Women of Wall Street: Diversity of Thought

If you happen to be in New York City this Christmas, the Women of Wall Street exhibition at the Museum of American Finance is a must see! From Abigail Adams to Muriel Sievert, it showcases how the inclusion of women has changed the financial services industry. To give you a sense of perspective of how far we've come, here's a favorite quote from a contemporary woman of wall street. (Images from American Museum of Wall Street):

“...it’s not a diversity of gender or color that’s needed, but really a diversity of thought. The diversity of experiences comes from being female as opposed to male or coming from a different country...”– Sallie Krawcheck, Former CEO and Chairman, Citi Global Wealth Management

Ross Westgate to host The Gender Agenda Davos Debate

Ross Westgate, CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange" anchor, is to host the Gender Agenda Debate show at the World Economic Forum in Davos. With his ll years experience in financial broadcasting, he also co-hosts Strictly Money, CNBC's new UK business and money programme and previously worked as a stockbroker in the City of London.

Arianna Huffington in CNBC Davos Debate

Arianna Huffington agreed tentatively this week to be in our CNBC Davos Debate. She'll participate in one of two teams challenged with devising game changing ideas for popularising gender equality. I'm delighted. She'll be a fantastic addition. (Images from ABCNewstore & LibertyHill.org)

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)