Posts Tagged ‘Canada Honours’
Person Power
On October 18, 1929, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England, then the appeals court for the Canadian Supreme Court, ruled that women were eligible “persons” who could be appointed to the Senate. Today, Canadians celebrate October 18 as Persons Day, and this year, it was a fitting day to celebrate champions of women in corporate Canada. As Deborah Gillis explains below, The Catalyst Canada Honours recognized three inspiring leaders committed to advancing women within their organizations and in society.
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The Catalyst Canada Honours dinner was in every way a celebration of champions. The stars of the evening, of course, were the three champions: Michael Bach, Jennifer Tory, and Monique Leroux.
But setting the tone for the evening was the challenge for each of us to be a champion of change in the workplace.
As I prepared my own remarks for the event, I recalled stories I had heard recently from two different women. Anne Drinkwater, President & CEO of BP Canada, told of an advocate who had spoken up for her when others were suggesting that a leadership role in Indonesia was just too tough for a woman. Her sponsor was successful in opening the door for her and changed the course of her career.
In India, I met Sasha Sanyal from Genpact. Like many women, she was the one questioning her readiness for a bigger role in the company, while her sponsor expressed his confidence in her ability and assured her of his support. Today, she has built a successful career with the help of this active, supportive advocate and sponsor.
Over and over, we hear from successful business people about a life-changing intervention by one person who believed in them and encouraged them to believe in themselves. Sponsorship is emerging as the critical factor in career advancement. The advocacy of a powerful member of the corporate leadership can determine who is taken seriously as a leader, who gets plum assignments, who gets promoted, and who gets better compensation.
Businesses have made great strides in establishing mentoring programs for women, but when it comes to sponsorship, with its power to change career trajectories, women still are not on the radar.
But that can change.
Last night, I challenged each of our dinner guests to change someone’s life by becoming a sponsor, speaking up on behalf of someone who has earned the opportunity to prove herself, and supporting her to success.
Today, I’m extending that challenge to Catalyst Canada friends and supporters across the country. Think about the people who changed your life with their confidence and advocacy, and honour them by finding someone who has earned your sponsorship.
On a closing note, if anyone has any doubt about the power of individuals to change society, yesterday was also Persons Day. In 1929, as the result of determined effort by five persistent women, Canadian women were finally deemed to be persons with the right to sit in the Canadian Senate. They changed the lives of every woman who followed.
You may not change the country, but your sponsorship will change someone’s personal story forever. And that’s a legacy to celebrate.
Champions for Change
Last night we celebrated ten years of Catalyst in Canada at our sold-out Catalyst Canada Honours gala dinner. We kicked off the festivities by opening trading at the Toronto Stock Exchange. And in the evening, we inaugurated The Catalyst Catalyst Honours, recognizing three champions of women’s advancement in business: Ed Clark, President and CEO of TD Bank; Colleen Sidford, Vice President & Treasurer of Ontario Power Generation Inc.; and Sylvia Chominska, Group Head of Global Human Resources & Communications at Scotiabank. It was so moving that I want to share the day with this fresh posting from Deborah Gillis, Vice President, North America and head of our Catalyst Canada office. Coming soon: pictures, video and a retrospective of the celebration!
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If a single theme predominated the inaugural dinner of The Catalyst Canada Honours last night, it was change.
Scotiabank President and CEO Rick Waugh, who is also Chair of Catalyst Canada Advisory Board identified the most important change over the past ten years in the business world as “the cultural shift that has begun in Canadian business and in our broader society.”
Champion Sylvia Chrominska spoke of the cultural shift at Scotiabank since she started in 1979, as more women joined the senior ranks, and both women and men began to recognize the business benefits of diversity at the very top.
TD Bank Financial Group’s Ed Clark—another champion—spoke of the journey for answers to the increasingly complex issues of diversity, and the importance of commitment from everyone in the organization.
Champion Colleen Sidford’s leadership as Vice-President of Ontario Power Generation has shifted attitudes and created opportunities for women in the traditionally male nuclear industry.
In preparing my own notes, I also thought back to one of my earliest disillusionments: the realization in my final year of high school that a university education would likely allow me to earn only 69.6 cents for every dollar in the pay packet of my male colleagues.
Time for introspection. Some of it, not pretty.
I thought about the first Catalyst research project in Canada. In 1997, Canadian CEOs believed that women in senior management would jump from 13% to 24% by 2002. Well, by 2002, senior management ranks were 14% women. In 2008, the percentage had reached 16.9%. In fact, if we continue at the current rate of change, we won’t see that 24% prediction until 2022!
And the pay gap that shocked me so much in 1983? In 2008, women earned 68.3 cents to every dollar earned by our male colleagues!
So what is this cultural shift that everyone is seeing? I believe we’ve seen a fundamental shift in the conversation, a shift that gives me hope that things are about to change.
Back in 1983, I believed that women should earn as much as men because it was fair. Fairness was the basis of the equality rights section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Fairness was the foundation of the Employment Equity Act of 1985.
Businesses complied with the legislation, but compliance alone does not create equity or an inclusive workplace. Today, CEOs like Rick Waugh, Ed Clark, and Bill Downe know that their businesses are stronger, more competitive, and ultimately more profitable because their senior ranks reflect the Canadian population in all its diversity. They know that women bring a valuable perspective to their senior tables.
Most importantly, they know that Canadian companies and the Canadian economy can no longer afford to ignore the talents, skills and commitment of 50% of the population – not to mention those who are outpacing men in higher education degrees.
What I see is both a conversion and a conversation that has shifted from fairness to business case. The participants in the conversation are no longer only women standing outside the senior management door. The conversation—and the passionate advocacy—has moved through that door, and men have become partners in the conversation.
And the question is no longer “Why?” but “How?” and “How quickly?”
I take considerable pride that Catalyst Canada has lived up to our name over the past ten years. Our partnership with business has provided a venue for the conversation. Our research has informed business programs to support the advancement of women, such as Sylvia’s work at Scotiabank, Colleen’s emPOWERed women program at OPG, and Ed’s Women in Leadership initiatives.
The Catalyst Canada Honours dinner marked our tenth anniversary. Our Champions—Ed Clark, Sylvia Chrominska, and Colleen Sidford—are leading the way. And, if the enthusiasm of the sell-out crowd of over 500 members and friends is any measure, their advocacy is gaining supporters in all sectors and businesses across Canada.
Let the conversation continue! Bring on the change!
C This
Where is the women’s movement heading? What can we do better? Philosopher Nina Power outlines ten areas feminists should focus on. We must “campaign for fairer and better work, even in the midst of an economic crisis,” she writes. More of her points plus news about the gender pay gap, The Catalyst Canada Honours, and the new UN agency for women in C This.
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Feminism 2.0
British philosopher Nina Power charts a new path for feminism. One suggestion: Don’t fixate on female firsts. “Feminism should not be misled by the successes of individual women at the top of their professions (politicians, CEOs, etc.),” she writes. “Feminism would do well to remember how the struggle for real equality and fair income can sometimes be disguised by the purported success of the odd individual woman.”
READ: “10 Things That Feminism Could Do Better,” by Nina Power, Alternet, 7/9/10
Frozen Gap
The latest data from the US Department of Labor reveals almost zero progress on closing the gender wage gap for women ages 16–19. The gap persists because young women still start and stay behind equally skilled men.
READ: “The Persistence of the Pay Gap,” by Heather Boushey, XXfactor, 7/14/10
Financing UN Women
The new UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women—now called UN Women for short—has an initial annual budget of $500 million, less than 1 percent of the $27 billion budget for the entire UN in 2008. “With the UN’s own working group proposing that by 2015, 15 percent of overall development assistance will be allocated toward gender, why is that not happening?” said Daniela Rosech of Oxfam International.
READ: “New UN Agency for Women–First Battle Won,” IRIN, 7/16/10
Secrets to Success
The recipients of The Catalyst Canada Honours share some insights with The Toronto Star. “You just have to understand, we would not be what we are if we did not recruit the best people,” said Ed Clark, President and CEO of TD Bank Financial Group. “If you don’t do this you will not be a high performing company 20 years from now.”
READ: “Making a Business Case for the Advancement of Women,” by Emily Mathieu, Toronto Star, 7/15/10
Campus Satisfaction
A survey by The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education revealed that male academics are more satisfied with their work than their female colleagues. The differences, noted COACHE Research Director Cathy Trower, “cut across disciplines and, in fact, are most evident in disciplines in which women are relatively well represented.” Physical sciences and humanities professors reported being most satisfied with their positions, while those in visual and performing arts and education reported being least satisfied.
Canadian Champions
Drum roll, please!
I’m happy to share with you that business leaders at TD Bank, Ontario Power Generation, and Scotiabank have been named the inaugural champions of The Catalyst Canada Honours for their commitment to advancing women in the workplace. Below is a CanCon cross-post by Deborah Gillis, Catalyst’s Vice President, North America, on this worthy achievement. Congratulations to this year’s recipients!
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Honouring Leaders
Someone once said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Today, Catalyst Canada celebrates three remarkable leaders who have made a difference in the lives and careers of countless women in Canadian business. TD’s Ed Clark, Ontario Power Generation’s Colleen Sidford, and Scotiabank’s Sylvia Chrominska share a common trait (aside from their personal success!). Each has made it their mission to champion women in their organizations, their industries, and their communities.
And for each of them, the reward comes not in personal recognition, but in seeing others become and achieve more than they ever dreamed possible.
There are few of us who can’t point to a time when our lives were changed by someone who offered advice, or an opportunity, or shoulders to stand on. Certainly, if there’s one thing I hear consistently from women who have risen to the top of their fields in Canada, it’s that they didn’t make it on their own. They benefitted from mentors and champions who stepped in, often at critical moments, and set their careers on a new path.
And that’s why we’ve created the Catalyst Canada Honours – to recognize champions of women in business and to mark Catalyst Canada’s tenth anniversary. It’s our hope that in recognizing these champions, we will inspire others to step forward and create real change that will benefit both women and organizations.
The Catalyst Canada Honours began about a year ago, with a conversation I had with a woman who attended Catalyst’s first Canadian event. She was surprised that the event was hosted by a CEO. Today, no one would be surprised to hear a business leader in Canada talking about the importance of women to the bottom line. Over the last ten years, the conversation has shifted. Diversity—with women at its core— has become a strategic imperative for Canadian businesses.
And it started with a leader, who stood up and did something unexpected.
While today is primarily about Ed, Colleen and Sylvia, it’s also about all of the other leaders— today and tomorrow—changing workplaces and changing lives. Thank you for what you do. We are truly inspired.
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