SHARON MAVIN, Dean of Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University, explains why the conference is vital.
THE Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University is delighted to be hosting the second North East Women Leaders (NEW Leaders) conference which aims to raise the aspirations of young women from our region’s schools.
Why is this event so important to our region and why is the Newcastle Business School committed to inspiring women leaders of the future? Women in the North East represent a large slice of our talent pool. Young women are performing exceptionally well in schools, represent more than 50% of graduates nationally and employers are employing men and women graduates in almost equal numbers.
Women are making 80% of consumer spending decisions, are experiencing financial independence and increasing in numbers as entrepreneurs.
Since 2000, women are reported to have filled six million of the eight million jobs created in the European Union and as Andrea Jung, chief executive of Avon Products and ranked number two in The Financial Times Top 50 Women in the World of Business argues, the next new market for business and industry is not a country ... it is women.
Closer to home, developing leaders of the future and inspiring them to achieve their potential is at the core of what the Newcastle Business School is about.
In addition to developing 6,000 students through the Corporate and Executive Development Centre, we facilitate leader development in partnership with key North East organisations from diverse sectors.
Our experts also deliver a number of leader(ship) research projects, including authentic leader development, the impact of executive coaching and representations of women leaders in the media.
The good news is that compared to other regions, we found the North East fares well, consistently placed in the top regions employing women in middle-senior positions.
Further, Labour Force Survey data estimates that women occupy around 40% of manager and senior official roles and 45% of professional roles in the region.
Northumbria University itself has equal representation of men and women deans.
This is replicated in the Newcastle Business School executive team and in the school’s professors. Yet we know there are still challenges for women’s progression into the most senior positions. Research from the Institute of Leadership and Management notes that 73% of the 3,000 women managers interviewed said there were problems for women to progress into senior positions.
The Davies report, on barriers to women’s progress to senior positions and company boards, recommended FTSE 100 and FTSE 350 companies set targets which support women into boardroom positions. However, the CIPD reported that companies were ignoring the recommendations.
As dean of Newcastle Business School I am committed to the development of young leaders and along with Lesley Bessant, pro-chancellor of Northumbria University, our contribution to the conference focuses upon why women leaders are important.
We ask students to reflect on whether they see themselves as future leaders, who are their role models, what they think are successful leader behaviours and we smash some of the mythical leader stereotypes.
We expose how women leaders are often negatively portrayed in the popular media by drawing upon research, a Hollywood blockbuster and the BBC’s The Apprentice.
Positively, The Financial Times’ publication of the Top 50 Women in the World of Business and Management Today’s UK 35 Women under 35 spotlight successful senior women, who note that being a lifelong student is critical to success; that perseverance, determination, creativity, drive, passion, thinking outside the box and integrity are key and that being an advocate of your own confidence, being secure in your own strengths and feeling comfortable in your own skin, rather than conforming to leader stereotypes, are critical to success as a woman leader.
It is therefore a shared value of all those involved in the North East Women Leaders conference to support young women beyond their educational, skill and competence potential as leaders, and to develop the self-belief, confidence and, indeed, the tenacity and aspiration to make it to the top of their chosen fields.