Aspire Foundation Newsletter #4 March 2016
Welcome to The Aspire Foundation newsletter! By Emma Barrett Welcome to your March issue of the Aspire Foundation Newsletter, and Happy International Women’s Day!
In this issue, read about the history of IWD and how you can support the #PledgeforParity (hint, hint - supporting women through mentoring is completely part of the plan!).
Last month we heard from one of our new Avanade mentors, Rich. Turn to Pages 5 and 6 to read what his mentee, Emma, thinks of the process.
We have a guest blog from one of the Avanade team who joined us for the M.A.D. Global Leadership event in January. Check out her views and top tips from the event on Pages 8 and 9. If you were one of the attendees, we’d love to hear what you thought of it! You can drop me a line at editor@theaspirefoundation.org.
I hope you enjoy this month’s issue. Please feel free to drop me a line with any feedback or suggestions!
Emma Aspire Newsletter Editor
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. IWD is held on 8th March (if you’re wondering, International Men’s Day is 19th November). The first record of a Women’s Day was in 1909 in New York and was held in remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union. IWD was marked for the first time on 19th March 1911 by over one million people in Australia, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. In 1914, the event was held on 8th March and that is the day it is now held in all countries. The official United Nations theme for 2016 is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it Up for Gender Equality”. There is a linked campaign - spear-headed by EY with other corporate partners, including our friends at Avanade - with the theme #PledgeforParity.
The UN’s theme relates to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a collection of goals and targets that aim to end poverty, combat inequalities and promote prosperity while protecting the environment by 2030. The agenda includes a stand-alone goal on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as well as gender-sensitive targets in other goals.
The #PledgeforParity theme both celebrates the strides women have taken towards equality, but acknowledges that there is still some way to go. The World Economic Forum predicted in 2014 that it would take until 2095 to achieve global gender parity. Then, one year later in 2015, they estimated that a slowdown in the already glacial pace of progress meant the gender gap wouldn't close entirely until 2133. The #PledgeforParity campaign is calling on women and men to take concrete steps to help us get to gender parity more quickly, and lists effective and realistic steps we can all take:
Helping women and girls achieve their ambitions (perhaps through mentoring?!)
Challenging conscious and unconscious bias
Calling for gender-balanced leadership
Valuing women and men’s contributions equally
Creating inclusive and flexible cultures
Why do we need to focus on gender parity?
If the gender gap doesn’t close until 2133 it means we have 117 years of inequality left. 117 years where women’s contributions, both actual and potential, are not valued and 117 years where businesses miss out on the benefits that mixed-gender teams can bring.
Globally, women earn around $0.77 for every $1 earned by men. This figure drops for women of color (African-American women earn $0.64 and Latina women earn $0.56 for every $1 earned by a Caucasian man.
62 Million girls are denied an education across the world.
Annually, 15 million girls under the age of 18 are married, usually without a say in the matter.
4 out of 5 victims of human trafficking are women and girls.
1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes.
Across the world, only 22% of national parliamentarians are women.
In the United States, there are more CEOs called ‘John’ than there are women CEOs.
You can take the pledge at http://www.internationalwomensday.com/Pledge
Aspire Foundation Community Q&A Last month we heard from Rich, one of our Avanade mentors. This month we speak to his mentee, Emma Scott. Emma heads up both the Network and Mentoring programmes at The Diana Award supporting at-risk young people. She oversees a team of mentoring and anti-bullying trainers, ensuring that innovation and best practice is achieved.
Q: How long have you been part of The Aspire Foundation mentoring program?
Q: How did you find the sign-up process?
About 5 months.
It was really straight forward and I was able to get paired with a mentor very quickly.
Q: Is this your first mentoring experience with the Aspire Foundation?
Q: What do you think has been the impact of this program on you personally?
Yes
I manage training and youth programmes at The Diana Award, and for me, it has been invaluable to be able to have the time to reflect and discuss the structure and development of these programmes with someone who has a wealth of knowledge and comes from a different angle and thought process from me. I am always aware of not being too insular and my mentor has really helped in making me accountable to my own ideas and vision.
Q: Why did you initially sign up? I loved the idea of bringing mentors and mentees from across the world together in one programme. Especially the element of female empowerment and “Making A Difference� to a billion women by 2020. How could you not want to take part in such an incredible goal?
Q: Would you recommend The Aspire Foundation mentoring program to colleagues or friends? Yes
Q: Do you think you’d like to mentor someone? The Diana Award runs a youth mentoring programme so I am lucky in that I already get to assist in that. But I would love to do it in my professional capacity, with the Aspire Foundation, in the future
Q: Is there anything you’ve done differently since starting The Aspire Foundation mentoring program? I have definitely thought more about my strategy and vision and how to make this more comprehensive
Q: You are one of the first mentees to be paired with a male mentor, did you have any expectations going into this? How has the experience compared to your expectations? Unfortunately, as young women today in 2016, trying to build a career path, we know that we will need to be 81 years old before we have the same chance as men as becoming CEO (UN Women, March 2015). Therefore, it is vital for us to learn from our successful male colleagues, and for them to pass on their insight if we are to bridge this gap, therefore I knew it would be invaluable to gain Rich’s insight as a successful Director. The experience has been extremely rewarding and I am very grateful to Rich for his time and dedication.
Q: If you could provide one piece of advice to someone considering signing up to the program, what would that be? Go for it! You never know where journeys like this can lead you so be open minded … If you haven’t already signed up to be a mentor or mentee - what are you waiting for?!
You can sign up here or you can email Liesl: Liesl@theaspirefoundation.org
Have you seen our International Women’s Day Event? The Aspire Trailblazing Leadership on-line event is to celebrate IWD and the inspirations, support and strength that women and men give to others around the world! Trailblazing leaders are the dreamers, visionaries and pioneers that set expectations based on opportunities, not limitations. Being in a like-minded community of peers that will challenge, support and empower you to be the trailblazer you are meant to be is critical to success. Join us to: Gain practical tools and ideas to be a trailblazing leader and achieve your biggest aspirations for life, work and the world. Think bigger, vision even bigger and go for it - how to overcome obstacles and fear. Realise that being yourself and 'MAD' i.e. standing out and wanting to make a difference is fundamental to success. Evolve your skills as an intrapreneur (entrepreneurial mindset inside your organisation), entrepreneur (within your own business) or altrupreneur(in a charity or social business). Learn how to stand your ground and have a voice at the leadership table at any age, level or background. Be an authentic and real role model for the next generation: how to empower and support the women and men following in your footsteps. Network and share best practice among like-minded individuals globally. Learn more and register here.
Making the impossible possible at M.A.D. Global Leadership Conference By Sarah Howe, Avanade
I just returned from two days at The Aspire Foundation’s M.A.D. (Making a Difference) Global Leadership conference in London. I left the conference with no doubt that The Aspire Foundation’s goal of making a difference to 1 billion women by 2020, albeit huge, can be achieved. The intellect, passion, energy and sense of purpose in the room was immense and electric; 500 women and about 20 men who share a common aspiration to make a difference in the world through a willingness to lead others and create a multiplier effect.
Not only did Avanade give 75 mentees and 25 Avanade mentors scholarships to attend the conference, but during his speech, our CEO, Adam Warby, announced that Avanade is investing $100,000 in The Aspire Foundation to help build its infrastructure for global reach. Dr Sam Collins and her Aspire Foundation will now be able to scale-up globally to have an increasingly broader and deeper positive impact on, and for, women.
The speakers were diverse, truly inspirational and beautifully M.A.D; from the ultimate humanitarian aid worker Linda Cruse who owns just one thing in life, her suitcase; to Lucy Reed, an incredible human rights lawyer who has built her career largely in a man’s world, on what she calls, “alert patience”; to Sarah Kitakule, a Ugandan woman now able to help empower others through education because her enlightened and loving father walked 12 miles each way to school every day and prioritized education for all of his children.
What did I learn from the two days? An awful lot is the short answer! In an attempt to be a little more specific, I learned that:
1.
If we can all find our real purpose, we can achieve the impossible. Think back to when you were a kid, and what you loved doing – chances are that those are still your most deeprooted passions and give you the biggest clue about your central purpose.
2.
Typically, some kind of fear holds the majority of people back – but seriously, ask yourself, what’s the very worst thing that could happen if I do this? Your biggest fear often points to your potential biggest success.
3.
Surround yourself with energy angels and repel, politely, those energy vampires that drain you. You need a plan for dealing with the naysayers but also need to recognize when some things should go into the “ignore” pile.
Over 530 Avanade employees have signed-up to be a mentor, with more joining daily.
Did you know that you can help make a difference too? Take the first step right now and sign-up as an Aspire Foundation mentor – after the application the commitment is minimal, an hour a month via phone or Skype for the next 6 months. You can sign up here.
Finally, I’ll leave you with a thought from the Dalai Lama XIV “if you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
Making a Difference in India… Can you Help? It’s our goal to positively impact one billion women by 2020 and, as part of that goal, we are focussing our attention on India. India is the world's second-largest country by population, and hundreds of millions of women are still affected by many issues. Women's rights are vital to the success and growth of developing nations, making projects that empower Indian women vital to the well-being of the entire country. Some sobering facts:
About 64 per cent of young girls will drop out of school before they are 9 years old in India.
An Indian woman is raped every 20 minutes, and approximately one in ten rapes are committed against women under the age of 18.
Poverty creates challenges for all in India, but women and girls face child marriages, forced prostitution, or indentured servitude. Creating sustainable methods of income for women has become the priority for many non-profit organizations. 3 Things you can do now: 1. Let your friends and colleagues working in charities and not for profits in India know about The Aspire Foundation. 2. Raise awareness on social media of The Aspire Foundation and our mentoring program for women in charities, social enterprises and non profits. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook 3. Pass on our website www.theaspirefoundation.org or refer us to your business or corporate contacts in India that may be able to connect us with local charities across India. The Aspire Foundation mentoring program is open to any woman working for a charity, social enterprise or non-profit organization that benefits women and girls in some way. The charity can be any size and they can be at any level in the organization. Our mentors are based all over the world but we have a number of new mentors in India who can mentor in different languages and support in the use of technology. Prospective mentees can apply here, and once registered, will be added to our community and a suitable Mentor match created. Our program is of course still open to mentees in other countries too.
Our next Aspire Foundation Community Event will be held on Wednesday 20th April 2016 via webinar. This event is open to mentees, mentors and anyone interested in joining The Aspire Foundation mentoring scheme. The webinar will provide an overview of the mentoring scheme. It’s interactive, so you have the opportunity to learn from other mentors and mentees and to provide us with feedback. You can sign up via The Aspire Foundation website here or drop Liesl a line at Liesl@theaspirefoundation.org
In honor of International Women’s Day on 8th March, here are some of our favorite inspirational quotes by and about women… enjoy! There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish
The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me
Ayn Rand
Michelle Obama
A woman is like a tea bag – you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water
Eleanor Roosevelt
Women have to harness their power - it's absolutely true. It's just learning not to take the first no. And if you can't go straight ahead, you go around the corner Cher
I raise up my voice - not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back
Malala Yousafzai
It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent
Madeleine Albright
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass
I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody's passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn't mind leading
Maya Angelou
Amy Poehler
Here’s to strong women May we know them May we be them May we raise them
Source unknown
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves� Steven Spielberg