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors. Any good news? Sadly, women in business have made no significant gains in the last year and are no further along the corporate ladder than they were six years ago, despite the advances of the 50 most powerful women in business.
Here are some of the sobering conclusions of the survey: Women held 14.1% of Executive Officer positions in 2011, compared with 14.4% in 2010; Women held only 7.5% of Executive Officer top-earner positions in 2011, while men accounted for 92.5% of top earners; Women held 16.1% of board seats in 2011, compared to 15.7% in 2010. The trend isn't a good one, especially if you consider that companies with more women at the top tend to perform better financially, according to Catalyst research.
Who are the bad apples in the census? Well, 136 of America's biggest companies, including corporate behemoths Apple, Citigroup and News Corp., had zero female executive officers. Oil giant Exxon Mobil, the No. 2 company on the Fortune 500, had no senior female execs despite maintaining one of the largest upper management staffs in the world, with 20 executive officers.

• Act Now, Catalyst Blog
• Catalyst for Change, The Financial Times
• 2011 Was Not A Banner Year For Female Leaders In The Fortune 500, The Grindstone

DOES THE REVERSE GENDER GAP REALLY EXIST?
In the United States, a growing number of women are upending the conventional wisdom about a gender gap in pay. These women earn more on average than their male counterparts, it's being dubbed the rise of the female breadwinner. But there's a big caveat -- the so-called reverse gender gap applies only to women who are unmarried, without children and younger than 30-years-old. The New York Times published a widely commented article this week on this topic, touting it as a "global trend". While we'd love to believe that the gender gap is a thing of the past we can't help being a bit less optimistic. For one, this reverse gender gap leaves out married women with children, meaning the majority of working women. Furthermore, if you're not lucky enough to live in a big metropolitan area or to work in a knowledge-based industry, you won't be concerned by this reverse gender gap. Still, it's always good news to hear that some women are moving on up. But let's not forget that closing the gender gap for everyone is still a pipe dream for now.

• They Call It the Reverse Gender Gap, The New York Times
• Beware "The Reverse Gender Gap"!!!, Autostraddle

 

WOMEN WANTED IN PUBLIC SERVICE
Hillary Clinton launched the Women in Public Service Project, a global initiative to increase the number of women in public service at the local, national, and international levels. "The Women in Public Service Project will identify and educate a new generation of women committed to public service, create an infrastructure of support and mentoring, and help enable more women to enter public service and political leadership." During a colloquium held this week in New York, Clinton and a host of speakers called on for more women in government around the world. “It’s not as though there’s been this huge, cosmic change” in attitudes, Clinton said. “It still is hard.” Also speaking at the event, Christine Lagarde gave the women in the crowded auditorium two pieces of advice. The first was to build a list of talented, skilled women so that the next time a male employer said they were unable to find a qualified woman for a job, they could whip out their list. “Start building your list. Do it, do it, do it and use it.” Lagarde’s second tip focused on the hostility toward women that remains in too many workplaces, however subtle: “Take the bashing, grit your teeth and smile, because there will be others after you,” she said.

• Clinton Seeks Women Leaders to "Tackle Our Biggest Problems", Bloomberg

WORKING MOMS VS STAY-AT-HOME MOMS
To work or not to work after having children: it's a subject that's been debated over and over again. What's best for the kids? What’s best for women? And wait, what's best for you? According to a recent study by the American Psychological Association of over 1,300 moms the happiest moms are, perhaps unsurprisingly, those who work part-time. Those who don't work felt under-appreciated and more isolated, while on the flip side the working mothers felt better and thought they were making a difference. So is working really the key to happiness? Well, another study found that a woman's happiness  at work depends on how much she wants to be working and especially on the quality of her job. The stay-at-home moms who preferred to be at home had equally low depression levels as the moms who preferred to work. On top of that, a mother’s outlook on her ability to balance work and life matters, and an August study found being realistic about what's possible is essential. In other words, working moms get to interact with supportive grown-ups, and that's a good thing for their mental health. But, if they don’t like what they’re doing with those other grown-ups and they wish they were at home with their children, then it doesn't hold up. It's all about having the right to choose what feels best for you!

• Working Moms Feel Better Than Stay-at-Home Moms, Study Finds, Science Daily
• Working Moms Are Healthier, Happier, Study Finds, MSNBC

FREE CHILDCARE, BUDGETING AND FINANCIAL STRESS
Are women in the United Kingdom being priced out of the job market because of sky-high childcare costs? That's the question being asked by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) in a study showing that free nursery care would raise millions of pounds for the government by enabling mothers to return to work. They even say that the increased tax revenues that would result would outstrip the cost of providing care for all pre-school children. The cost of childcare in the U.K. is one of the highest of the OECD countries: on average, a couple who are both earning average wages spend 12% of their income on childcare. However, in the UK that figure is 27%. And at 60%, the employment rate of women in the U.K. is also one of the lowest in the OECD. So boosting female participation in the workforce is critical, especially in a stalling economy. 
Having children certainly changes your life and your finances. So much so that according to a Citi's survey on Women & Co, money becomes a woman’s second highest priority, after parenting. But this increased concern in finances often results in stress, which can affect the family negatively. That's what a study by the University of Missouri explains: "Parents that experienced financial strain were less connected to their kids, which may negatively affect their performance in school and relationships with others."

• Free Childcare Would Raise Millions in Tax on Working Mums, Says Think Thank, The Guardian
• Money and Motherhood Inextricably Linked, Forbes

MOTHERHOOD PENALTY & FATHERHOOD BONUS
This week, one of our favorite bloggers, Curt Rice, raised a very interesting point about the existence of a "fatherhood bonus". We've all heard of the "mommy penalty", but the "fatherhood bonus"???  Curt Rice cites studies showing that, far from detracting them for a career, becoming a father can actually benefit men: "Fathers don’t simply outpace mothers in the workplace; they even outpace men who don’t have children!". What explains this double standard? It seems fatherhood brings out the best in men: they are perceived to be generally more likeable, warmer, and are thought to have higher social skills. Unfair bias? Does it come down to stereotypes? What do you think?

• The Fatherhood Bonus: Have a Child and Advance Your Career, Curt Rice

IS A WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE WORKPLACE?
The Economist is hosting an online debate this week on the question “Is a woman’s place is in the workplace?”. A provocative title that will surely attract lots of comments and ideas. In other words, do women owe it to themselves and society to find meaningful employment, or is the choice to stay at home just as valid? Defending the motion that women belong in the workplace is Linda Basch, President of the National Council for Research on Women. She believes that for women to go out to work is good for the economy, for communities, for families and most of all for the women themselves. But she also points out that for most women work is a matter of economic necessity, not choice, and that the remaining inequalities need to be dealt with. Against the motion that women should be assigned to the workplace is Christina Hoff Sommers, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. She argues that both sexes are different, and that disparities in the workplace are almost entirely the result of women’s different preferences about balancing home and career. She thinks that women should be left free to decide whether they want to go out to work or stay at home, and that it is absolutely fine for them to want to be full-time mothers. 

So far, 45% of people have voted in favor of the proposition that women belong in the workplace. December 12 and 14 will bring more statements in defense and opposition from Basch and Hoff Sommers, and then on Friday December 16, a decision will be announced. 

• Women & Work, The Economist Debates

A TWO-TRACK ECONOMIC RECOVERY: WOMEN STRUGGLE TO FIND JOBS 
According to a recent report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research, women are not getting their share of jobs in the economic recovery. While men were hit harder by job losses during the recession, it seems that they are recovering much faster than women. Since November 2010, 70% of new jobs have gone to men. At first blush that sounds reasonable. If men lost more jobs, they should also regain more. The problem crops up when you look at the number of job gains as a fraction of losses. Men have recovered 32% of the total jobs lost between December 2007 and the present; women, on the other hand, have regained only 20% during the same period. One factor explaining this gender biased recovery could be that women are strongly represented in state and local government, health, and education, all sectors which have been hard hit by layoffs. But as a Forbes article points out, it could also be that "in this tough economy, old-fashioned perceptions of men as breadwinners causes hiring managers to pick a man when they must choose between two equally qualified candidates. And the high cost of child care has always played a role in the decision of some women to stop working, at least temporarily."

• "Mancession" Fades As More Men Than Women Find Jobs, Forbes
• The Recession Was Sexist (So Is the Recovery), The Atlantic

EUROPEAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS PUSH AHEAD WITH PLEDGE TO PROMOTE WOMEN
A few week ago, we mentioned Viviane Reding (European Commission Vice-President) participated in meetings with top European Business Schools to discuss how to improve the gender balance in company boardrooms by encouraging more young women to follow a career in business. Well, these business schools have taken concrete steps in that direction. They just published a "Call to Action" outlining their goals and defining their action around 4 "pillars": To play a prominent role in identifying and promoting qualified senior female leadership; To inspire and enable women to tap into professional and informal networks and mentoring; To increase the flow of women in business school; To adapt the curriculum and focus more on capability building. These Business Schools will even create lists of women they deem ready to join company boards, chosen from their own ecosystems.
This "Call to Action" was warmly received by Viviane Reding. In March 2012 the European Commission will evaluate whether sufficient progress has been made and decide whether there is a need for legislative quotas. Scroll down to see her interview on the topic at  the Women's Forum in Deauville in October 2011.

• European Schools Create "Pipeline of Boardable" Women, Financial Times

HOW TO MANAGE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS IN THE WORKPLACE
Of course, we all know that the workplace has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. It's now pretty common to have a 25 year-old working alongside an employee with 20 years of experience. How do you manage such different groups in one office? Well, different generations communicate in different ways and want different tools. For example, an average member of the millennial demographic (Millennial generation, last cohort of children wholly born in the 20th century) could be sending and receiving as many as 3,000 text messages a month, while senior managers tend to exchange messages via e-mail. Companies need to pay close attention to the tools millennials are using in their personal lives and incorporate those same solutions into the corporate environment to engage them and ultimately to boost productivity. Don't forget that in the U.S., in less than two years, the millennials will comprise 47% of the work force!
Here are some good tips to manage "age diversity" in the office: understand the expectations of every generation, create a collaborative culture and put in place some "reverse mentoring" (pairing upper management with younger employees, but in this case, it's the young employees who are doing the mentoring). A well-managed diverse workplace can only be good news for women!

• Workplaces Face a Generational Communication Challenge, The Globe and Mail
• Managing Different Generations, Women on Business
• Has the Recession Killed Gen Y's Dream of Work-Life Balance?, Business Insider

WOMEN & THE IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
Ever felt like a failure or a fraud, like you should not be where you are or that you don't deserve what you have? If yes, you could be suffering from the "Impostor Syndrome". It's a condition discovered by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978 that affects mostly women. In fact, research has shown that the more women become successful, the more likely they will feel the effects of the Impostor Syndrome. Why is that? As Marion Chapsal explains, "women feel like frauds as long as they have to fit in a patri­ar­chal soci­ety ruled by mas­cu­line norms. The com­bi­na­tion of men’s over-confidence and women’s imposter syn­drome at work may play an impor­tant role in male dom­i­na­tion of the exec­u­tive level jobs." So, what can you do about it? Well, half the answer is allowing yourself to make mistakes and to be gentler with yourself. But we also need to make a collective effort to build a society that is more accepting of women, a gender-balanced world! Women will stop feeling like frauds if they no longer have to live and work in a society defined by male norms. 

• The Ugly Duckling or The Imposter Syndrome and Women, Geronimo Coaching Now
• Break Free From the Impostor Syndrome, Forbes

 

WOMEN TAKING ON BAD HABITS TO STAY COMPETITIVE
Are women more honest than men? Do women in positions of power behave more ethically than men? Well not so much anymore, according to research by Rutgers University Business School. It seems, women have taken on habits of men to remain competitive...  In a 1997 study, Professor Don McCabe found that while there were significant cheating differences by gender, those differences nearly vanish when comparing men and women in the same major. When he held focus groups with female business students, they admitted this themselves. "As they enter this competitive environment, they feel disadvantaged by what these men are doing. They didn't like it, but they started to do it." McCabe said. Interestingly, the research concluded that most of the cheating gap was just a reflection of women's underrepresentation in business, engineering and other training grounds for captains of industry. Women aren't immune to all that pressure, it turns out, and will adopt the same risky strategies that can help them succeed and the shortcuts that can help them cope.

• Are Women Cheating More Now, Closing a Gender Gap to Get Ahead?, The Huffington Post

SELF-CONFIDENCE AND LEADERSHIP WALK HAND IN HAND
Why is it exactly that women shy away from bragging about their accomplishments? Could it be that women feel it is inherently unfeminine to champion yourself? What is the impact of this low self-confidence on the careers of women? Well research by Catalyst says that those who did the most to make their achievements known advanced further, were more satisfied with their careers and got better pay rises than those who didn’t... So self-confidence brings success. OK. But what about leadership? 
Research by Leslie Pratch at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business looked at how gender-based expectations and behavior influence the styles of leadership of men and women. She found that women are generally expected to display high levels of social qualities (concern with others, spontaneity, emotional expressiveness...). Men, on the other hand, are expected to display qualities associated with acting or exerting power, including independence, assertiveness, self-confidence, and instrumental competence. Her findings also indicate that women have to have high self-esteem and high self-confidence while leading in a "collaborative" style in order to be perceived as effective leaders. 

• Why Women Leaders Need Self-Confidence, Harvard Business Review
• Why it Pays to Blow Your Own Trumpet, The Daily Mail

TEDxWOMEN KEEPS THE CONVERSATION GOING
If you haven't had a chance to follow the TEDxWomen event held this week, we strongly encourage you to check out the videos on their website. This year, the speakers gathered to discuss 4 themes: Resilience (The way women regroup, rebound, and rebuild after experiencing setbacks or loss, always moving forward), Relationships (The ties that bind us—to each other, to our communities, and to our most important institutions), ReBirth (How extended health, longevity, and an untapped potential is redefining women in their third act) and ReImagine (How women and girls imagine a better life – and a better world – and make their vision a reality, shaping a brighter future for us all). Each of the topics was created to serve as a continuation of the conversations started during the first-ever TEDWomen conference   which took place last December and connected over 10,000 people all over the world through locally organized TEDx movements.

• TEDxWOMEN
• TEDxWOMEN: Conversations Women Should be Having, Technorati

WHAT DO GENERATION Y WOMEN WANT?
The Business and Professional Women's Foundation (BPW) released findings of a study it conducted with more than 660 women across the United States. It identified important challenges related to gender discrimination, work-life balance, and intergenerational workplace dynamics. More generally, this study debunked certain myths about the Gen Y woman (Millennial generation, last cohort of children wholly born in the 20th century). The first one is that gender discrimination is still an issue in the workplace, even for those young progressive types who are supposed to be above it all. Turns out that upward of 75% of Generation Y women believe that gender discrimination is still “a moderate or severe problem in today’s workplace.” And almost half say they’ve either witnessed or experienced gender discrimination themselves.
Among other findings, Gen Y women identified age bias as a pressing workplace issue. Survey results indicate that Gen Y women experience a double jeopardy -- gender and age. Gen Y women who had experienced gender discrimination were more likely to report generational conflict or discrimination than those who had not. 

• Gen Y Women in the Workplace: What Employers Need to Unlearn and Relearn, The Huffington Post

THE GREAT DEBATE ABOUT WOMEN & AMBITION
Tired of hearing that women are not as ambitious as men? Well, so is Kathy Caprino, contributor at Forbes. She thinks that ambition is not the issue, but it's the uphill battles women face when they want to pursue their ambitions - that explains why women don't get ahead in high numbers. Kathy Caprino says, and we agree with her, that spreading the conclusion that women aren't as ambitious as men is doing a lot of harm to the advancement of women. Instead, we should focus our attention on the personal sacrifices a woman must make in order to make it to the top. What will it take to see a shift in this situation? Firstly, society needs to be more comfortable with highly successful women - sadly, success and likability are still positively correlated in men, and negatively correlated in women. Secondly, society should stop putting men down for supporting their wives’ professional ascension and helping out on the childcare front... Most importantly, women have to believe they are as ambitious as men and they should stay true to both their personal and professional goals. 

• Busting the Myth that Women Aren't As Ambitious As Men, Forbes

WOMEN MORE PRONE TO TAKE RISKS IN ALL-FEMALE ENVIRONMENT
New research by an Australian University shows that women are significantly more likely to take risks when they’re around other women... Could it be that the lack of risk-taking by businesswomen is due to the low number of women around them? Professor Alison Booth from the Australian National University Research School of Economics tested whether single-sex classrooms in co-educational environments altered students’ risk-taking attitudes. She says “Women, even those endowed with an intrinsic propensity to make riskier choices, may be discouraged from doing so because they are inhibited by culturally-driven norms and beliefs about the appropriate mode of female behaviour-avoiding risk. But once they are placed in an all-female environment, this inhibition is reduced.” This research has positive implications for the labour market. Do you think women are naturally more risk averse than men? 

• Women Backed by Women: Taking Risks, Australian National University News
• Women Take More Risks When They’re Surrounded By Other Women, The Grindstone

CHANGING PATHS: THE MICROLENDING FILM PROJECT
This week, we wanted to showcase this inspiring story about a woman who quit her well-paid job as a trader to film a documentary on microlending for women. It resonates with the posts we published this week on career interruption. Rachel Cook, a trader, was inspired when she read an article in the New York Times about some women in the developing world who are overcoming insurmountable odds with the help of microfinance. Having always had an interest in film, she decided to make a documentary about it during her free time. All the while, she became more and more disillusioned with her job and took the plunge. She quit her trading job and started working on her documentary full-time. While she says jumping in the unknown and living off her savings has been scary, Rachel enjoys the thrill of the risks! Most importantly, she gets to do something that she truly believes in. She plans to complete her film shortly and has already submitted it to film festivals.

• The Microlending Film Project
• I Left My Job to Help Women: The Microlending Film Project, The Daily Muse

A career is often associated with breaks, pauses and new beginnings. For different reasons, we can all be led to take a temporary break.

For women, a career interruption happens mostly when they become mothers or want to take a parental leave. But it could also be that you just want to put everything on hold, go on a sabbatical, enrol for new training or work on a personal project.
 
Like every experience, a career interruption can be tricky to manage. What are the benefits? What are the risks?
 
Here are a few thoughts to guide your reflexion and help you make a decision. 

1. What is your career break going to bring you? The opportunity to:

• Put everything on hold and take a step back?
• Find the right balance?
• Do what you’ve always dreamed of doing but didn’t have time?
• Live new experiences (as Monique explained in her interview) and discover new horizons?
• Enrol for new training?

 
In short, try to put words on your wishes and define what’s most important to you in terms of personal enrichment.

2. Have you considered all the risks carefully?

• Be wary of idealising your new life. There is often a gap between the dream and the reality, so stay grounded. If you can, talk to people who have been through this before and ask for their honest advice.
• Pay extra attention to your finances. Start saving well in advance! Make sure that you can manage without a salary.
• Loneliness can set in quickly after you step away from the workplace. Yes, sometimes we dream of saying farewell to our annoying colleagues every day, but with no one at all, you could feel isolated.
• It’s a good idea to keep a foot in the game. In the future, you might wish to return to work, so stay connected to the workplace. 

So, what should you do? Career interruption or not? You are the only one who can make this call.
 
And what about a maternity leave? Putting your career aside to give life is a beautiful choice. In between all the feeding, changing, rocking, sleepless nights and doctor appointments, you won’t have much time or energy to think about personal enrichment and your projects.
 
However, this maternity break will change your outlook and values. You could definitely profit from this break by following the dreams, ideas or values that are most important to you.
 
To tell you the truth, behind WoTo, there are 4 babies and 2 career interruptions… So get closer to what really matters to you. We promise you, it works :-)

THE ECONOMIST'S SPECIAL REPORT ON WOMEN & WORK
This week, The Economist publishes a broad reaching report on the state of women & work. It explores the reasons why progress in the rich world seems to have stalled and what can be done about it. Starting off explaining what sort of work women do, how they get paid for it and how they juggle work and life, the Economist then looks to the future of women. What's in store for the next century? Reading this report, we can't help but notice that women issues are getting more and more press coverage! In the past two years over half a dozen major news organisations, from the Financial Times, to Forbes, or Bloomberg, have increased their coverage of women’s issues. According to ForbesWoman.com editor Caroline Howard, “There are more women in professional fields, more women at higher rungs and more women entrepreneurs. For financial publications especially, not to notice this is bad business.” So keep reading! 

• Closing the Gap, The Economist

THE GENDER GAP IS COSTING TOO MUCH
Read the interview of Academy Award Winner Geena Davis, Debra Lee (chairman and chief executive of Viacom Inc.'s BET Networks) and Dominic Barton (global managing director of McKinsey & Co.). They spoke at WSJ's CEO Council about the issue of women and economic competitiveness. But also gender in media, including how women are portrayed, what occupations they are shown to have and how that affects children. Among the key statements made at that meeting: men tend to be promoted on potential, and women are promoted on performance. Therefore, one way to effectively promote women in companies is to make sure that women are be promoted on potential. CEOs have the power to make things change! They have to make sure that women are able to move up the ranks in their company, whatever it takes, whether it's through mentoring programs or taking a personal interest in a couple of women executives themselves.

• The High Cost of the Gender Gap, Wall Street Journal

 

WOMEN MIGHT BENEFIT MORE THAN MEN FROM AN MBA 
The Financial Times says that increasing the number of women MBAs would level the playing field in business. The MBA helps develop a skill set and the confidence to take on salary negotiation, build a strong network and mentor and sponsor relationship. These are all areas in which men generally have an edge over women. Luckily, the number of women enrolling in an MBA program has increased steadily in the past 10 years (now at 31% on average across U.S. and European schools)! But women also face obstacles that don't necessarily affect men: lack of access to female business role models, timing of the MBA when most women are starting families, and women are also more willing to sacrifice their career prospects for those of their significant other...But there are ideas to conquer these obstacles. Educating and motivating women to pursue majors in business, training campus advisers to help women prepare for career success, and in general, raising awareness of the impact women can make on society, culture, the environment and the economy through their business career. 

• Women Must Appreciate the Value of an MBA, Financial Times

ITALIAN WOMEN SEEK GENDER EQUALITY
Since Silvio Berlusconi's resignation as Prime Minister, the climate has definitely changed in Italian politics. Presenting his government's programme to parliament last week, Mario Monti said that ensuring women were represented in every aspect of the country's life had become a national priority. Monti has handed three of the most senior jobs in his non-party government to women. As the new Prime Minister signalled in his address to parliament, correcting the gender imbalance in Italian society was no longer just a matter of fairness, but of urgent economic necessity. A prime cause of Italy's recent low growth is female participation in the workforce which, according to the WEF, is lower than in any other European country except Macedonia. In the 2011 World Economic Forum global gender gap report, it was ranked 48 places behind Mozambique – 74th out of the 135 countries surveyed.

• Italy's Women Look to More Equal Future After Fall of Berlusconi, The Guardian

CHANGING THE JAPANESE CORPORATE MINDSET
Read this interview of Kimie Iwata, Shiseido Vice-President. She explains the struggles of Japanese women in the workplace and the efforts to foster female talent and spark changes within corporate Japan. While Japanese women have made significant professional strides over the last 25 years, Iwata is virtually alone in having made it to the top of a major company. Women's participation in the work force still lags that of men, with most leaving after their first child. They are pushed out by day care shortages and inflexible workplaces, and pulled by social forces that venerate the stay-at-home mom. However, things are changing. Maybe out of necessity as Japan is facing the double challenge of an extremely low birth rate and aging population. Shiseido is one of the companies spearheading the change. Kimie Iwata says "If men's work style is the standard, then women, especially with children, will always be second-class employees," Iwata said. "So we need to change how men work." The company has introduced new measures to cut overtime hours, encourages father to take paternity leave, and opened a day care facility at its Tokyo headquarters. By 2013, the company hopes that 30% of its managers will be female.

• Shiseido Exec Aims to Elevate Women, Associated Press

MEN DON'T CARE WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM
Seventy-three percent of men claim that being the one with the financial prowess is not a priority, according to a poll in the December issue of Men’s Health magazine. In these times of economic uncertainty, men don’t care much about where the money comes from — as long as there is money. Even more, 45 percent of them said they wouldn't mind staying at home if their spouses made more money! According to the Men's Health magazine editor Peter Moore, men today aren't really bothered by gender stereotypes of prior generations. Sill, 67 percent of surveyed men said that men must be able to provide for their family before they get married, while only 33 percent believed this was a necessity for women.

• Higher Salaries for Women OK With Most Men, 'Men's Health' Study Says, Huffington Post
• The State of Man, Men's Health

WOMEN RULE THE INTERNET
In this Bloomberg interview, Aileen Lee, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, discusses opportunities for women in the technology industry. She believes women are the power users of the internet. Different studies and surveys have shown that women spend 30% more time on social networking sites than men, they drive 62% of the activity on Facebook and 60% of casual gamers are women. Aileen Lee also says that women are power sharers of the internet, they tweet more, post more pictures or comment. Given these figures, she says its essential for companies to make sure they have enough women in their viral loop. And its important for women to play a bigger role in the tech sector. 

• Venture Capitalist Lee on Women in Internet Market, Bloomberg
• Why Women Rule the Internet, Tech Crunch

Don't forget, if you want to stay up to date with the news in real time, visit the Web Release section of WoTo's website! 

And WoTo also publishes a French version, focusing on news from France and Europe, so don't forget to visit!

FINANCIAL TIMES' TOP 50 WOMEN IN WORLD BUSINESS 2011
Well, it's that time of year again! The Financial Times has just published its 2011 ranking of top women in world business. This year, Irene Rosenfeld, chief executive of Kraft Foods won the top honour. She replaces Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo who was judged the leading chief female executive in 2009 and 2010 (number 3 this year). While most of the women featured come from North America, China and India still account for 20% of female executives in the ranking. Sadly though, it doesn't include any female business leaders from Latin America. The jury this year decided to reward risk taking by business leaders. In Irene Rosenfeld's case, she carried out a series of big acquisitions, and has profoundly changed the core structure of the Kraft Foods Group. Her plan was not universally welcomed by investors, but she is praised for making hard choices and being decisive. A great role model for all the other female executives out there who aspire to do the same.

• The Top 50 Women in World Business 2011, Financial Times

WHY ARE JAPANESE WOMEN DISAPPOINTED WITH THEIR CAREERS?
A study from the Center from Work-Life Policy reveals shocking figures on the mass exodus of Japanese women from the workforce. It showed that 74% of Japanese women with degrees voluntarily quit their jobs, far more than the 31% of Americans and the 35% of Germans. The reasoning behind this is that Japanese women are even more negatively impacted by societal pressures than American women. According to the study, 63% say that they quit because their career was not satisfying and nearly half left because they felt stalled in their careers. The study also found that despite the majority of women wanting to return to work just two and a half years later, only 43% successfully land jobs and usually with a deep pay cut. Although women made up some 48% of the labour force in 2009, a government report on Gender Equality showed women held just 10.5% or managerial positions.
What can be done? For Japanese women, the best bet is to work for a foreign company. Two-thirds of university-educated Japanese women see European or American firms as more female-friendly than Japanese ones. While some companies, like Shiseido, are making efforts to retain their female employees, it seems it's going to take more than small concessions to work-life balance to make a big change in the local corporate mindset. 

• Getting Japanese Women Back on Track, Bloomberg
• Japanese Women Quit Unrewarding Careers, Wall Street Journal

WOMEN MAKE COMPANIES BETTER
A new study conducted by researchers at Catalyst and Harvard Business School (HBS) suggests that what’s good for women is good for business and also for society as a whole. Catalyst and HBS researchers found that companies with more women board directors and corporate officers contributed significantly more charitable funds, on average, than companies with fewer or no women in senior roles. For example, in 2007, the average donations of companies with three or more women directors were 28 times higher than those of companies with no women directors. But why does the presence of women in leadership positions influence the amount of money a corporation gives to charity? Some research  suggests that, either naturally or due to a lifetime of socialization, women generally exhibit more empathy than men. It would stand to reason, then, that they'd generally be more interested in devoting some corporate profits to what they perceive as the greater good rather than the bottom line.

• Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility: It's a Matter of Sustainability, Catalyst
• Study Shows Putting More Women In Charge At Companies Is Better For Society And Earth Too, The Grindstone

HILLARY CLINTON: UNLOCK THE POWER OF WOMEN'S POTENTIAL
During her latest speech at APEC, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on countries and companies around the world to help women play a bigger role in the world's economy. We can no longer underestimate the power of women. By 2014, women will control $15 trillion and by 2028, women will control two thirds of consumer spending. Over the last ten years the growth amassed by women's activity has been higher than that of China. So empowering women is not only "the right thing to do", it is also "the smart thing to do" says Clinton. Saying women's empowerment does not get enough attention, Clinton thinks the best way to make people understand the importance of the issue is to reason in terms of dollars and cents. When everybody starts to realize that barriers imposed to women don't just stifle women, they stifle economies too, maybe things will change.

• Hillary Clinton: Women Must Play a Bigger Role in the World's Economy, Huffington Post

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK IS MORE POPULAR THAN EVER
This week was Global Entrepreneurship Week, a seven-day worldwide event showcase for current and aspiring entrepreneurs. Global Entrepreneurship Week was started in 2008 by former UK prime minister Gordon Brown and Kauffman Foundation President and chief executive Carl Schramm. The gathering now claims 24,000 partner organizations with 37,000 activities and 7 million individual participants. From showcasing social enterprises in India to developing an entrepreneurial hub in Chile for South America, there were over 30,000 events around the world in more than 100 countries. Coinciding with GEW, the Kauffman Foundation released a report, stating that the millennial generation is eager to start a business but has been discouraged by the economic downturn. Sadly, according to that report, women are less likely to want to start their own businesses than men are (44% of women vs. 57% of men).

• Global Entrepreneurship Week 
• November 14 through 20 is Global Entrepreneurship Week, Women 2.0

 

SHERYL SANDBERG: WOMEN HAVE STALLED AT THE TOP
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook's CEO and COO) sat down this week for an interview with Charlie Rose on Bloomberg TV. Sandberg was asked what she thought of the level of opportunity available to women in the tech sector and in the corporate world in general. While women have made an incredible amount of progress in both higher education and management, the glass ceiling refuses to crack completely. “Over the last ten years, women have stalled out at the top” Sandberg tells Rose. When asked about the resons why, she says: "...I really think we need more women to lean into their careers and to be really dedicated to staying in the work force. I think the achievement gap is caused by a lot of things. It’s caused by institutional barriers and all kinds of stuff. But there’s also a really big ambition gap. And until women are as ambitious as men, they’re not going to achieve as much as men …"

• Sheryl Sandberg: "Until Women Are As Ambitious As Men, They're Not Going to Achieve As Much, Tech Crunch

GIRL SCOUTS - THE PIPELINE TO LEADERSHIP
Did you know that 80% of women in top management in the U.S. were girl scouts, so were 100% of U.S. female astronauts and 70% of female elected officials? Over the past 100 years, the Girls Scouts movement has grown tremendously. It now counts 10 million members in 144 countries and a growing alumnae network of 50 million women. It’s also big business. The annual cookie sale exceeds $700 million and, for many girls, serves as a first introduction to business basics. For Kathy Cloninger, the Girl Scouts CEO, the organisation is focusing on helping girls start out from the beginning believing in themselves and developing strong confidence, life skills, integrity and values. 

• Girl Scouts Turns 100: The Ultimate Women's Leadership Pipeline, Forbes
• Smart Cookies: What Girl Scouts Can Teach America, Girl Scouts Blog

WOMEN ARE RISING THE FASTEST IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
if you want to know the future of the world's women, don't look to the U.S. or Scandinavian countries, but look to countries like the Philippines, India or Brazil. Women in these countries are newly empowered by remarkable gains in political representation, legal rights and, especially, education. But more important, they are rising in the 21st century’s key economic strata: as business owners. Our top picks for places where women were rising the fastest were found largely in the developing world, particularly in Brazil, India, Vietnam and the Philippines. On the contrary, female entrepreneurship rates aren’t rising in many of the most advanced countries. Despite talk of the feminization of advanced societies, the percentages of women-owned businesses are inching downward in the U.S., and they are stagnant in the E.U. 

• Women Ascendent: Where Females Are Rising the Fastest, Forbes

CAREER AMBITION IS NOT ALWAYS THE REASON WHY WOMEN REMAIN CHILDLESS
A recent study from Australia, the image of the “selfish” woman who only wants to focus on her job and therefore looks at the idea of settling down and having children as an automatic career derailment, is false. According to a new Australian study published this month in the Journal of population Health, most women aged between 30 and 34 want to have children, but could not for reasons often out of their control. Women with no children identified key barriers to motherhood as not having a partner or their relationship not being stable or their partner not wanting children. So it seems that the fact that a growing number of women are remaining childless well into their thirties isn't that career ambition has taken the place of maternal instinct, but that, quite simply, conditions aren't perfect.  

• It's Not Women's Careers That Delay Children, Says Study, Herald Sun
• Single (Selfish) Ladies: Waiting for Love and Money, Forbes

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE A WOMAN?
This week, the World Economic Forum released its sixth annual Global Gender Gap Report 2011. It ranked 135 countries, and Iceland topped the list. The report gets its rankings by measuring the gap between men and women in four key areas: Economic participation and opportunity, Educational attainment, Health and survival, and Political empowerment. Of the countries surveyed, 55% narrowed the gender gap, compared with 59% the previous year. Around 85% of countries have improved their gender-equality ratios since the survey began in 2006. However, the report highlights that while differences between men's and women's health and education are disappearing, women still lag behind in economic participation, which includes salaried and skilled jobs and political representation. Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) continue to hold top spots, having closed over 80% of their gender gaps! The U.S. came in at number 17, France at 48 and the United Kingdom at 16. 

• The Best and Worst Countries for Women, Forbes
• Women Still Lag Economics, Politics: Report, Reuters

WOMEN PREFER HAVING A LIFE OVER MONEY
More Magazine partnered with the Polling Company/WomanTrend to survey women about their attitudes toward their jobs. Their responses make clear that in the search for balance, women are sacrificing ambition: 43% of women described themselves as less ambitious now than they were 10 years ago; only 15% reported feeling more ambitious. Even more, two of 3 of women reported they would prefer to have more free time than a bigger paycheck. An interesting paradox since 92% of women say they value workplace flexibility, but a third consider it career suicide to ask for more flexibility in their jobs.

• Survey: More Professional Women Choosing Time Over Money, USA Today
• Is Asking for Work Flexibility Career Suicide?, The Grindstone

JOB HOPPING MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST SOLUTION...
When Virginia Rometty was named IBM CEO last week, several people were quick to point out that she has been at IBM for 30 years. Rometty proved that you don’t always have to go looking for other opportunities outside of your company to move up the ladder. In fact, research by Catalyst shows that women who climb the career ladder within a single company tend to have more career success and earn more money than women who switch employers. Men, meanwhile, are rewarded with higher salaries if they move around... Why is that? Well, several studies tend to demonstrate that men are promoted on their potential, while women are promoted on their demonstrated performance. So if women stay with the same company for a long time, it helps them build a track record and develop mentors and sponsors who can help their careers. 

• Ginny Rometty: Benefits of Staying Put, Wall Street Journal
• Company Loyalty Pays Dividends for Virginia Rometty, The Grindstone

THE UNITED KINGDOM INTRODUCES BUSINESS MENTORS FOR WOMEN
On Friday, the Home Secretary Theresa May announced a package of measures that aspires to help women "fulfil their potential" in business. This announcement comes on the same day a report  by the Fawcett Society denounced  the coalition's austerity measures. The home secretary, who is also the women's and equalities minister, outlined a £2m scheme that will see 5,000 volunteer mentors trained by next year to provide role models for female entrepreneurs. "For too long, as a country, we have failed to make the most of the skills, experience and talents of women (...) Change will not be easy and it will not be quick. It will take a comprehensive effort to tear down the barriers women tell us they face," she said. Theresa May estimates that bringing UK female entrepreneurship to the same levels as the US would contribute an extra £42bn to the economy each year.

• May Seeks Business Mentors for Women, Financial Times
• Theresa May Reveals £2m Mentor Scheme for Female Entrepreneurs, The Guardian
• Women's Equality: Clock is Turning Back as Cuts Bite, Says Fawcett Society, The Guardian

A NEW WORK MODEL TO FOSTER EQUALITY
The Centre for Strategic Analysis, advisor to the French government, presented the results of a study on new work models combining equality and performance for companies. 

What are the main findings?
- Women tend to work more on a daily basis than men (cumulating domestic work, studies and salaried work)
- Society is going through a redefinition of traditional roles, with fathers being more involved with family duties, the generalisation of dual income couples and single-parent families. 

How can we best manage these transformations? Rather than offering more part-time work or flexible work arrangements only to women (which only encourages inequities in the workload of men and women), work schedules need to be modernised for the sake of both men and women. Here are key ideas to promote:
- Job Sharing (a full time job that is shared by 2 people who each work part-time)
- Tele-commuting
- Flexible schedule
- Compressed work week

These flexible work arrangements are still underdeveloped in France, but 60% of employees in Sweden and Denmark already benefit from them.

• Egalité homme-femme : un rapport prône une nouvelle organisation du travail, L'Express
• De nouvelles organisations du travail conciliant égalité homme-femme et performance des entreprises, Centre d'analyses stratégiques

GETTING RID OF THESE PESKY STEREOTYPES!
This week, Elle Magazine shares the result of a survey on gender equality led by the Laboratoire de l'Egalité in France, using a sample of 3325 web surfers, aged 18 and over. 

What are the findings? Rather reassuringly, according to an overwhelming majority, women should be able have the same professional opportunities as men and combining motherhood and an high-profile career should not be a problem. However, the survey also shows how stereotypes still plague women on many other levels. 

- More than one third of people surveyed (men and women) think that women's brains are different than men's
- More than half of people surveyed think that it's less of an issue for a man not to have had children 
- 84% of people surveyed admit they have sexist stereotypes

So, ladies and gentlemen, make an effort: little girls don't have to be beauty queens and little boys don't have to fight... the list goes on, but it only leads to greater equality. 

• Homme-femme : les stéréotpes ont la vie dure !   Elle.fr