Women in CIGREWomen in CIGRE

Mark WaldronCIGRE Technical Committee Chairman

My experience as a woman in engineering

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So why am I here?• Because I volunteered• To listen• Leadership commitment to “doing the right thing”

– Eliminate discrimination or bias if/where it exists• Create opportunities• Access the best talent for CIGRE• Help our stakeholders get and retain best talent• Create the best possible workforce• Concensus on “how” and “what” • “Promoting women” is the means, not the end

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Statistics

More statistics

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Environmental effectsGenerational•Be very careful what you measure:

– Don’t expect proportion of women engineers in any given age group to exceed the educational intake

– Changing the aggregated numbers takes a lifetime– Trends are critical

•Is the educational intake increasing?•Barriers in the early years? Peer pressure?Cultural•Differing perceptions – human factors•Regional differences & factors•Family structures, career breaks, maternity/ paternity arrangements

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Don’t assume • “The hidden assumption underlying the push to eliminate

gender gaps in traditionally male-dominated fields is that such fields are intrinsically more important and more valuable to society than fields that traditionally appeal to women”

• “Women are clearly capable of doing well in STEM fields traditionally dominated by men, and they should not be hindered, bullied, or shamed for pursuing careers in such fields. But we also should not be ashamed if our interests differ from men’s. If we find certain careers more intrinsically rewarding than men do, that does not mean we have been brainwashed by society or herded into menial fields of labour. Instead, we should demand that greater intrinsic and monetary compensation be awarded to the work we like and want to do.”

• Equal does not mean “the same”

What can we do?• Today is about practical ideas . . . . .

• Mentoring• Role models• Ambassadors• Support networks• Case studies• Set “sophisticated” targets based on

educational intake?

Over to you . . . . . . .