Why Women Mean Business: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution

WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS

“...gives example after example of the price that we all pay for a situation in which ‘women may hold the keys but men still control the locks’.”
The Times

“What’s especially valuable is the authors’ analysis of where companies go wrong in managing women...that’s how it will help women in the workplace.”
Harvard Business Review

“Lays out the importance of retaining women in senior leadership positions.”
Harpers Bazaar

“Wittenberg-Cox and Maitland have opened new ground.”
Management Today

WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS

They make up much of the market and most of the talent pool. Reaching women consumers and developing female talent is essential for sustainable economic growth in the 21st century. Studies show that better gender balance in business means better bottom line results and greater resistance to economic crises.

So why are there still so few women in leadership roles in business? Why are companies struggling to respond to today’s female consumer? Why is there a persistent pay gap between men and women around the world?

Why Women Mean Business takes the economic arguments for change to the heart of the corporate world. Fully updated in paperback, the book shows why getting gender right matters – as much when the economy’s bust as when it’s booming. A must-read, packed with ideas from companies that have made it work, views from top business leaders and step-by-step guides to how we can all become gender bilingual.

AVIVAH WITTENBERG-COX is CEO of 20-First, one of Europe’s leading gender consultancies. 20-First works with progressive companies interested in building gender ‘bilingual’ organisations that capture the opportunities offered by the other half of the talent pool and the other half of the market – the female half. The firm’s renowned Bilingual Leadership programmes help executives – men and women - manage difference more effectively.

Avivah is also the Founder and Honorary President of the European Professional Women’s Network (www.EuropeanPWN.net), a certified executive coach and was a Visiting Coach at INSEAD. She is a popular speaker on leadership and gender issues across Europe and has had articles and interviews published in publications such as the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times. Canadian, French and Swiss. In 2007, ELLE Magazine recognised her as one of the TOP 40 Women Leading Change. She lives in France with her husband and gender balanced children (a son and a daughter).

ALISON MAITLAND is an independent journalist and commentator who has been researching and writing about women in business for a decade. She spent 20 years with the Financial Times, including eight years as Management Writer. Her other specialist areas are leadership and corporate responsibility.

Alison is a Senior Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Management at Cass Business School, City University, London. She is a conference speaker and moderator and she directs the Work-Life & Diversity Council of The Conference Board Europe. She served on the advisory group for the Equal Opportunities Commission’s 2007 investigation into the Transformation of Work. She lives in the UK with her husband and two daughters.