When talented and smart women get together, great things can happen.

That’s why you shouldn’t miss the Women for Women’s Luncheon in support of Women’s College Hospital Foundation this Friday, when hundreds of women will be eating lunch and shaping the future of health care.

After 100 years of being a trailblazer in women’s health, Women’s College Hospital needs a new building. In 2015, a new facility, designed to support innovative and effective health care for women, will open.

What won’t change is Women’s College Hospital’s commitment to supporting women’s health through state of the art diagnosis and treatment. The hospital’s capacity for research and education will be enhanced, and its continued affiliation with the University of Toronto will ensure that health professionals learn about women’s health in a dedicated facility.

Many of the women at Friday’s luncheon will have firsthand experience and knowledge of how vital WCH’s work is. Many others will benefit from that work in the future. But whether it’s ourselves, our sisters, or one of our good friends, we all know someone whose life has been affected by WCH.

On Friday, I’ll be joining Women of Influence at Women for Women’s, and helping to make a great thing happen. See you there!

After the downer of our “24 Hoursof Sexism” post a couple of weeks ago, we were relieved to find some positive media stories about clever, talented women succeeding and sharing. Read on!

Plug into the World of Wired Women

If you despair of organizing your digital photos, imagine the challenge for Leila Boujnane. Her company, TinEye, has a database of more than 2 billion images. But each image has a distinctive “fingerprint” to allow tracking of where it’s been used online. The technology
also helps source images and find images for specific purposes. Her story is shared as part of an excellent series entitled Wired Women of Canada. Read Leila’s story, then check out the whole series about creative women making a difference.

Read: “Wired Women of Canada: Leila Boujnane, Search Innovator” by Amber MacArthur, Theglobeandmail.com, May 16, 2011.

Think Big

The Rotman School of Management’s Next Steps: A Program for Experienced Women Entrepreneurs demonstrates the best kind of sharing, as successful women teach and share practical tips and strategies that have allowed them to run profitable and healthy businesses. Participants find role models who “normalize the ‘thinking big’ process.”

Read: “Female Role Models Teach Unique Program” by Ruth Bastedo, The Globe and Mail, May 25, 2011.

Honouring Great Women

The HSBC Great Canadian Woman Awards on June 21 will recognize three women who have immigrated to Canada and have succeeded in their business or profession. Congratulations to the League for Human Rights and (Catalyst Member) HSBC Canada on this inaugural event. Proceeds from the dinner will support the B’nai Brith Alzheimer’s Residence.

Read: “HSBC Great Canadian Woman Awards” May, 2011.

Women with Clout

Five powerful women have the potential to change politics in India, which still struggles with cultural biases against women. This interesting article suggests that women can play the game of politics just like men, but are conscious of their example for younger women.

Read: “Female Face of Power Reflects Change in India” by Stephanie Nolen, The Globe and Mail, May 22, 2011.

And a Bit of Same Old!

Entrepreneurs may be learning to think big at Rotman, but a recent study suggests that women university students generally have lower expectations of the workplace than their male counterparts. In a survey of 23,000 university students, women anticipated 13.5 percent lower pay, and a 12 percent longer wait for their first promotion than did their male classmates. Their expectation at the five-year mark was 17.5 percent less.

Read: “Women Expect Less Pay from the Start” by Wallace Immen, The Globe and Mail, May 19, 2011.

One of my last duties of 2010 was an appearance before the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce to support action to improve the representation of women on Canadian corporate boards, because diversity is important to women, and equally important to maintaining Canada’s competitive economy.  Today, C This Canada! includes a look at some of the reasons for the lack of women  in the boardrooms of the nation.   And we share some research, an industry success story, and a personal and moving story about the value of managing a healthy work-life balance.  An innovative partnership between schools and a technology giant also caught our eye.

Not quite as equal?

It may be barriers on the bottom and middle floors, rather than the glass ceiling, which are keeping women from reaching the boardroom in numbers that reflect their presence in the work force.  How do we identify the problems, and what are the remedies?

READ:  “Equality Not the Same as Parity in the Boardroom”, Kim Covert,  Postmedia News, December 23, 2010.

Accountants do it better!

Accounting firms are leading with innovative programs to ensure employees maintain a personal life, even during the high-pressure audit period.  Employees, and the businesses, benefit from the initiatives.

READ: “Flex Time Flourishes in Accounting Industry” Stephen Greenhouse, The New York Times, January 7, 2011.

We knew it!

Research suggests that your health may depend upon your approach—and your boss’s—to balancing work with the other important things in your life.

READ: “The Real Cost of Upsetting the Work-Life Balance”, Susan Pinker, The Globe and Mail, December 20, 2010.

And some personal evidence of the work-life link

FedEx Canada President Lisa Lisson speaks about the importance of balance between work and life as she coped with the strain of a personal crisis.

READ: “FedEx Chief Finds Strength, Comfort in Her Work”,  Gordon Pitts, The Globe and Mail, January 12, 2011.

Girls Find Place in Technology World

Schools across the country are finding a way to attract more girls to their technology training—with girls-only classes that allow participants to pursue their interests.  And the schools are being supported by Cisco Systems in an effort to address the technology skills shortage by overcoming the stereotype.

READ: “Girls-Only Computer Class Hits Refresh on IT’s Geeky-Male Image”, Kate Harmer, The Globe and Mail, January 4, 2011

I’ve been reading, as I’m sure you have, the breathless media coverage about today’s well-paid young women. You know, the one who makes more than her boyfriend. These reports are enthusiastic, optimistic—and wrong.

The young woman may make more money than her boyfriend, but the chances are that she makes less, and is in a lower position within her company, than the men she graduated with. Catalyst research, which followed 4,000-plus M.B.A. graduates from top schools around the world, shows a far less rosy picture.

Women started their careers in lower levels than their male counterparts. And they earned approximately $4,600 less per year than the men they had graduated with, even accounting for the fact that they were starting in lower levels.

The initial inequity persists and the pay gap grows throughout their careers. And who are the losers? The women who don’t get the opportunity to achieve their full potential, and earn accordingly, of course.

But, equally seriously, Canadian businesses and the Canadian economy also suffer from the failure to put all our talent to work.

Progressive business leaders, faced with research like Catalyst’s Pipeline’s Broken Promise, question the myth that time and education would sort out the gender inequities. We’ve given it time. Women now earn over half of university degrees in Canada, and make up almost half the workforce.

But the representation of women in executive ranks is not keeping up with women’s educational achievements or presence in the workplace. And women with university degrees still earn only 63 cents for every dollar earned by men.

Business leaders know they can’t put faith in the one-off studies that put women suddenly at the top of the pay heap. And they don’t share the excitement of some media reports about research that show a leisurely climb to equity in 30 years.

They know we can’t afford to wait because they know the competition—across the street or around the globe—is paying and promoting its best talent, regardless of gender.

That’s why they’re introducing mentoring programs for employees, and changing corporate policies that disadvantage women.

Let’s celebrate our progress. But let’s understand that we still need to overcome some tough barriers. And let’s do it before today’s young women attend their own retirement parties.

Earlier this week, parents across Canada watched their kids go off to school, college and university.  Yesterday, the Canadian Education Statistics Council told us that the bright little girl we’re sending off to school is likely to attain a higher level of education than the boy in the next desk—but she’ll earn 63 cents for every dollar he makes. 

After years of struggle for equal opportunity in the workplace, this is disappointing.  But it’s not a surprise.

It supports—yet again—Catalyst research that female graduates of top M.B.A. schools enter the workforce at lower levels than their male colleagues, and earn $4,600 less.  Their promotions are slower, and less lucrative.  So the initial gap continues and grows, year after weary year. 

Women continue to be underrepresented at senior levels of business, despite their educational achievements and despite the influence of women in the economy.  For the individual woman, that is reflected in less personal income and reduced career satisfaction.

Businesses and the national economy are the biggest losers.  They’re losing the opportunity represented by 50 percent of the talent pool, brain power, and capacity for innovation and productivity.  And they can’t afford to continue losing that contribution.

As young women gained strength in business and professional schools, it seemed that equal access to the workplace would lead to equity in the workplace.  Now, we understand that workplace culture has to change—or those little girls who started school last week will be fighting their grandmothers’ battles, all over again.

Isn’t it time to fix it?