The ceremony of the first Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards took place tonight Friday. The Awards are an international business plan competition for women entrepreneurs. It’s a collaboration of the Women’s Forum and Cartier with the support of McKinsey and INSEAD. There were 14 finalists, and the 2007 winners, who received the award from Aude de Thuin, founder of the Forum, and Bernard Fornas, CEO of Cartier International, are:

Africa: Lucie Avoaka, Santa Maria Medical Center, Ivory Coast (healthcare provider in the underprivileged region of Abobo, Cote d’Ivoire).

Asia: Nandini Pandhi and Yasmina McCarthy, Green Mango, India/Philippines (mobile phone-based virtual marketplace for low-income entrepreneurs and their customers in developing countries).

Europe: Bettina Götzenberger, LOmasLEGAL, Spain (low-cost legal services available from high-street stores, over the phone, and via the internet).

Latin America: Antonia Sanin, The Globe, Colombia (day-care center for children aged 3 to 6 that offers educational products and services developed from the experiences learned at center — workshops, manuals, blog…).

North America: Angel Chang, Angel Chang LLC, USA (luxury apparel with “performance” elements and functional designs: special stain-proof, wrinkle-free and odor-free material, color-changing silkscreen prints, 3-D optical illusion prints, fiber optics…)

Here they are, clockwise from top left, Nandini Pandhi, Angel Chang, Bettina Götzenberger, Antonia Sanin and Lucie Avoaka:

Are we living in the real world or in a digital world? Some people think they are the same, other people think they are completely different and if you ask other people, they think the more you live on the digital world, the less you live in the real one. Facebook and MySpace are the digital networks of today. According to Anne Lange, Senior Executive Advisor, Cisco Systems, USA, 60% of 17-19 and 18-21 years-old of “Generation Y” are members of one social network. Women spend more time on social networks (we are so organized and we can multi-task so well that we even have time to log on).

Even if we don’t agree with the digital world and these types of networking, they exist. We can’t deny and I think we shouldn’t. Why? Because they are changing the world and they way we live. Jean-Louis Constanza, CEO, TEN France, commented that in countries where internet penetration is high young people choose internet over TV. So, if we don’t participate in the digital world we may be ostracized from the younger generations.

There is a big debate over Second Life and Orkut. Are they safe? Can you trust people (or avatars) you meet there? Should business go there and see it as new market? Well, as one of the panelists said, networks are like real life and there will be good, bad and ugly.

Facebook and MySpace are the digital networks of today. According to Anne Lange, Senior Executive Advisor, Cisco Systems, USA, 60% of 17-19 and 18-21 years-old of “Generation Y” are members of one social network. Women spend more time on social networks (we are so organized and we can multi-task so well that we even have time to log on).

Even if we don’t agree with the digital world and these types of networking, they exist. We can’t deny and I think we shouldn’t. Why? Because they are changing the world and they way we live. Jean-Louis Constanza, CEO, TEN France, commented that in countries where internet penetration is high young people choose internet over TV. So, if we don’t participate in the digital world we may be ostracized from the younger generations. Mobile phones are the way people are accesing the internet in developing countries, they are sold more than computers.

There is a big debate over Second Life and Orkut. Are they safe? Can you trust people (or avatars) you meet there? Should business go there and see it as new market? Well, as one of the panelists said, networks are like real life and you will find the good, the bad and the ugly. So, you will have to judge by yourself, just like real life.

If you spend a few minutes with Antonia and Claudia, you will not want to leave them until you have heard the whole story! Not because they are from Colombia and Mexico and their story telling puts you under spell in the best Latin American fashion. Not only, at least. It’s because they are two very inspiring women and I want to share how their stories touched me.

Antonia Sanin and Claudia Garza are finalists of the Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards — the winners will be announced tonight. Being finalists has helped them a lot by giving them the confidence to pursue their dreams. Not that self-doubt has stopped them on their way to become innovative entrepreneurs so far!

They have developed two absolutely new business ideas which respond to a big need in Latin America, if not everywhere else: giving every child and young person the opportunity to take out the best of themselves. Is there a mission more important than that, I was thinking as I was listening to them.

Claudia Garza is an inspiring teacher who has worked for a number of years giving vocational guidance to kids and their families in her town in northern Mexico. Dropping out of universities is a huge problem in Mexico, with up to 400 million dollars wasted every year in students who never graduate. But it’s an even bigger problem for the student’s self-esteem and for the whole family which invested in the wrong career. Claudia turned this into a business. She developed a testing model to help kids decide their future independently from pressures from their parents or society. She boasts an impressive record of success and is now planning to franchise her company into other parts of the country.

Antonia Sanin has started an educational business which organises workshops for young children in Bogota. The idea is to show the world to children who may never get to travel out of Colombia. “I enjoyed seeing the world when I was small and kids should also get out of their little bubbles”, she says. It’s pure global fun, by the sound of it. After three months of setting up her business, she is also working on developing interactive multi-media tools for children and teaching aids for parents.

It’s a spell. Since meeting them I have not stopped thinking about my own dreams and how I can go about realising them… If Claudia and Antonia make the same impact on the children and young persons they will encounter in their businesses, Mexico and Colombia will be better places! And perhaps the grown-ups who meet them on the way like me will become better persons also…

I, along with 10 other women, went into the Men’s Corner. So, I guess it is not really a Men’s Corner, although the decoration is very suitable for males (black leather couches, flat screen TV, a bar - see a picture in this previous post).

This place gives participants the opportunity to have very interactive and one-on-one conversations with executives of important companies.

Conversation and questions came up. Interesting subjects such as why is flexibility only geared towards women? Why can’t men participate in flexible programs too? Why are women stopping other women from climbing the corporate ladder? How to convince management this issue is important? What about husbands who move to another country with their wife because she got her dream job?

A question was thrown: Who do you hire when you have two great candidates with similar characteristics, one is male and the other female? The politically correct answer would have been the female. But an audience participant came up with an interesting solution “Let’s forget about fighting, women can bring different ideas, you should hire both. Opportunities are not limited”

Gender diversity is not about victimizing women or punishing men. It is not about dividing and separting or about having different benefits by gender. It is about complement. That is what many companies do not understand. That is what many men don’t understand and therefore, they see this as threatening or conflictive. Diversity is balance, diversity is taking what is good from each person and mixing it, thus creating an idea that would had never arised from one homogenous group.

So let’s stop talking about division and let’s start thinking about balance and counterparts.

If someone can change the world by doing TV, it is harder, however, to change it by watching it.

Well, this is not Jobeda Ali’s point of view. And the last thing you want to do is contradict this committed and effusive 32 years-old film-maker – the main reason being she may be right, and is determined to prove it. This young woman of Bangladeshi origin aims at making the world a better place thanks to the promotion of equal opportunities for everyone – nothing more. And for that, TV and media contents are nowadays the best ways to increase the visibility of given issues, and in the end, raise people’s awareness and make them react towards those issues. “People often believe I’m doing films because I like it”, she says, “Actually, it’s more like a social tool for me.” Jobeda is currently working on a film aiming at modernising radically the way Muslim women are perceived, as well as the way they perceive themselves. “The problem with Muslim women is they don’t realise they can disagree,” she comments. In order to help them gain their independence, this bullish young woman has a 20-year plan: make them and people around them accept they can question their environment, and give them the tools to get what they want and need.

The least you can say is this proactive woman has a strong sense of values and morals. Jobeda was raised in the Muslim faith, and her opinions make her take risks towards her community. Though, she is not afraid to face complex questions such as cultural relativism and tolerance, and does it in a really lucid way. For instance, where should be the limit between acceptable and non-acceptable when it comes to discuss personal beliefs or cultural issues? Where is the deadline in the sacrifice of oneself when balanced with the greater good? Can anyone pretend  to have an answer on that?…

The luncheon event on A Good Story Can Change The Way We See The World featured two dynamic women. May Chidiac, a media reporter whose story changed the way we see the world and Tania Rakhmanova, a Russian film director who tells stories that has changed the way we see the world.

May Chidiac, is a television reporter in Lebanon whose candid reporting resulted in her being a target of a terrorist attack. While her life was saved, her friends were not so fortunate. She has now taken up the cause of making people aware of the situation in Lebanon using her story.

Tania Rakhmanova is a documentary filmmaker whose hard-hitting work on President Putin and Chenchnya has moved several people including Colin Powell.

The discussion began with May’s comments on how media today is influenced by shareholders of the media company. She said, as a journalist, one has to report within the policies of the organization one works for and this can taint the truth. She went on to advise that in order to get a truer picture of the goings on, it is important to gather your information from various sources.

The other interesting topic discussed was the lasting power of the stories. May gave the example of how a car bombing in Iraq a few years ago was breaking news that concerned the world, and today is mentioned in passing.

On Tania’s arrival, the conversation shifted toward the commercialization of television news. The women stressed that to get a full picture, we have to turn to documentaries, the Internet and print media. Tania gave the example of television programming in Russia being “influenced” by the administration with Putin having commented that real people don’t need to know the truth.

From listening to these two women, it is clear that no matter what or who tries to stop them, they will be heard.

First of all, a thank you note to my dear fellow blogger Jonathan, for his post on “To be a novelist in China: A missed appointment but no disappointment”. A rather charming post, I must say, and very much like the writer himself. Well, I am not sure whether the event was “no disappointment”, but there was certainly “astonishment”. A casual invitation by the Forum’s Chief Operating Officer, Bruno Vinay, to a chat with acclaimed writer and journalist, Irène Frain, turned out to be a full interview in front of an audience of distinguished women participants, photographer and writers….

So, Jonathan, you think I am an “ambitious and determined young shark”, huh? Hmmm… I have never thought of myself that way. What I can tell you is that there were many moments during the session when this young shark felt more like “Nemo” lost in the wide ocean. Shark or clown fish, the interview was an incredible experience for me. It was an honour to be interviewed by Ms. Frain, a gentle woman with the highest level of perception. She raised some tough, but truly thought provoking, questions (certainly much tougher than many job interviews!). We talked about living as a foreigner in a globalised economy, about Chinese values and about my personal beliefs. Moreover, to have an audience of such high achieving women listen to my young, inexperienced mind, I feel incredibly privileged. The experience made me realise why these women are so successful - because they have the openness and patience to listen to different viewpoints, no matter how naïve or foreign they may be.

My apologies to those who arrived late and thought for most of the session I was the young, talented Chinese writer. Unfortunately, a novelist I cannot pretend to be. But I will remember the first question of the Q&A session for a long time to come: “As a writer, why would you want to pursue an MBA?” A missed appointment – Yes. An astonishment – Yes. An incredible experience – Definitely.

Emilie Goodall is a match-maker, but of an unusual type. At New Philanthropy Capital, she guides corporations and wealthy individuals in their search for the ideal NGO to support. Getting this match right is crucial to ensure that money given to charities does make a difference to people. She is one of 20 Rising Talents awarded by JPMorgan at the Women Forum 2007.

“It is difficult for donors to fund small organisations because large charities have more resources to get themselves known than small ones. We must have a better flow of information about which NGOs are achieving results”.

She believes that NGOs can learn from the business world, as much as time-poor wealthy individuals can learn from working with charities. She talks of many of her friends who agonise over what to do for society, but many never get round to doing anything. This sounds so familiar! But organisations at the interface between the NGO and the business world can take would-be volunteers by the hand and help them put some of their business skills to a good cause.

Emilie has so far focused on very important problems affecting young people in the UK – child abuse, school disaffection, truancy and exclusion – and measured the impact of different types of interventions.

She finds it inspiring to work with so many different players, from the tiny NGO to the millionaire. She sees a new trend of charitable giving among young individuals who have made their first million and want to donate some to NGOs, but who also want to know how the money is spent.

Emilie is passionate about what she does and her passion is infective! I left our meeting convinced that if we get to understand better the impact NGOs make, and if NGOs take whatever practice from the business world can be useful to be more effective, a lot more can be achieved.

Meeting so many dedicated and generous women in this forum, committed in social entrepreneurship, in NGOs, fighting for human rights and helping people, I sometimes feel a little bad only “selling creams and perfumes”…

So I decided to have a look at the L’Oréal Foundation Discovery Corner, just in case, to see if it could pump up a little my corporate pride.

That’s how I met Delphine Sevelinge, director of the “Look better, Feel better” Program for France (under the name “la Vie, de plus belle“), a program run by leading cosmetics companies and cancer associations. And there she started an enthusiastic explanation…

The “Look Good…Feel Better” program started 20 years ago, after realizing the impact of a “make-over” on a woman in cancer treatment experiencing appearance-related side effects. “The woman was so depressed and self-conscious she would not venture outside her hospital room. [The doctor] made some calls and was able to provide cosmetics and a make-up artist. Miraculously, the make-over transformed not just the woman’s look, but her outlook, as well. She immediately felt happier and less burdened, laughing for the first time in weeks. The doctor credited the make-over with improving her attitude and emotional approach toward her treatment.”

With such a profound result, the cosmetic industry recognized the opportunity to help more women maintain self-esteem and face cancer treatment with greater confidence, and many cosmetic brands immediately offered funding and cosmetics. Cancer associations provided their medical network and make-up artists volunteered for this generous cause. Today, LGFB group programs are held in 19 countries and helped 830K women around the world.

Sure, it doesn’t save the world, but it definitely helps it feeling better.

The discovery hall was simply buzzing with energy – participants gathering in groups discussing views they had heard during the panel discussions, some were pacing backwards and forwards with their mobile phones and blackberries, others were browsing the various displays, or networking over un café et un pain au chocolat. Unmistakable also were the queues of ladies lining up for the beauty lounge for a quick makeover or eyebrow treatment between the sessions.

As the ladies awaited their turns at the counter, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to go and ask some of the Forum participants whether they could “trust” the makeover, and more seriously, what does “trust” mean to them?  Birthe Gortz, a Partner in Transaction Services with PwC, told me that she is in the “trust” business – trust is a fundamental business principle, and it applies both externally and internally within the firm.  Joanna Fielding, CFO of Standard Chartered Bank in China, agreed.  When the bank surveyed its clients on the most important aspects in a banking relationship, “trust” always comes near the very top of list.  She added, “Trust is essential in building relationship across borders… it is one of our core corporate values”.  A French executive offered another interpretation: trust is the willingness to just go do what you believe in.  On further discussion, she revealed that women can sometimes hold themselves back in life because they think too much about the “complexity of being a woman”.  Kati Najipoor-Schutte, Partner of the executive search firm Egon Zehnder, believed that trust encompasses many elements, the key ones being “honestly, openness and transparency”.

And the verdict from the Forum participants on the makeover artist?  7/10.  Based on a highly statistical sampling methodology (of course).

By Barbara Dalibard

As we all know, a leadership role has not always been something that women have aspired to in the greater business context. Thankfully, we’ve come a long way and I am heartened to see the progress women have made over the years in the sciences, in business, in medicine, and in the arts – all areas where young women believe they can do what they want, fulfil their aspirations and make their dreams a reality.

Today, more and more young women are thinking about having careers in fields such as science and technology. Such disciplines are still predominantly male. Why? Mainly because since school, we have been told that these disciplines invoke rigorous, logical and competitive characteristics, better suited to the male personality.

I have been in the telecommunications industry for almost 25 years and my experience has been quite different from what I was taught. Logic and rigour are certainly required traits, but I would also insist on the major role played by creativity, good communication skills, imagination, and intuition. Content of my work over the years has been extremely diverse. The experiences I have obtained from dealing with very different people (from researchers to engineers to marketers) have been incredibly rewarding.

If you are young and thinking about the career you would like to pursue, always consider areas that present the most opportunities, irrespective of whether they have been traditionally male dominated. As such technology should figure in your thoughts. I have found as long as you take ownership of your career, take accountability and show your willingness to communicate effectively, you will be rewarded for it.

Technology, whether it is communications, high-tech, or science-related, is always at the forefront of innovation and investment. Consequently it is a wonderful and dynamic area to work in. Young women should be open about considering a career in a technology company. They will be rewarded for their efforts and will have access to unlimited opportunities. As far as I am concerned, I have had and am still having a wonderful time.

Best of Luck!

Being a woman is also about harmony…  How better than through music?

Croatian mezzo-soprano Renata Pokupić is known internationally through acclaimed performances of baroque, classical and other coloratura-mezzo repertoire as well as solo songs, and she’s been selected by the Women’s Forum and JP Morgan as one of the 20 “Rising Talents” this year.

As an opera-fan, I couldn’t leave Deauville without meeting her, and this serene-looking woman charmed me by her simplicity and the passion she expresses when talking about lyrical singing. “Singing is my first and biggest love. I was 6, listening to Verdi on the radio, and I knew I wanted to become a singer.”

And so she did, and not half-way: after studying singing at the Music Academy of Zagreb, she made a successful debut at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in 2003, where she sang Anna in Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz with Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducting. A year later, she was blowing up the London scene, during the London Handel Festival, singing Dejanira in Handel’s Hercules the London Handel Orchestra under conductor Laurence Cummings. Since then, it seems nothing can stop this graceful young woman to charm Europe with her vocalises.

As a woman, is it a problem to travel so much from festivals to music theatres all around Europe? Not for Renata, who agrees her job hardly leaves her time for her personal life, but, as she beautifully says: “As a singer, you don’t work for a living: you entirely live your job. I am fortunate enough to work with amazing musicians, singers, orchestras and conductors, and this fulfils me completely.”

It’s the first time Renata attends a gathering such as the Women’s Forum, and she finds it tremendously inspiring. “It’s something very new to me to meet so many admirable and committed women, and I now feel an urge to commit beyond my job.” The Rising Talents program offers mentoring to its laureates, and Renata hopes this will help her finding what she could do “to help make things better around the world”.

In the meantime, her musical career keeps her very busy. On Sunday, she is heading to London to prepare a Lieder recital with Roger Vignoles. “Working with this pianist is simply heaven!” And so was listening to you, Renata!

Mercedes Erra, Executive Chairwoman of Euro RSCG Worldwide in France has just presented a survey showing consumer’s opinion on companies.

Firstly, this survey highlighted the point that 65 % of the public thinks that their opinion should drive company’s conduct and overall strategy.

The thing that has to be kept in mind, particularly by all the leaders attending this Forum is that their responsibility is constantly growing. Indeed people are mainly thinking that the role of companies in our world is changing in lots of fields. For example, more than 75% of English, American and French people think that business bears as much responsibility for driving positive social change as governments.

Corporate reputation on social and environmental responsibility is a key driver of confidence and will become a driver of companies’ performances. With greater awarness people are ready to pay more for ethical and sustainable products.

Living Tomorrow is a house museum with a twist- It provides a glimpse into future in contrast to a walk down memory lane, which a more tradition house museum offers. However, there is as much to learn and experience here. The Living Tomorrow project, presented at the WF by Suez, is a platform that showcases home innovations that maybe available in the not so distant future. The general theme of the project combines convenience of technology with the benefits of energy efficiency. So far, there have been three such model homes and the latest one was completed last year. Do visit LivingTomorrow for more information on the project.

What we see in the discovery area is a sample of the latest model home in Vilvoorde near Brussels. Below are some displays in their exhibit that I found to be interesting for their simplicity, cleverness and benefits.

Who needs a toothbrush that only cleans teeth:
On display is a toothbrush that measures your body temperature and blood pressure while you clean your teeth. It then sends the information wirelessly to a display screen in your bathroom and to your doctor. The doctor can use these vital signs to check your health and accordingly adjust your medication, which by the way is also displayed on the screen. With the increasing aging population, such systems that integrate health management into daily routines are positioned to be clear winners.

A simple way to heat up your shower:
This is a very simple solution to save up to 40% of heat calories used for a shower. Basically, this system re-circulates the wastewater from your shower and uses it to warm-up the fresh water. While you will still need a water-heater there is considerable saving in energy, as this solution can increase the water temperature by about 10C. The system was developed by Suez as part of their partnership with Living Tomorrow.

A super solution for super-moms and dads:
Living together along with Microsoft has developed an integrated computer system that helps with the organization of your home. From directly sending your grocery list to your local supermarket to confirming the freshness of food, this system helps in your daily kitchen routine. In addition, the system can teach you how to cook! Yes, you read that correctly. This solution was developed in conjunction with Delhaize that provides menus for the week in a bag. With a touch of the screen, the system will demonstrate via a cooking show on TV, how to put these meals together. The system has several other interesting features that should be checked out.

Mother nature to the rescue:
Suez with Clima Cialing has developed an energy efficient water-based heating/cooling system for your home. The system consists of a series of pipes that runs water through the ground, which cools the water to 12C. This cooled water is then circulated through the home for cooling. The heat in the home in summer is harvested similarly by warming the water, which when circulated through the ground increases the ground temperature to 18C. Therefore the warmer ground now provides warm water to supplement heating in winter. It may sound complex, but the good news is: it works. A hotel in Northern Italy that is currently using the system reported a gas bill of just 5000 euros for the entire year.

All in all, this exhibit shows how simple solutions can make our lives more efficient and also demonstrates that some large corporates are indeed working to solve the looming environmental crisis.

 Mona Mourshed, partner from McKinsey & Company, Dubai, spoke about her passion for education and why she cares so deeply about education. Mona leads the regional public sector practice and is co-leader of the global education and human capital initiative.

She started her career in the New Jersey office of McKinsey and moved to Dubai after a year. She has been with McKinsey for the last seven and half years and has been very successful in her career.  She has worked on a wide range of topics from economic growth to healthcare to education. Besides having an impressive career, she mentors female students in Dubai and also sits on the Steering Committee of the Next Generation Conference, to be held in Jordan. The focus of the conference will be on youth unemployment and education reform in the Middle East and private sector leaders from across the region will be attending the conference.

She generally doesn’t plan her career beyond the next three months but has a big dream. She dreams of a world where we have high student outcomes in literacy and numeracy in all the countries around the world. She dreams of a word where education can empower people and enable them to have a better future. She believes that education can catapult through adversity and social classes. Every child has a right to education and she is doing her part to reform the education system in Middle East and Asia.  Lets all think about what we can do to educate children and transform the world.

The ebullient winner of the Rising Talents award, Emilie Goodall, New Philanthropy Capital.

The exemplary leaders - this year’s “Rising Talents”

From left to right: Maryana Iskander (Planned Parenthood Federation of America), Marina Flindell (JPMorgan Chase) Mona Mourshed (McKinsey & Company)

Today, representatives of seven major corporations and organizations signed the “Call from Deauville“, which reports on the position of women in science and engineering and describes the signatories’ commitment to encourage young women into careers in these fields. The Call was signed in the context of the SciTechGirls initiative, a special program of meetings and exchange between some 100 young women from high schools, prep schools, universities and science schools, and some of the most accomplished women attending the Women’s Forum. We will blog on SciTechGirls later today, as the program is still unfolding. Here is the full text of the “Call from Deauville”, signed by Orange, L’Oréal Corporate Foundation, Cisco, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Suez, Thales, and Total.

The figures are shocking and call for immediate action—the place of women in science remains dire, in both public and private initiatives, in fundamental and applied research, and even among engineers.

Numerous studies, reports and recommendations give ample proof, filling up filing cabinets and putting to sleep even those with good intentions. A bad situation is getting worse.

It is time to take action. Too few girls and young women are embarking on scientific careers, leading to the development of a large-scale vocational crisis.

• At the university level, girls make up only 27% of students in fundamental and applied sciences.
• Among those who scored “very well” on the Bac S (scientific baccalaureat), 75% of boys went on to scientific preparatory schools vs just 53% of girls.
• In the Grandes Ecoles and engineering schools, girls make up only 25% of the student body.

It is time to take action. Women are perilously under-represented in public and private research.

• Women make up only 27% of researchers worldwide and just 28% of researchers in France; of which 33% work in the public sector and 20% in private companies.
• Out of 516 Nobel Prize nominees in science and medicine between 1903 and 2006, only 12 women have won the Award, less than 2.4%.

It is time to take action. A “glass ceiling” is holding back the professional progress of women, and this is especially apparent in science.

• In Europe, women represent 50.4% of professionals working in scientific-related fields, but only 29% of engineers, 29% of researchers and 15% of university professors.
• In French universities, 38% of associate professors are women, but a mere 16% are full professors.
• Women engineers are paid far less than their male counterparts: 3% less at the start of their careers and a staggering 42% less for women between the ages of 55 and 59.

We know the facts and we can predict the consequences. The time for sitting back, making observations and expressing regret is over—women have so much to offer in terms of imagination, contributing to research and innovation.

Tomorrow’s world is built today, now is the time for action—we are here, let’s do it.

To encourage girls and women to choose a scientific career path, we pledge:

• To update the image of science by giving aspiring young women role models to emulate.
• To provide information and to build self-confidence through innovative communication campaigns targeting young girls and their parents, including campaigns on academic orientation, consciousness raising and teacher training from primary school onwards.
• To reward girls’ performance, encouraging their talent through prizes, scholarships and increasing the number of women with visible roles in conferences and exhibitions.

Some of these initiatives have already been put into place by those signing the Call from Deauville. Many other projects are also underway, each representing the signer’s specificity, priorities and means.

However, we cannot act alone, the role of women in science is everybody’s business—public institutions, for the role they can play in education and for their legitimacy with politicians and public interest campaigns; corporations, for their recruitment and promotional capacities and support of numerous initiatives; and the media, to explain, raise consciousness and contribute to the creation of a feminine ideal for future
researchers and engineers.

Society on the whole needs to work on giving girls the confidence they need—science can offer a stellar future!

One of the sessions that I felt would be interesting was this one. I sorely missed the fact that there was no blogger on the panel - surely bloggers are the Media too .. and one of the concerns mainstream media has around blogging is around veracity and trust! Would have loved to see someone like Rebecca McKinnon (an ex-CNN bureau chief and founder of the citizen journalism platform Global Voices Online) on this panel.

Speakers:
Rena Golden, Senior Vice President of CNN.com, USA; Christine Ockrent, Journalist and Author, France Television, France; John Thornhill, Editor, European Edition, Financial Times, UK; Moderator: Liz Padmore, International Advisor and Consultant; Associate Fellow, Said Business School, Oxford, UK

Liz Padmore started the session by saying that in the UK, you get the impression that the Media really sucks. But remember there is something good in the pursuit of truth … and more than 1100 journalists killed in the last 10-11 yrs. Whats driving changes – increased competition/tech/us – are we demanding too much too often too quickly?

Christine – Forces at play in Media — for Europeans on the continent, the UK media and the BBC always looked upon with envy! The good news is worldwide there is more media than ever before, thanks to organizations like CNN and thanks to technology, which makes access to news free. The sad result, in the west, is we have lost control of the narrative. There is CNN and also Al-Jazeera. Until 9/11 Western media told the world what they ‘needed’ to know. It changed with 9/11. China is launching a channel in French. The BAD news is the complexity of the world and therefore the over-simplification that the media provide. We the media simplify more and more because we need to sell. This is the paradox. And bad news. We need the complexities. Second worrying trend – the extreme personalization of news — trivialization eg. politicians sell themselves rather than their policies. Trivia is simple and attractive and sells. Trivia also has proximity. Another worrying thing is the speeding up of news. Today, the picture comes before the wire unlike earlier where journalists had some time to absorb the wire before the pictures came in. Today, the wire is very simple, because it must be sent really quickly, and journalists must rely on wire agencies. This speed has become the biggest enemy of media today. The blogosphere too is is blurring the space even more, with its ‘reportage’ in real time. Good journalism will survive if we adapt!

Liz Padmore asks the audience - who trusts the media and who doesn’t – majority hands up saying they don’t.

Freedom of press – is editorial now driven by business or political interests? Christine – we have to remember there was never a golden age about anything – and certainly not the press. The problem is with competition and scarcity of advertising revenue — print in particular in France is in bad shape because they are financially weak.

John – (FT Europe). Is it driven by competitive pressures of business? Quotes Balzac from his book Les Journalistes – Balzac condemns the power of the journalists in late 1800’s. Some axioms … “if the press did not exist, it would not have to be invented”. “For the journalist, whatever is probable is true”. BTW - the book in full (French) is available here. So some issues the press is judged on – that it is sensationalist, it hypes. What’s good is that it holds power under question. The positive fallouts of competition — given voice to the voiceless, lots more choices, no more monopolies that are fat, happy and smug. New media is here to stay – 40000 blogs created everyday and 70 mn in total. Media is learning to adapt, they are now evolving their web strategies through websites, podcasts etc. Also, competition holds media to much higher standards, people are demanding much more. Negative effect of competition, is that media is putting more emphasis on entertainment rather than info. Which in turn is eroding the businessmodels on which good journalism was based. Comment is free but facts are on expenses. Is there a demand for free media? Is there money in it for us? Yes we better believe that. But we have to reinvent it.

Moderator – asking John – is the FT able to maintain its ability to have complex arguments and discussions in this new age of media? Velocity of news — FT gives soundbytes too now, because FT is acknowledging the fact that people have lots of pressures on time, and is responding to the market.

Liz to Rena — 21 yrs experience in TV journalism .. what’s happening with the news on TV? How is it competing with all that’s happening? CNN recently interrupted a programme to say Paris Hilton is released …. do we really care?

Rena (CNN) — I wish they didn’t care – but now you can measure just how much they care. I think I am optimistic – today people are getting news and information in different ways. Many news organizations will interrupt with news of Paris Hilton – it’s the need for information as it happens. What’s incredibly liberating on the dotcom side, is we can offer up both the interesting and the informative. Unlike on TV where it’s now more often what’s happening moment by moment. Technology has made a huge difference in our business – for eg. you can broadcast live via a cell phone - and can gather news in a cheaper and more efficient way. It’s also upto the consumer, we are forgetting that. They will come to us because we have live experts on the ground. Yahoos of the world aggregate the news. And many may want that too. Technology has made it just as easy to make consumers publishers of news — CNN has a UGC space where they get stories from Myanmar for eg – 100’s of citizen journalists sending pictures from the streets. CNN then is the gatekeepers, we are vetting the material ourselves carefully.

Speed vs Veracity – moderator: is there a problem? Rena: But the train has left the station – I am a realist. We can’t really slow things down – incremental news reporting is what the customer has come to expect. There are ways to vett and to make sure you have accuracy above all. But speed alone is not the reason to mistrust the news.

Christine: I agree speed is there and we have to live with it but why is media looked upon with less trust? The problem with the mass market is, is the consumer right in wanting to consume so much so fast so much trivia. Question of accountability has to do with consumer choice. Am a strong believer in high quality niche products. Brand for media is as important as for any other industry and technology allows us to have high quality niche products., high standards. It’s upto the consumer to decide – read us or not.

Rena – I feel the consumer makes the media more accountable now than ever before. We have to go out of our tent to listen to what people are saying. There are lots adding value through content they are generating.

Moderator – aren’t they just adding opinion … (I almost stood up at this point and wanted to say … are you folks living in a different world than I? Have you seen good citizen journalism like Global Voices Online? Or the first-hand reports from people affected by the Tsunamis when mainstream media wasn’t able to reach some of the zones affected?)

There were many question from the audience - Jobeda Ali (who I met later and really enjoyed chatting to - she seems to love creative chaos!) talked about how small producers can break into big media and educate big media. “I want to inject reality – I want it not to remain on the blog — but I want BBC to pick me up” . Unfortunately she used the term objectivity to make her point - to which Christine said: “objectivity is a terrible word – I never use. You want a balanced view and rely on good reporting, expertise, and POVs that you try and balance. The same way that you have citizen journalists – you now have people who can provide their productions on loads of people. The manipulation is even greater on the internet … because anything goes”.

A gentleman from HP asked, what’s the future of Media? This wasn’t really answered except with a we don’t know yet. Some questions around the ownership of media making it less trustworthy, and the economic imperative that had to be taken into account when you talk journalism. More news is biased because of the owners, some felt. John quoted a Russian newspaper editor who said, “we will never be able to have an effective independent media – until we have a profitable media.” This is the reality. However, media must always challenge governments, he felt.

My take - there are some terrific bloggers with solid journalist backgrounds who have opted out of mainstream media and are preferring to blog and work as freelance journos. And then there are those millions on-the-street ‘reporters’ bringing news and opinions to the world in real time and real voices (without those biases that come from business and ownership issues raised in the panel). One of the things I am learning thru blogging is the whole definition of ‘Who is the Media’, especially for the younger generation growing up with the internet, is undergoing transformation. With repercussions on both traditional journalists and new media users. Interesting times ahead am sure!!

I’ve heard her twice, and I have really enjoyed the way she speaks. One of my MBA teachers used to say that a characteristic of a mature personality is the sense of humor. Laura Liswood, senior advisor of Goldman Sachs, confirms it: it doesn’t matter how serious an issue can be, what’s important is to consider it in its real proportions.

Equal opportunities for men and women are needed, companies have to find ways to retain senior experienced workers, to integrate immigrants and to adapt to women needs, if they want to be in the top. Above all, women need to enjoy what they do.

Today I’ve seen somebody that does it.

I will be interviewing Marina Flindell, Executive Director in the Special Credit Group of JPMorgan as she is one of the 20 talented women between 25 and 35 years old who have been selected as Rising Talent. I am really excited about this opportunity and am looking forward to meeting Marina. Especially as a ex-JPMorgan employee, it will be interesting for me to meet another senior woman leader from JPMorgan. Watch this space….

Marina Flindell is an Executive Director in the Special Credit Group of JPMorgan. The Special Credit Group is responsible for managing distressed credit exposure for the Investment Bank worldwide. Marina manages a global portfolio of securities that are received in exchange for restructured debt and over the last four years the group has generated $1.2 billion in gains. Marina is also a Vice President and Co-Founder of the Pushkin Academy of Russian Heritage in New York - an independent coeducational institution that helps children learn Russian, maintain their heritage and befriend other Russian-speaking children in their local community. The organisation also links Wall Street volunteers with gifted high school students in an advanced mathematics teaching program.

In business, trust is a key discriminant for customers and stakeholders. They need transparency and confidence. But building trust is not simple, it’s an everyday effort.

In politics, people vote for you if they trust you. Here too, building trust requires constant determination.

So: can businesswomen and female politicians have a real dialogue with us?

We trust they can, because we really need to be confident that they understand what’s going on. Complex world, complex dialogue. Political dialogue translates into democracy. How should trust capital be spent in politics? We seem to need new approaches.

When it comes to education, or health, women trust both the institutions and themselves. They take risks. I believe tat the most important issue is to take responsibility. We can’t keep expecting that somebody else takes the responsibility for problems to be solved.

In today’s world, a large number of executive women are having children later in their lives, or even deciding not to have them in order to advance in their careers. They make longer studies and some of them invest in a time consuming career. Indeed, the mean age of the first pregnancy went from 23 years old in 1976 up to 29 years old in 2005. These facts were shown yesterday Thursday by Corinne Hubinont, Professor and Co-Head of the Department of Obstetrics at the Clinique Universitaire St-Luc, in Belgium, during the Discovery Moments, to a very interested audience, in a session (photo) titled: “Pregnancy and Executive Women …is it a challenge?”

To answer that question, Corinne confirmed what most executive women feel when they think about having children and continuing to advance in their careers: Yes, pregnancy for executive women is a challenge. After the age of 35, the risks of pregnancy start growing at a higher rate. In addition, the time when executive women start thinking of having a child coincides with the time when they are on the track to a successful career, which normally demands long hours of work, travelling and late meetings. She called attention to a “new high risk pregnancy”, associated with stress, high physical workload, dissatisfaction at work and late pregnancy, despite the major medical performance we have today.

Some ways to manage this challenge were suggested and discussed during the session. For example, to facilitate early pregnancy, during the studies or early in professional life. Another important point would be to allow long pregnancy and materity leave in “late pregnancy” in order to decrease their complications. But all these solutions depend not only on women, but on society as a whole.

One of the women in the audience reported that she was noy very reassured by the solutions that exist today, as they depend on a change in society and this takes time. She is 35 and doesn’t have children. Another woman, from the Belgian Board of the Women’s Forum, said that she decided to have children later, around the age of 30, so that she could advance in her career before. But she considered herself lucky because she didn’t have any problems getting pregnant or during pregnancy.

The question of how women executives can manage the challenge of pregancy is not solved, but discussing them in the Women’s Forum seems to be a good beginning to think about solutions and starting to make things change.

Do women have a special role to play in making economic development more sustainable? There is some evidence that women-led companies are faster at embracing the challenges of acting sustainably. Business writer Alison Maitland thinks so, and says that two out of the three companies first to sign up to the Aspen principles have a female CEO.

Herman Mulder from the World Business Council on Sustainable Development believes businesses increasingly want to show they are committed to sustainability. The next step for leading businesses is to assess their long-term impact on society, the environment and people.

Consumers can make sustainable choices as more and more green products are offered on the market. But latest research from the UK shows consumers feel they need guidance from governments and businesses to make their choices. Also many women with children cannot afford the sustainably sourced products which are often more expensive.

There is a new trend which is merging network communities enabled by the web with the sustainability movement. Social networks and communities expert Susan Kish said she was intrigued by a new online community called Do the Green Thing. The idea is to make “going green” fun and easy for consumers. This holds great potential in raising awareness and helping consumers in their choices.

Women cannot take the moral high ground on sustainability issues. Some women and some men care about sustainability. But a more diverse business leadership with a higher number of women at the top can broaden the debate on sustainability and help companies question themselves more on their long-term impact on society and the environment.

Or: A missing writer, and a young chinese MBA student standing in.

Yesterday at the afternoon tea time, the writer and journalist Irène Frain wanted to provide us with a sociological reading of Xiaolu Guo’s Village of stone (shortlisted for The Independent “Best Foreign Fiction Prize” 2005, and nominated for the Dublin International Literature Award (IMPAC) 2006).

Unfortunetely the novelist gave it a miss. A session less during the forum? Do not even think about it: for women (and all the more so as they are mighty women) do not get used to submitting to fate. So Irene Frain has a quick look outside the smart and affluent-looking “author’s corner”, she sees a dynamic chinese student having her way to the bar, and invites her to join the assembly. She pushes our perfect chinese candidate into the dark intellectual room, so far away (mentally I mean) from the bar with the petit-fours and the so sexy tiny pink champagne bottle created for us …euh I mean for the event.

The upset ambitious girl suddenly felt pushed on stage, in front of the women smilingly waiting for the renowned novelist.

That’s when it became clear to me that, even here, there was deep respect and reverence face to the artistic stuff. It rejoiced me, but there was more than that. The student did the sociological analysis thing by answering the snobbish but actually accurate questions she was being asked (and translated). She has lived both in Hong Kong and in the UK. She is now taking a MBA program at INSEAD. We learned that she considered herself as belonging definitely to the Asia area even if she confessed of feeling a foreigner when traveling now to HK and even more when attending in Beijing (clearly even less British). She talked about her cultural meeting with French people and Fontainebleau (nobody dares question whether that Fontainebleau or the INSEAD campus is at any level representative for the French spirit or reality) but it was really instructive to look at ourselves through her eyes. She quite simply make things clear about values in China vs. Western countries, and how she did not really feel at home anywhere. And above all without being the least troubled from that.

We all were eventually amazingly fond of what that little woman, however partly a Westerner, was telling us about ourselves. We did sociology, and pretty good one. We mentally went away. We talked about fundamental stuff. We talked about what really matters in such a forum: meeting the other with his or her specific experience that can be very valuable. That was an incredibly magical time to hear in that broadly superficial place an ambitious and determined young shark (sorry Bonnie, but it is a compliment) talking about how Chinese values were important to her.

Bonnie — yes, the Chinese student is one of our bloggers, Bonnie Fong — will probably tell about her experience of jumping in for the missing novelist in an upcoming post.

In Alphonse Daudet’s book, the Arlésienne is a character that everyone is thinking of, worrying about, but that never appears clearly.

We have our Arlésienne at the Women’s forum. Yesterday, lots of speakers referred to her, without mentioning her name. Guess who she is?

Helping you talking about the fact that she is actually member of the US senate would break the myth. Chatting about the fact that she’s running for the US presidency or that she is married to a former US president is clearly inappropriate…

Possibly, political opinions don’t have their place in the Women’s Forum. True, but the most powerful nation in the world could be ruled in few months by a woman, for the first time. Is that what is on the minds of the forum delegates? She’s probably in everyone’s mind because she could change our world and become an example of a woman succeeding as a the first woman US president.

When I asked the Human resources director of an American consulting company her opinion on the future “master of the world” as a woman, she seamed quite confident in the likelihood of that happening. “She’s very smart, she will not try to rule the world as a policeman, and she has lots of experience as the shadow adviser of her husband”.

“Talking about her is probably such a tough subject that it would requires its own forum” answers a French lawyer. Keeping for them their political opinions, most people I interviewed told me their wish to see a woman at the top of US politics. Recent polls shows that their wish could come true in the near future.

Yes, I’m talking about Hillary Clinton. It took about 1 hour and 10 minutes yesterday, during the first session of the Forum, for a panelist to mention her name.