After the Rising Talents awards, the Cartier Women’s Initiative award and the Women for Education initiative, which were at the center of this year’s Women’s Forum, I would like now to grant my very own awards to some of the people I met at the conference. Here is my personal selection:

The One with the Most Guts Award – Obviously, this one goes to Lebanese journalist May Chidiac, who was attacked and severely injured in 2005 for criticising Syria’s prominent presence in Lebanon. The current instabilities in Lebanon still haven’t prevented her from keeping on doing her job and promoting freedom of speech.

The Most Determined Award – I’d like to give this one to both Jobeda Ali and Maryanna Iskander, the Rising Talents I had the chance to interview. I had really inspiring conversations with them that kind of shook up my bourgeoise morals. Thanks girls.

The Best Sense of Humour Award – This one should definitely go to Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, vice-president of the Republic of South Africa, who made a very nice point saying that women should all stay in bed. I totally agree with that. The jury also grants a special mention to Bonnie Fong, one of the members of the Student team, for her dry jokes.

The Rock Star Award – This one goes to Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of Areva, who was just impossible to interview because of the army of fans and journalists constantly surrounding her.

The Best Hair Style Award – Let’s reward originality, with the fashion designer Angel Chang. She also won the Cartier Women’s Initiative award for North America. I wish her good luck.

The Best Ideas Award – OK, this one was created specially for Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and CEO of the Forum. Establishing an international women-only network isn’t that bad of an idea, right?

Maryanna Iskander belongs to those women who make me feel bad about myself. Kind and brilliant, warm and available, she is one of those who have the courage to dedicate themselves to something meaningful to them and to society, when many others chose the “easy way” of more conventional careers. She is now working as the Vice-President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), which is the largest provider of reproductive health care in the US, and offers birth control, HIV and STD tests and cancer detection services to 3 to 5 millions people, mainly disadvantaged women, in the United States.

When she is asked why she took the step to embrace such career, she answers in the simplest way: “Well, I thought about something I really care about, this is how women usually advance, you know”.  According to her, enabling a woman to control her fertility is at the very root of her participation in society. This is all about female empowerment and having the possibility to make choices: to choose when it is the right time to give birth, given the expectations towards environment, job and life.

The reason why Maryanna made me feel bad when I met her is the way she talks about what she does. Most people try to ease their conscience about making the world a better place by giving a few hours a week after work to a special cause. She chose to make her job of this commitment towards society, like this is the most obvious thing to do. And her job can be really challenging. Although only 3% of the PPFA activities are related to abortion, this is enough to raise constant and strong opposition in the US. Maryanna faces this situation with confidence and lucidity: “Women’s health shouldn’t be a political issue”.

What would be the next step for her then? Stay passionate and committed as a full-time activity, and maybe run an organisation by herself one day.

I’m sure you know what a Girls Night looks like. Well, try to imagine one, multiply it by 500, and you’ll know what the Women’s Forum looks like. I’ve never learnt so many tips about waxing techniques, moisturizers and shoe-style within such a short period of time. What do women do when they think nobody’s watching? They spend a significant part of their time gossiping and talking about their fellow’s lack of taste in fashion. But that does not prevent them from being highly competent if not the best in what they do. People often forget that part. Stereotypes can be useful; they also can be true and help you to apprehend your social environment. I am not criticising the fact that people can have stereotypes – if somebody is good at putting people in little boxes, that’s me. But the real problem arises when they influence your action and may jeopardize somebody’s career.

That was the whole point of the conference moderated yesterday by Julia Harrison. According to a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers presented by Marie-Jeanne Chèvremont-Lorenzini, the cultural perception of their gender is the main barrier women have to face in their professional life. Laws and education clearly affect the way they are perceived by their environment, and as such, indirectly impact their career. Women’s abilities and competences are often questioned; but perhaps the questioning should be reversed in favour of our deep and unconscious social beliefs: are we right when we think women are not able to deal with their professional, social, family and personal lives? Women have a couple of role models proving it’s possible. That’s not much, I agree. But as long as they’re properly doing what they’re asked to do, and as long as they’re asking for more, stereotypes should not matter.

This is a woman’s right to be both brilliant and superficial.

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?…

This is a kind of an irony. The great novelty in this edition of the Women’s Forum is the creation of a men-only area, where they can enjoy a relaxing time while waiting for their spouses to get out of their “feminist” conference. And the rules are very strict there: a security guy at the entrance makes sure only men get in there. Here is a picture of the “Men’s Corner”:

Men are a minority here at the Forum, about 15% of attendees – Aude de Thuin, the Forum’s founder and CEO, underlined in her introductory speech that complementarities were essential to our world today, but that to her, 30% of men is the top-limit to reach an ideal balance. Some women here find amazing that men would chose to join the Forum; other consider the dedication of a specific area to them as a provocation.

Crazy rumours have been spreading around this morning regarding this very selective and secret area. For instance, I’ve heard they were hiding a PlayStation somewhere…

But beyond the joke, I think we have a point. The WomensForum choose this year to welcome its male members with clichés – a huge TV screen playing rugby games, leather armchairs and possibly a hidden PlayStation – in the same way men welcome women back in the real world.

Nowadays, a lot of companies are trying to promote gender diversity among their Human Resources. Though the higher you are in the hierarchy, the fewer women you can find. Perhaps is it too soon to value the outcome of these women-friendly policies, and perhaps can they be improved. Indeed, behind the provocation, the purpose of the men-only area is to raise awareness towards all the differences between men and women in business, which a corporate day-care facility cannot erase. Men are invited there to discuss gender diversity issues and share their experience and best practices concerning the integration of female values in their managerial culture.

Of course, and according to the most recent rumour, until warrior women in the Forum have besieged the area.