by Richard Milne from www.ft.com

Politicians in egalitarian Norway, aware that by 2002 only 6 per cent of directors were female, legislated the following year to introduce the controversial quota, which came into full force last year. As a corporate and public policy experiment it is being watched by businesses and governments around the world, in the wake of a global financial crisis that many argue might have been averted if bank boards in particular had less of a testosterone-fuelled culture. So how is the Norwegian attempt turning out? For a start, the country now has the world's highest proportion of female board members. A study from Egon Zehnder International, the headhunter, shows that 44 per cent of directors are women. Outside the Nordic region, the counties with the next highest proportion are the Netherlands and the UK, both with 12 per cent. The European average excluding Norway is just 9 per cent - a figure that has scarcely changed in five years.

JUMP has met Lotte Grepp Knutsen, Norwegian Secretary of State for Equality. You can listen to the interview here.

source www.one-step-ahead-coaching.com

1. Learn as much as you can about your audience. Understanding the motivation of your audience helps you to make your speech interesting. People will only listen to you if there is something in it for them! WIIFM!
2. Maintain the 80/20 rule. If you can motivate 80 % of your audience to listen to you at the start of your presentation, you have done the job! That doesn’t mean that you will not be able to convince the remaining 20% of your listeners; however this might take a little more time and effort.

by www.docuticker.com

The undertraining of law students documented in a century’s worth of critiques of legal education, most recently by the Carnegie Foundation, has different and much more detrimental consequences for the post-J.D. careers of women and minority attorneys. However, studies of their early careers focus primarily on problems with law-firm mentoring and pay little, if any, attention to how the earlier training that these lawyers received (or failed to be given) in law school might have contributed to the later career obstacles they face.

by Diane Tarshis www.ladieswholaunch.com

There are two primary components to a business plan: the narrative portion (the words), and the financial portion (the numbers). Below is a guide to handling both with aplomb.

The Words
The narrative portion of your business plan should clearly explain your business concept, strategies for achieving your goals, and so on. Specifically, you need to include the following:
1. Business Description
- Describe it simply and clearly
- What is the opportunity? What problem are you solving for paying customers?
- How much do customers currently pay to solve that problem?
- Your business model, i.e., source(s) of revenue

source community.pinkmagazine.com

The very word “launch” brings with it mental images of a forceful and powerful, forward thrust that will catapult your new product far ahead of the ordinary, mundane and readily available items of today. But is it actually possible in this age of information overload to launch a product with such finesse and direction that it absolutely hits the intended target market? The answer to that question is a resounding yes. Product launches of today are the result of years of scientific research, trial and error and precise formulas. Breaking a product launch down into its simplest terms for guaranteed success is not as difficult as you may think.

source well.blogs.nytimes.com

Fathers appear to be playing a bigger role in their daughters’ career choices compared to men of previous generations.

Researchers from the University of Maryland used various data sets to study the career paths of 63,000 women born between 1909 and 1977. Given that more women today are entering predominantly male occupations in higher numbers compared to women of previous generations, the researchers said it has been difficult to distinguish between general societal changes and family factors that may be influencing a woman’s career choices.

source www.goedgevoel.be

Vrouwen willen een interessante, goed betaalde job waarbij een goede mix tussen werk en privé mogelijk is. Dat blijkt uit een enquête onder 5.700 Belgische werknemers, jonger dan 55 jaar. De 'work-life' balance is het belangrijkste criterium voor dames in de zoektocht naar een werkgever. Ook een open communicatie vinden ze belangrijker dan mannen. Die laatsten hechten dan weer meer belang aan salaris, carrièreperspectieven en een competent management met toekomstvisie.

source womensvoicesforchange.org

Arahvanards the votes in Iran’s presidential election are counted, many have been mesmerized by this week’s vivid campaign rallies, full boisterousness and youthful energy. But it hasn’t all been about former prime minister Mira Mousavi, who hopes to unseat Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Many of those dancing in the street were there as much to see Mousavi’s wife, 62-year old Zahra Rahvanard.

source www.nrc.nl

Het vrouwenbrein gaat met stress anders om dan het mannenbrein. Tenminste, bij ratten. Maar waarschijn- lijk ook bij mensen. Denkt bioloog Gert ter Horst. Rotterdam, 28 mei. Vrouwenhersenen reageren anders op situaties die leiden tot stress, angst en depressie dan mannenhersenen. Onderzoek naar psychofarmaca gebeurt echter vooral bij mannelijke proefdieren. Dat levert een vertekend beeld op.

source sciencecareers.sciencemag.org

Managing workplace stress is an ongoing challenge for scientists--busy, task-oriented, ambitious people who often feel they don't have enough hours in the day, at home, or at work. But managing stress doesn't have to take a big chunk of time. Small chunks can work just as well--and that's one of the keys to managing stress in a busy life.

source community.pinkmagazine.com

Now more than ever, we are all learning the value of having a great network of contacts. With the number of people looking for jobs and others trying to find clients to keep their businesses afloat in today’s economy, the enrollments and activity on professional networking sites ,such as Linkedin, have soared. According to the latest January data from comScore, the LinkedIn’s U.S. unique visitors shot up 22 percent to 7.7 million, up from 6.3 million in December. Total minutes spent on the site doubled in January to 96.8 million, from 47.6 million in December.

by www.womenco.com

Like online dating profiles, job descriptions are often written in a cryptic, euphemistic language that takes an experienced eye to decode. Just as “free-spirited” in a dating profile hints at a lack of full-time employment, words like “self-starter” or “multitasker” may give subtle clues about the type of work and the work environment you’ll find at the company. For your amusement (and edification), here’s a list of commonly used job-listing jive and how to decode it. 

source www.mommytrackd.com

Here’s the truth: I’m getting a little tired of everyone out there trying to solve our problems – the problems of working women with children, that is. Work/life balance, opting out, opting in, juggling, woman power, why we should rule the earth and why if we have kids that’s really impossible – it’s all seeming like old news. Every time I look, there’s a new book or article whining about how the business world doesn’t appreciate us or claiming to have the solution to what we know is really an insoluble problem. It’s enough to make a reviewer shout “enough, already.” But if a reviewer finds the content of these books a little too familiar and maybe a little boring, it’s certainly not so for the women wrestling with the problem. Change only happens when people generate a lot of noise, especially articulate noise, about a vital issue, so it’s good that these books keep coming.

source www.mommytrackd.com

If ever there was a book with my name on it, the one I should have written, this is it: Mama PhD, edited by Elrena Evans and Caroline Grant. Full disclosure. I’ve been an academic all my professional life. I began working toward my PhD when my kids were young and I was teaching at a university part time. I still get the guilt–chills recalling the classes I should have skipped but didn’t, the times I sent a child to school with a hacking cold instead of staying home with her as I knew I should have. I can summon a cold sweat all these years later if I allow myself to remember getting the call that my daughter had broken her arm sailing off a piece of gymnastic equipment and wondering whether I could finish teaching my class and still get to the emergency room on time instead of bolting out the door that very minute. These are the crises that haunt all working mothers, no matter what their jobs. But while it’s old news that corporations aren’t always kind to working mothers – everyone knows that – what gets less attention is the plight of academic women with young children.

ORGA GROUP organise au Maroc le Forum international des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprise et Cadres Dirigeantes sous le thème "Management au Féminin - Quel apport pour le développement durable des entreprises dans un contexte de crise?" Ce forum se propose d’être un moment important d’échange entre femmes Chefs d’entreprise, cadres dirigeantes, universitaires, expert(e)s et représentant(e)s d’associations internationales pour débattre et traiter de l’implication de la Femme dans la démarche d’innovation et de développement durable face aux contraintes de la mondialisation et de la crise.