International Women’s Day, on March 8, provides an opportunity to reflect on the struggle for greater gender equality. Although the origins of this annual event date back over a century, its focus on women’s respect and opportunities remains overwhelmingly relevant today—from sexual harassment and violence to imbalanced laws and workplace unfairness, where women are far too frequently underemployed, underpaid, and underpromoted, still in 2022.
As a women-owned company for more than 28 years, ELAM’s mission is to teach languages to the corporate world and give contracts to resourceful and innovative women. In fact, not only is ELAM a woman-run corporation, but it has also been part of WBE (Woman Business Enterprises Canada) and WeConnect International as a certified supplier for the past two years. Our founder, Paule Grenier, has just joined the Supplier Advisory Committee (SAC) and volunteers in the Engagement and Programming committees. Getting involved in promoting women-run businesses is a top priority for her.
Although the number of women in business since 1980 has had a massif increase to this day, in 2022, women still live injustices in the workplace. Let’s take a deeper look at the benefits of having women in the workplace!
Women are Exceptional at Developing the Soft Skills Necessary for Business Leadership
While technical ability and knowledge are critical for career advancement, CEOs consistently rank soft skills as the most desirable professional characteristics. Although difficult to quantify, characteristics such as effective communication, empathy, and self-awareness are highly valued and can significantly impact the bottom line. Recent research has established a link between character strength and business performance. CEOs who excel at compassion and integrity also achieve a 9.35% return on assets over a two-year period.
Women in business may find that soft skills and competencies provide a significant competitive advantage. Competencies such as emotional self-awareness, empathy, conflict resolution, adaptability, and teamwork—all of which are necessary for effective workplace leadership.
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A Diverse Workforce Fosters Innovation
Diversification has been demonstrated to foster creativity and innovation from gender to culture, age, and race. Organizations across industries, from PricewaterhouseCoopers to TELUS and the EDC, are seeking to prioritize and benefit from a diverse and inclusive work environment.
Men and women will always have unique experiences and backgrounds that influence their approach to business. By challenging one another and collaborating with individuals who think differently, organizations can foster creativity and promote the innovative ideas that propel them forward. Women wield enormous economic clout and provide critical consumer insight.
Women are estimated to spend more than $20 trillion on consumer goods each year, constituting a larger growth market than China and India combined. Additionally, 85% of consumer purchases are made by women.
Hope For Our Daughters
Let’s hope for a respectful, non-violent, and fair future for our daughters despite all of this. Let’s hope the existing boundaries are eradicated, and the need for these types of blog articles is a thing of the past.
