Flipping Fergie Perfect for Flipping Feminism

This is the picture that just inspired me to add Fergie to my wishlist of ambassadors for the Flipping Feminism project. We wouldn't require her to deliver all of her speeches mid-flip like this. (I borrowed the photo from JustJared.buzznet.com. Thank you)

Flipping Feminism - The Mission has a Name

‘Cherchez la femme’ is out. It might have worked as a project name if I'd been able to pronounce it.. The worst incident this week was when my frighteningly-sophisticated, French-speaking friend had no idea what I was trying to say (when I tested it on her) nor any comprehension of why I would label my project that way. So my absolute, FINAL, final title that will not change (for the next year at least) is 'Flipping Feminism'.



I like that you can’t help smiling when you say it. It’s memorable. And, magically, it communicates the two primary messages of this project, that I want to change (flip) the way feminism is perceived and that I am frustrated (flipping feminism!) with the way gender equality messages have been communicated previously.

Cherchez La Femme

After last week’s entry on feminism having a bad name I’ve been trying to think of a new title for my mission.

I was also influenced (a lot) by my father-in-law telling me ‘Feminism in Style’ made him squirm.
Not the desired effect. It’s gone. 'Feminism in Style' is no longer in style. I just wish I hadn’t bought the URL. Look out for it on eBay.

'Cherchez la femme' What do you think?

It means "look for the woman" and comes from the 1854 book The Mohicans of Paris by Alexandre Dumas (père).

The original passage reads: Il y a une femme dans toute les affaires; aussitôt qu'on me fait un rapport, je dis: 'Cherchez la femme'. There is a woman in every case; as soon as they bring me a report, I say, 'Look for the woman'.

In other words, no matter what the problem, a woman is often the root cause. I realise this may seem odd but I love the way we can twist it: If your company isn’t peak-performing, look for the woman. Oh – there isn’t one on your entire leadership team? Well there’s your root cause.

And women and men together created the situation we’re in now, so we both need to fix it. Women certainly are part of the cause.

Next time you are employing your leaders, cherchez la femme.

(Photo credit: Nylon magazine)

A Justification of Vanity

My friend Fiona forwarded me this article about 98% of women believing appearance affects their career. I’m wondering what planet the other 2% are on.

It reminds me of the woman who camped in my room for six weeks to avoid rent while job-hunting but arrived home with designer outfits. When my angry flatmate suggested the 'camper' couldn’t afford to dress that way, the accused matter-of-factly explained she couldn’t afford not to.

NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Nearly all U.S. working women believe that their professional appearance is crucial to success at work, and one in five female executives say they have withheld a promotion or a raise due to the way an employee dresses, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The poll found that 98 percent feel appearance affected their career, and just 2 percent disagreed.

The survey was conducted among female professionals, senior managers and business owners by PINK Magazine, a publication for career women, and Corset Personal Styling, a service firm for women. Fifty-five percent said they often think they have nothing to wear, and 40 percent said they tend to keep buying clothes that look the same, the survey showed.

Nearly half said they wear too much black, and a little more than half said they have difficulty finding trendy yet age-appropriate clothes. Some 22 percent of the chief executives, top managers and business owners said they had withheld a promotion or raise because of how an employee dresses at work. The survey, conducted online for Atlanta-based PINK and Minneapolis-based Corset from Sept. 29 through Oct. 11, polled 137 business owners, chief executives, managers and professionals from PINK's readership. Of those, 36 were chief executives, business owners and top managers, it said. The poll did not include a margin of error.
(Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Xavier Briand)
((ellen.wulfhorst@reuters.com; +1 646 223 6283; Reuters Messaging:ellen.wulfhorst.reuters.com@reuters.net))

(Photo Credit: TresSugar, http://www.tressugar.com/2624316)

Lady Gaga agrees feminism has a bad name

(Photo by Paul Revere, in Sydney Morning Herald )

Lady Gaga inspired me this week. I'm quoting from a great article by Emma Young.

In a recent interview she said: ''I'm not a feminist - I hail men, I love men. I celebrate American male culture, and beer, and bars and muscle cars.''

In another interview, she equated feminism with man-hating. ''I think it's great to be a sexy, beautiful woman who can f--- her man after she makes him dinner. There's a stigma around feminism that's a little bit man-hating. And I don't promote hatred, ever.'

I agree Ms Gaga. (With your second-to-last sentence at least.) I just spent an hour trying to think of a name for this blogsite that would explain quite literally that I was trying to rebrand feminism but would avoid using that word. Couldn't do it.

Equalitist. Une femme forte. Agent non-provocateur. Mmmm. Not there yet.

The Davos Plan

I devised a plan for our Davos debate this week, although you can guarantee the title and format will change as I work with the forum and the gender equality project to tweak and re-tweak. Here are some excerpts from the summary document. Ideas welcomed! (This picture is from last year's CNBC Davos debate with Maria Bartiromo, of whom I'm a huge fan.)

NEW LEADERSHIP DNA: Could women be the next decade’s profit playbook?

• I'm told a UN report concludes that if we progress towards gender equality at the current rate we will reach it just beyond the year 4000. I'm not that patient.


• Asking organisations to address the problem because it’s the right thing to do hasn’t worked. We need a new strategy.


• Women often distance themselves from gender discussions in the workplace because they’re considered distractions from the company’s critical mission. It’s time to change the conversation.
  

CNBC, the World Economic Forum’s Gender Parity Programme and the Gender Equality Project co-founded by Nicole Schwab and Aniela Unguresan are joining forces in Davos 2010 to prove parity equals profits. We’re challenging two talented debating teams to pitch their best ideas for convincing CEOs that gender equality pays dividends and we’re encouraging them to inspire and entertain delegates in the process. CNBC will televise the debate as a half-hour Davos special, air it globally, stream it on CNBC.com and rotate highlights in primetime for a fortnight after the event. The debate will be energetic, enjoyable and inclusive: We’ll approach the subject from a profit-seeking perspective and dispel the myth that gender equality is simply a woman’s issue.

The Format

CNBC is compiling two teams of business and political leaders – one all female and the other all male - and challenging them to try to convince CEO delegates that gender parity delivers profits. We’ll also ask them to devise game changing ideas for popularising gender equality within the workplace. We want strategies for making gender equality an exciting top priority and making ‘more women in the boardroom’ the enlightened new innovation of high-performing corporations.

While the male team presents its ideas, the female team will sit in a sound-proofed room then the female team will have its turn.

Throughout the challenge, our high-powered jury and opinionated audience will question, critique and applaud the ideas and eventually vote on which of them should be adopted by global corporations.

Financial Times 'Women in Business' Ranking

It was great to read the FT's inaugural ranking of the top 50 women in business this weekend.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bcfcdb2c-a716-11de-bd14-00144feabdc0.html

Sad to learn from the same article that just 3 per cent of Fortune 500 chief executives are women and that across Europe, only 10 per cent of board directors of the largest companies are female. That makes this challenge exciting I guess. Starting from such a low base, we can have a significant and rapid impact.

I dined with an amazing woman this week. (I collect inspiring women at every opportunity). I collected this one at TED Global and we now meet when our business travel collides. She's running AIG's sustainable investment fund at age 36 and still finds time to be a mother of two, and gorgeous. We need more of those.

When I wasn't dining out with inspiring women this weekend, I was at London Fashion Week eating away at my retirement fund. (Any child of mine will need to accept a smashing collection of vintage clothing as their only inheritance.) It was wonderful - a chaotic mish-mash of creativity and stylish women everywhere dressed to impressed with their own unique concoctions. 'Sass and Bide' (below) won my heart, and funds yet again. But I digress...

I do feel the tide is turning and feminism is indeed very quickly becoming in vogue.

I finished the format for our debate at Davos this week. I'll describe it here next week. Now I need to find a sponsor. Never easy. I'll report back on progress soon and if anyone's interested give me a shout!