Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff

Simona Paravani-Mellinghoff: Can women have it all?

Statistics show clearly that women are not yet fairly represented in the various spheres of power (e.g. Less than 5% of CEOs of Fortune500 companies are women). While such statistic have played and play an important role in focusing the public debate and related actions, it is also important to put them into perspective by highlighting the following:   1-Don’t forget the historical perspective: significant progress has been made already even though more work is yet to be done 2-Money,money, money: powerful economic drivers support change given women’s influence on purchasing decisions. 3-Morale: Positive thinking is key to success.   Building on the  point about morale and positive thinking, the whole debate about “can women have it all?” should really be rephrased in terms of “how can women have it all?”. There is no magic potion but a few thoughts worth mulling over:   1-Define for yourself what it means to have it all 2-Ambition is not a swear-word 3-Be aware of unconscious biases, but don’t use them as an excuse 4-Learn to “market” life experiences -i.e. maternity- as professional assets! 5-Believe in yourself !!!   Browse through the whole presentation here, look at the video of her lecture here.