How (not) to plan your future

Shortly before I went to the US for my semester abroad, my aunt asked me the following question:

What are you going to do if you meet the love of your life before you leave? 

I was amused by her question. On the one hand, she probably would not have asked me that question if I were male. On the other hand, what was I supposed to do in her opinion? Stay in Germany, get married and live happily ever after?

Uniting family and career

This may have been the perfect course of life for young women a couple of decades ago. But still today, women tend to cut back on their career opportunities because they have a feeling of not being able to match a successful career and a happy relationship, or they think it is their duty to give up their career in order to start a family. Now, in my early twenties, it is easy for me to say I will never do that. One day, I might want to spend more time with my children and will therefore periodically cut back on my job. However, this is not an issue to think about at the moment. It only becomes relevant in the future. 

The wrong way to plan

Hower, planning a distant future is something a lot of women do. And this can hold us back! Thinking about our possible relationship or family status in 15 years is irrelevant for today's career decisions. It is so much more important to picture your personal career situation in 15 years and know what you are working for. This is something worth planning and you have the possibility of actually influencing it. An interesting article I once read talked about how analyzing the effects of today’s career decisions on the opportunity to have a family and children later on negatively influences women's careers. By (often subconsciously) analyzing every career move for its effects on future family plans, women often do not take on a new job or do not ask for a promotion because they are afraid the new position could be too challenging when having a family. The fact that this family does not yet even exist is thereby completely dismissed.

How to do it right

If you can remember wondering about how a certain job or your career aspiration will work out for you in 10 years when you are the mother of two toddlers, then the following advice might be helpful: When it comes to your personal career development, think about the future and plan well ahead. When it comes to how your (imaginary) family might look like one day, you can dream about it. But do not plan that family and then adjust your career plans around it. You will find a solution for that problem when it comes to be an actual, real challenge!

Carolin

The Positive Effect of Daring (to be crazy)

How often have you thought to yourself: “I can’t do that, because people will think...” Add anything you like, but most of the time it will be something like “…that I’m crazy”. Recently, I watched a Ted Talk by Cassandra Cole, a young female mechanical engineering student. She is the team lead of the school’s Formula SAE team. Initially, Cassandra was afraid to join the team, as it consisted only of men and she was concerned people would label her as crazy if she joined. It took a near-death experience for her to decide to pluck up the courage and join this racing team. To her, this action was something truly crazy. Once having joined the team, she became hugely successful and is now working part-time for NASCAR, pursuing her dream job as a Race Engineer.

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I believe that women should be taking many more of these crazy risks. Men, in comparison to women, do not hesitate as much when making risky decisions.

I have made an experience of my own to prove the positive effect of bold and “crazy” actions.

During my first two years of university, I was part of a student organization hosting and organizing Germany’s largest consulting competitions for students at our university’s campus. In the entire six years of history of the organization, there had never been a female patron. I was determined to change this. My teammates’ reaction was not at all what I expected: they laughed and said that was a strange thing to want to change. Why bother, when it would obviously be significantly harder to find a high-ranked female businessperson to be the patron of our event? This made me even more determined to find someone.

And I did. After many rejections, I found our first female patron, the head of Human Resources at Germany’s largest market research company, Doris Lainer.

In the course of issuing invitation letters, I had also inquired if Martina Koederitz, the CEO of IBM Germany, could take on this position. Unfortunately, her busy schedule did not allow her to be our event’s patron. 

However, at the recent event, she was the patron of the consulting competition!

By taking a risk and doing something crazy like initiating female patrons for our event, I have made a change and encouraged my successors in the organization to do the same. The result was winning one of Germany’s most powerful businesswomen as our patron. By taking a bold action, you can trigger a positive effect for many more women to come. 

Annamarie

The Challenge of Implementing Equality

For a few years now, gender equality in companies has been a topic of utmost priority. However, looking at numbers paints a rather dismal picture of the current situation: only 4,6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. It seems like the implementation of gender equality is a huge challenge, even though it presents high benefits: research by Catalyst found that companies with more female board members experience better financial performance.

These findings can be applied not only to the boards of companies, but also to companies in general. It does not mean that women are better board members than men, it rather supports the idea of diversity: women offer a different perspective on problems and by working together, women and men can reach better and more profitable solutions.

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Support through the UN

In order to promote more diversity and gender equality in the workplace, UN Women and the UN Global Compact developed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP). Their slogan is “Equality means Business”. Bank-Ki Moon wrote about women in business: “Educating girls is a first step. Employers everywhere also need to take a long and hard look at how far gender equality has been achieved in every workplace, to ensure that women are not only recruited but given the opportunities that they deserve to advance their careers.“

The WEP offer seven ideas on how to improve a company so that it can benefit from gender diversity. They support their ideas with examples and tools on how to measure a successful implementation. You can read about the seven principles in the following article.

Implementing equality individually

It is highly important to find out, how companies can improve their current situation and what needs to change in today’s work environment. However, what is most important is a general shift in the behavior of employers and employees:

1. Companies need to promote a supportive environment for women in business: special programs, trainings and mentors for (young) women, superiors who openly communicate with women on how they can be successful in their work environment, the possibility of home offices or a company kindergarten.

2. Individuals need to change their opinion about working women: women who strive for success do not lose their femininity and their capability is equal to men's; it is not a sign of being a bad mother when you return to your desk soon after giving birth etc.

But above all, remember the following: there is no reason to believe you cannot reach a goal because you are a woman!

Carolin

Welcome to women2business

Hello fellow Females and all interested Males,

welcome to our blog women2business!

We are Annamarie and Carolin, two university students whose passion is encouraging young women to strive for success and self-fulfillment in their private and professional lives.

Through our blog women2business, we want to share personal experiences and publish information and advice from successful women in business.

This blog was created from our deep conviction that gender equality in business and politics is far from realized, even in countries with developed economies.

Gender equality does not begin with an equal distribution of C-level positions. It begins a very long time before that: the way we are raised, our education, and ultimately the career path we choose to pursue.

We, Annamarie and Carolin, especially want to reach out to young women who are studying and at the very beginning of their professional life. This is a pivotal time for many young people – and we want to encourage women to step up and believe in themselves.

At the same time, gender equality can only be realized when both parties – women and men – work together. We also hope to gain young men as supportive forces for their female counterparts: by working together and not competing against each other, we can create a better and more successful work environment for everybody.

We look forward to your comments!

You can also contact us via women2business@gmx.de.

Find and follow us on Facebook and Twitter (#women2business)!

Annamarie and Carolin