By Louise Watson
November 2014
Insights gained from VBOT's full-day event, B.C. Economic Forum: Women as a Catalyst for Growth
On Oct. 24, The Vancouver Board of Trade partnered with The WEB Alliance of Women's Business Networks and the Premier's Women's Economic Council to present a forum aimed at advancing the conversation about women in leadership into action strategies for economic growth. Below are some insights from Louise Watson, Principal of Adura Strategy, who co-facilitated one of the day's group discussions.
"When a woman you respect doesn't step up to the plate, or steps away from the plate, ask her why." This golden piece of advice from Carolyn Cross, CEO of OnDine BioMedical, was one of many poignant takeaways I gleaned while being one of four master facilitators for the recent B.C. Economic Forum: Women as a Catalyst for Growth.
Though no one explicitly said so, the forum felt in some ways like a celebration. Despite the abysmal record of women moving along the pipeline from university graduation to the highest ranks of business leadership and board membership, we still have made some progress.
Women have a voice and a choice like never before. In an unprecedented show of collaboration, 25 separate women's groups came together to make this event happen, catching the eye of the federal government and thereby allowing us to hear from the Honourable Kellie Leitch, Canada's Minister of Labour and Minister for the Status of Women.
In her address, Dr. Leitch put strong emphasis on women entrepreneurs as an economic engine for our country, as did two other provincial ministers who spoke — the Honourable Shirley Bond, B.C.'s Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training, and the Honourable Naomi Yamamoto, B.C.'s Minister of State for Tourism and Small Business.
As the first woman Premier of British Columbia, the Honourable Christy Clark is another shining example of what we have to celebrate. In her keynote address at the forum, she stated that we have to stop ignoring that women have children — and she couldn't be more right. The Premier's statement seems at first so obvious, but is too often buried in politically correct banter, and is likely a root cause for much of the pipeline's "leakiness."
Alex Johnston, the Executive Director of Catalyst Canada, built on this sentiment in her remarks, stating, "In the absence of flexibility, women with children will downsize their aspirations." And she forcefully added, "This has nothing to do with their confidence."
Another show of solidarity was how quickly the 400-plus participants moved past the topic of barriers to energetically discuss solutions.
Visible and invisible barriers are so well documented, researched and graphed that the overwhelming sentiment was to start doing something now to reduce the pipeline's "leakiness." And as part of the solutions discussion, the room echoed with "Men need to part of this conversation, so they can be part of the change." The theme emerged that we need to move the conversation of women's success in the workforce from being a gender issue, to being an economic issue where men are engaged. At the end of an exhilarating day where table groups shared clear recommendations for industry and government, each forum participant was asked to privately write his or her personal commitment.
As a fitting end to my reflection on this tremendous event, I will share my personal commitment with you. To draw a circle from the opening quote in this article: I will try to raise my now-teenage sons in a way that when they are in the workplace and see someone not stepping up to the plate or stepping away from the plate, they will ask why.
Louise Watson is Principal of Adura Strategy, a member of The Vancouver Board of Trade's Women's Leadership Circle (WLC), and a parent. She cofacilitated Track 1: Women in Leadership with Lisa Martin, a fellow member of the WLC. The pipeline is leaky Louise Watson, Principal, Adura Strategy BY