Alumni Association
2nd European Forum on Best Practices in Gender Equality
3-5 October 2013 – Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Inspiring Wo-Menand theLuxembourg Chamber of Commercecordially invite you to participate and support the 2ndEuropean Forum on Best Practices in Gender Equality
The Forum is part of the initiative "Inspiring Woman of the Year & Top Company for Gender Equality" Awards placed under the patronage of Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission and of Xavier Bettel, Deputy - Mayor of the City of Luxembourg, and itfollows a 1st successful edition of the attribution of the 2012 "Top Company for Gender Equality" Award to Bank of New York Mellon Luxembourg - in recognition of the great results demonstrated by BNYM Luxembourgin the recruitment, retention and advancement of a balanced percentage between men and women at all levels of its hierarchy.
Equal economic opportunities for both men and women lead to stronger and sustainable growth through increased labour productivity and human capital. However, despite numerous improvements in women’s outcomes there are still many gender gaps in economic opportunities.
The 2nd edition of the Forum is aimed at providing a European platform for discussion of economic aspects of gender equality, successful strategies and best practices that can reduce the gender gaps in economies around the world, improve gender balance in decision-making positions, and in the same time offers access to benchmarking information to enable candidate companies to the award to compare their performanceto the industry standards as well as to the performance of Bank of New York Mellon Luxembourg, elected 2012 Top Company for Gender Equity.
The Forum is envisaged as a one day event structured around plenary sessions and parallel workshops, and it will present a white paper with the conclusions and recommendations of the 1st European Forum which took place on the 24th of January 2013, as well as a publication presenting a selection of best practices and demonstrated outcomes in increasing the representation, retention and advancement of women in the corporate world. The forum will end with a Gala dinner and the attribution of the 2013 “Top Company for Gender Equality” Award.
Programme
Thursday, 3rd October 2013
14.00 – 16.00 arrival of participants
16.00 – Welcome cocktail at the Luxembourg City Hall, meeting with Xavier Bettel, Mayor of the City of Luxembourg, godfather of the initiative, and representatives of the City
Friday, 4th October 2013
08.30 : Arrival of participants at Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, coffee & croissants
09.00 : Welcome by Pierre Gramegna, Director General, Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (TBC)
09.20 : Introduction remarks by Clara Moraru, founder of the "Top Company for Gender Equality" Award, elected 2013 “Woman Inspiring Europe” by the “European Institute for Gender Equality” of the European Commission
09.55 :Speech by Nicolas Schmit, Luxembourg Minister of Work and Employment
10.30 : Speech Representative of the European Commission - Mrs Viviane Reding's cabinet (TBC)
11.00 – 11.15 Coffee / tea
11.15 : Speech (TBC) 11.30 : Speech (TBC)
12.15 – 13.30 : Lunch break & networking
Parallel Workshops 13.30 - 15.00
Workshop 1: Best practices in implementing flexible working time arrangements and their consequences for gender equality (workshop in English)
Proposed issues for discussion : Is there a need for flexible working time arrangements in order to balance companies’ needs with workers’ preferences in a gender equality perspective and to take into consideration the changing lifecycle needs of workers, while reducing the segregation of women in part-time work? How to develop a more family friendly culture in organisations, as well as a greater participation of men in informal care and the provision of good quality flexible care services to allow workers (especially women) a real choice on the allocation of their time?
Moderator: Nicolas J. Ries / Magali Maillot (tbc)
Panellists: tbc
Workshop 2: Gender training in education
(atelier en français)
Proposed issues for discussion : Introducing efficiently gender training in education is crucial to promoting gender equality and changing gender stereotypes at an early age. Is support and training of teachers crucial? Is there a need of a broad political long-term commitment to gender equality in the field of education by the key stakeholders? How important is the legal and strategic framework for education ? Is enough working with teachers and students or should parents also be involved, and if yes, how? How can girls be attracted to typically male fields of study and vice versa? What are effective ways of raising awareness of gender biases that restrict the economic and social role of girls and women?
Moderator: tbc
Panellists: Anita Drohé, 2013 Inspiring Woman of the Year in Education, others
Workshop 3:Best practices to increase the number of women in economic decision- making
(atelier en français)
Proposed issues for discussion : In the EU women comprise only around 13.7 per cent of members of the boards in the largest publicly listed companies, and of these just three per cent are chaired by women. Furthermore, progress remains too slow: at the previous rate of increase it would take around 40 years to achieve gender balance in board representation (at least 40% of each sex), hence the impetus for more effective policy in this area.
What are the ongoing obstacles to progress in advancing women in business? What approaches are being successfully used by companies and business organisations to promote gender diversity in leadership positions? What are the key public policies that enable employer best practices? Women on Boards: should
governments step in when employers dither in getting women to the top? Quotas v. a voluntary approach.
Moderator: Viviane Neiter, Neiter Consulting, Conseil et chargée de cours de gouvernance et de transmission d'entreprises, Administratrice de sociétés cotées, membre Inspiring Wo-Men Business Club
Panellists : tbc
Coffee break 15.30 – 15.45
Parallel Workshops 15.45 - 17.00
Workshop 4: Best practices on how to reduce the gender pay gap
(workshop in English)
Proposed issues for discussion: The discussions during the seminar will look at the significance of data availability and quality, the importance of a lifecycle approach to the subject, the role of employers as well as social partners in tackling the gender pay gap and the need to embed these measures in wider strategies addressing the reasons behind the gap. Furthermore, the participants will analyze what the benefits gained by companies who promote gender equality in their organisations are, and if gender equality policies need to be maintained also in times of crisis.
Moderator: Evie Roos, Human Resources, SES Astra
Panellists: tbc
Workshop 5: La responsabilité des role models féminins à inspirer d'autres femmes et au sein de la diversité en entreprise
(atelier en français)
Proposed issues for discussion: Des CEO féminins parlent sur leur expérience et best practices. Qu'ont-elles implémenté de différent, y a-t-il eu plus de carrières féminines sous leur leadership ? Quelles difficultés ont-elles rencontrées et quels sont leurs 10 meilleurs conseils ?
Moderator: Pascale Marchal Griveaud et Serge Thill, Agir Anticiper Durablement
Panellists: tbc
Workshop 6: tbc
(workshop in English)
Proposed issues for discussion :
Moderator: tbc
Panellists: tbc
17.30 :Round table
19.00 : Cocktail @ Sofitel Luxembourg Europe
20.00 Dinner & Gala Awards - 2013 Top Company for Gender Equality Award for the Greater Region
Saturday, 5th October 2013
10.00 – 12.00 Discovering the City of Luxembourg – guided tour
12.15 – Lunch Place Guillaume II, Luxembourg
For more details, please contact :
Elvira Gritcan / Clara Moraru
Tel: +352 26 47 85 03 / +352 621 77 51 22
www.inspiringWo-Men.eu
Draft 25.06.2013
1st edition of the European Forum on Best Practices in Gender Equality
The first edition of the Forum was held at the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce on the 24th of January 2013.
150 participants from 10 different countries - CEOs, managing directors, gender and HR managers from leading companies - engaged in discussions in order to share their perspectives and insights on issues and proven solutions for the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women at all levels.
The Forum combined plenary sessions with 7 parallel workshops in French and English on the following topics:
Best Practices in recruiting women,
Best Practices in Retaining Women atthe mid level,
Sponsorship v. Mentoring,
Career Pathways for Women in Science, Technology and Research,
Best Practices in AdvancingWomen in Finance,
Best Practices in Creating and Sustaining Cultural Change,
Targets, Goals or Quotas? Driving change through measurement.
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