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creating an organizational masterpiece

The Advance IWD2019 conference was kicked off with an inspirational keynote by the visionary violinist & entrepreneur, Miha Pogacnik. He took us on an unforgettable journey into the world of art bridging it to business. He explained how masterpieces unfold their irresistible power by interweaving polar forces like female & male. Masterpieces utilize the “polarity of forces and intensification”, a core concept which we can make fruitful for organizations as well. The better an organization manages to integrate polarity and diversity of forces, the more intense and compelling a shared purpose becomes. According to Miha, the result is a truly organic rather than mechanical organization. A big thank you to Miha for this eye-opening performance!

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“when we share power, the whole society is doing better”

Sylvie Durrer, Director Federal Office for Gender Equality, shared insights on the political front of gender equality in Switzerland. She started off with a strong point: “Gender equality is about sharing power. And we know that when we share power, the whole society is doing better”. She recalled that women got the vote in Switzerland only in 1971, which explains to a certain extent that we lag behind other countries in this respect. Recently, there have been positive developments again in the representation of women in the Swiss government and in political bodies. Her main call to action was that we also need to share unpaid care work among men & women. This aspect of gender-balance is often not yet addressed enough. Most importantly, we have to start early by role modeling gender-inclusive behavior to our children and by fighting limiting stereotypes. A warm thank you to Sylvie for this valuable contribution.

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Sweden – Gender Equality by design

“People tend to follow the money & the law.” – This sentence was part of the opening of the speech by the Swedish Ambassador to Switzerland, Magnus Hartog-Holm, on the topic of “Gender Equality – the Swedish Way”. He pointed out that “only if political systems are shaped with the determined objective to improve gender equality via economic incentives, regulations & laws, results will appear.”
Sweden has actively worked over decades towards gender equality in the triangle of politics, society & economy. The progress we see in Sweden is clearly the result of more than 100 years of conscious socio-political design. What do you think Switzerland could learn from Sweden?
A big thank you to Magnus Hartog-Holm for these first-hand insights on what works in Sweden.

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Driving Change for Gender equality – outside-in!

“In a data-driven world, there was no data on the gender split in finance: Women were invisible & clearly under-served.” This was the situation Dr. Mara Catherine Harvey encountered as a leader at UBS and set out to change some years back. She started to gather data from the outside world, drew up a strong business case and used economic facts and figures as a catalyst to drive gender balance internally – very successfully so!
Mara’s talk was rich in applicable advice. Here’s some of it: “If you really want to drive a gender-balanced business:
• Put a gender lens on your ENTIRE value chain
• Act & communicate like you really mean it
• Demand the same from your business partners
• Keep nudging the conversation”
How could outside-in data help YOU drive gender balance that makes great business sense? A big thank you to Mara for sharing this compelling best practice.

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MARKETING CAN POSITIVELY IMPACT GENDER EQUALITY Development

Decennials of marketing have had a big impact on gender stereotypes about what “real men” or “real women” would look or be like. Ralf Gehlen, CEO P&G Switzerland Sarl, shared best practices that prove: It can also do the opposite! P&G’s progressive approach to promote gender equality via marketing created a huge buzz. Their new spots are among the most liked ones on Youtube and generate discussions. See for instance their #LikeAGirl campaign. P&G boldly called for the industry to get to 100% of ads and media accurately portraying women and girls.
How could your ads break up limiting gender stereotypes? A big thank you to Ralf for presenting P&G’s courageous move forward.

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FROM IDEAS TO ACTIONS

What can everyone of us do to foster gender equality and inclusion in everyday practice? Gabriela Mueller, engaging Coach and International Speaker, “landed this plane” by bringing the topic down to the personal level. After making the case clear that “what brought us here, won’t get us there”, she shared three actionable items:
• “Shift the conversation from sympathy to empathy. Stay a curious learner instead of being a knower. Use ‘Tell me more!’ and truly listen.”
• For men: “Express your recognition of a woman’s performance and provide critical feedback to support her advancement. It will have a lasting impact on her life.”
• For women: “Express your gratitude towards a woman you admire. Because together we are so much stronger.”
What are we waiting for? Let’s do it! Start today. A big thank you to Gabriela for inspiring words on deeds that make a difference.

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GEnder-BAlanced Facilitation Power-Duo

It takes a lot of preparation and dedication to co-moderate an event like our IWD 2019 celebration conference with six speakers, rapid pace and such a diversity of topics. Esther-Mirjam de Boer
and Francis Bouchard did an amazing job on stage. Profound knowledge, humor, empathy and deep insights made the perfect mix for a great performance. And, it matters to say, they did it at a voluntary basis. This as well deserves acknowledgement. Big applause once again for Esther and Francis! We’d love to see you back.

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Thank you to this year’s Sponsors & Supporters!

Advance can only organize such events thanks to the additional support from companies and volunteers. Our IWD 2019 Conference was sponsored by ABB together with Verein ABB Kinderkrippen, Accenture, Sonova, SRG SSR and UBS. And it was generously hosted by the University of Zurich together with the Office for Gender Equality &Diversity of the University of Zurich. Huge thanks to all of them! Together #weadvance faster!

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Photo gallery

Photo credits: Brüderli Longhini, Zürich

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