The World Economic Forum predicts it will take until 2133 to achieve gender parity.
Wait… what? The year 2133? That’s 117 years from now, people. Do we really want to wait four generations to achieve what we know will be a world-shifting balance? NO.
This isn’t just about supporting equal pay for women (although it definitely includes that). This year’s campaigns for gender parity make it clear that businesses must harness female talent to really succeed and thrive.
Studies show that organizations most inclusive of women in top management perform up to 35% better than their peers. This study finds that an organization with 30 percent female leaders could add up to 6 percentage points to its net margin.
The bigger picture, then, is to value women equally as leaders – to bring balance to pay grade, yes, but also to respect and value women’s unique talents in the business, economic and political world. In this way we not only ensure that women are able to rise to positions of power, we also encourage men to incorporate more feminine leadership traits into their repertoires, resulting in a more prosperous climate for all.
Here’s what you can do to accelerate the movement. Make the Pledge for Parity. Pledge to call for gender-balanced leadership. Pledge to illuminate paths to leadership for girls and women. Pledge to explode both conscious and unconscious bias and to stay open to new points of view, for yourself, your company and the world.
Are you in?
Keep yourself inspired this International Women’s Day with these wise words from passionate leaders who remind us why equality can’t wait 117 years…
“We are here not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.” – Emmeline Pankhurst
“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” – Rebecca West
“No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half its citizens.” – Michelle Obama
“If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse gift will find a fitting place.” – Margaret Mead
“In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth, women are not merely tolerated but valued.” – Aung Sang Suu Kyi
“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde
“In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will just be leaders.” – Sheryl Sandberg
“We’ve chosen the path to equality, don’t let them turn us around.” – Geraldine Ferraro
“As a woman I have no country. As a woman I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.” – Virginia Woolf
As we get ready for EWlive14, it’s wonderful to remember how inspired and transformed we were by the inaugural EWlive in Boulder, CO.
That’s why we loved re-reading this blog post from Rose Caiola, founder of Rewire Me and Power Party New York speaker, recapping the many “a-ha” moments we experienced at that gathering. Check out the quotes and speakers that left a lasting impact on her here:
Were you at EWlive13? Did you join us via Livestream? Add to the excitement for this year’s event by telling us who made your top 10 list in the comments below.
This is our time to rise and actualize! As women lead the way through an authentic expression of who we are, by leveraging feminine virtues instead of burying them, we will create a more integrated world where the best of the masculine and the feminine work in harmony. At Emerging Women Live you’ll hear from some of the most fantastic women visioneers of our time. These are women who are not afraid to be themselves as they take creative risks or launch BIG ideas into the world.
This post celebrates some of the most brilliant, courageous, authentic women trailblazers of the 20th century. These women’s wisdom inspire and motive us to move forward and continue to challenge the conventional.
1. “The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.”― Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel (1883 – 1971) was the only fashion designer to appear on Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. She completely revolutionized the fashion industry by freeing women of corsets and introducing a more comfortable, casual chic look. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic product.
2. “The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward.”― Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart (1897–1937) was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Her courage and willpower opened the skies to other women. She was also a best-selling author, and she was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. She was also a member of the National Woman’s Party, and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. In 1937 while attempting to become the first person to fly around the world, Earhart’s plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean.
3. “Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.” ― Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald (1918–1996) is considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time. Over the course of her 59-year recording career, she sold 40 million copies of her 70-plus albums, winning countless awards and commendations, including honorary doctorates at Yale and Dartmouth, the National Medal of Arts, and 13 Grammy Awards, including one in 1967 for Lifetime Achievement. In 1979 she was given a Kennedy Center Award for her lifetime in the performing arts.
4. “I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth – and truth rewarded me.” ― Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir (1908 – 1986) was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir published The Second Sex, which quickly became a feminist classic, inspiring women of the 1950s and 1960s to examine their role in culture. In the chapter “Woman: Myth and Reality” of The Second Sex, Beauvoir argued that men had made women the “Other” in society by putting a false aura of “mystery” around them. She argued that men used this as an excuse not to understand women or their problems and not to help them, and that this stereotyping was always done in societies by the group higher in the hierarchy to the group lower in the hierarchy.
5. “Each person must live their life as a model for others.” ― Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. On December 1, 1955, an unknown seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This brave woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested and fined for violating a city ordinance, but her act of defiance marked the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in the United States and ultimately lead to the end of legal segregation in America. Her courage made her an inspiration to freedom-loving people everywhere.
6. “I feel there is something unexplored about women that only a woman can explore.” ― Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe (1887 –1986) was a prominent woman painter. Georgia O’Keeffe prevailed in a what was a long time a man’s world, and became a key figure in the American Modern Art. In 1962, O’Keeffe was elected to the fifty-member American Academy of Arts and Letters. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1966. In 1970, when she was 83 years old, a retrospective exhibition of her work was held at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The New York critics and collectors recognized her as an artist ahead of her time. Her work hangs today in museums and private collections around the world.
7. “Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order.” ―Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941) was an English writer, and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. Woolf is a key figure in the modernist literary movement. She is best known for her writings between World War I and World War II including the 1929 essay, “A Room of One’s Own,” and novels Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando. In her work she examined the difficulties that female writers and intellectuals face because men hold disproportionate legal and economic power and the future of women in education and society.
8. “We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face… we must do that which we think we cannot.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) was the longest-serving First Lady of the United States, holding the post from 1933 to 1945 during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s four terms in office. She was the first presidential spouse to hold press conferences, write a syndicated newspaper column, and speak at a national convention. As a champion of human rights, she strove to further women’s causes as well as the causes of black people, poor people, and the unemployed. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights, and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women.
9. “True happiness… is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” ― Helen Keller
Helen Keller (1880–1968) was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. A childhood disease left Helen deaf, mute, and blind. Her story became popular through the dramatic depictions of the play and film The Miracle Worker. Keller campaigned for women’s suffrage and labor rights. She was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1971. Keller wrote a total of 12 published books and several articles.
10. “Woman must not accept; she must challenge. She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her; she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.” ― Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger (1879–1966) was an American birth control activist, sex educator, and nurse. Sanger popularized the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established organizations that evolved into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Sanger’s efforts contributed to several judicial cases that helped legalize contraception in the United States. Sanger is regarded as a leading figure in the battle for American women’s rights.
And then join ALL the badasses at our annual Emerging Women Live! Registration is now open HERE.
Chelsea Brookshire
Executive Assistant and Relationships Manager
Chelsea has over 15 years of experience in administrative and executive support. After her years of working in the legal and oil and gas industry, Chelsea has made it her passion to fill her life with creativity and incorporates that into everything she does. Her position at Emerging Women allows her to expand on that creativity and assist with empowering women around the world. She is a native of Colorado and enjoys spending time with her husband, her son, bonus son, family, and friends. In her free time she loves camping, painting, and all things creative.
Michelle Caggiano
Online Business Manager
Michelle studied Marketing and received her degree from Metropolitan State University of Denver. Her passion for marketing, combined with great attention to detail, and over 7 years of experience in the tech-world makes her a valuable asset to the team! In addition to Emerging Women, she is also a solopreneur and works with a number of different clients in the online business realm. She is an experienced Online Business Manager and Virtual Assistant who specializes in marketing operations, project management and online course launch management. She is a Colorado native, mother of two dogs, a cat, and a turtle, and step-mother to an amazing little girl. In her spare time she enjoys live music, good food, traveling, and spending time with her friends and family.
Jen Jefferson
Power Circle Administrator
Jen comes to Emerging Women with over 25 years of experience in event operations and volunteer management. She has worked various types of events as a Volunteer Manager for Integral Life conferences and as an Event Coordinator for various large arts and sports festivals throughout Colorado. Alongside her passion for creating and producing events, she worked as a hospital administrator for over a decade in one of Denver’s largest hospitals helping make care affordable to hundreds of patients. Jen was born in Lima, Peru but has spent most of her life in Colorado. In 2016, a year sabbatical morphed into a life living abroad. Jen has been living in Cusco, Peru for the past four years and cherishes her life in the Andes mountains. In her spare time she enjoys exploring the world, playing capoeira, and deepening her yoga and meditation practices.
Nicole Fegley
Director of Power Circles
For over 13 years, Nicole has been a producer and connector in the field of personal and professional growth and transformation, creating diverse content, life-changing curriculum, and exquisite live and online experiences. She loves to unite and facilitate people in their work to live more good, true, and beautiful lives. She’s honored to bring this diverse expertise to Emerging Women. For the past two years she has been the lead producer for Emerging Women Live, and now is bringing her extensive production, coaching and facilitation skills to EW’s Power Circles. Nicole works in private practice as a Certified Integral Master Coach™, through her company, Unabashedly You, and has worked with hundreds of women (and men) individually and as a group facilitator. She also creates programs and interviews fascinating teachers and wellness experts in her role as U.S. Content Producer for Conscious Life. She is the co-founder of Core Integral, an educational company offering a comprehensive and accessible approach to learning integral theory. Prior to this work, she owned a large and lively restaurant and brewery in Pennsylvania. She has studied extensively and worked alongside Ken Wilber (Integral Theory), Daniel Brown, PhD (Tibetan Buddhism, Self-Development, Attachment, and Positive Psychology), and Sofia Diaz (Hatha Yoga and Feminine Embodiment). She holds a Masters Degree from Lehigh University. She regularly delights in the sunshine and mountains of Colorado with her two dogs and her partner Clint, and is a new mama to her daughter Truly Golden.
Chantal Pierrat
Founder & CEO
Chantal’s mission is to increase women’s leadership across the globe. After earning an MBA from the University of Colorado, Chantal left a career in medical device manufacturing in search of work that would align her dedication to transformative leadership with her passion for living an inspired, impactful life. In September 2012, she founded Emerging Women, a global leadership and media platform that serves over 70,000 women worldwide and has advanced women’s leadership within Fortune 500 companies such as HP, Oracle and more. Chantal’s ultimate vision is to weave feminine leadership and authenticity into businesses, and to create a world where women have a strong voice in the shaping of our future. Prior to Emerging Women, for over a decade, Chantal served on the executive team as the VP of Sales and Marketing for Sounds True, a multimedia publishing company focused on spirituality, personal growth, and holistic living. Chantal is a sought after speaker delivering keynotes at The Grace Hopper Celebration, Wisdom 2.0, and many other stages where women’s leadership is critical to the conversation. When she is not dancing or working to empower women around the world, Chantal enjoys family time with her husband and two sons in Boulder, CO.