Changing Professional Perceptions

If you're losing brilliant women at the final stages of hiring - this might be why... Let me talk you through a recent example where a company had a disproportionately high number of women dropping out at late interview and offer stage for their tech roles: They were offering great salaries. Flexible working. A decent benefits package. So what was going wrong? We took a look at the data. Out of 2 billion data points, a few things stood out: → Diversity is non-negotiable. Women in tech rank it 31% higher than the average candidate. If they don’t see representation in leadership, they won’t apply → Flexible hybrid work wins, because structure matters. Demand for remote-only roles is 11% below average, while core hours and in-office collaboration rank higher → Family-friendly policies trump flashy perks. Fertility leave (+41%), job sharing (+33%), and parental leave (+19%) are the real differentiators But then we dug deeper; and that's where it got really interesting: → Women in data roles showed a higher demand for in-office work - mentorship and access to resources mattered → Women in engineering & development wanted mission-driven work and career progression above all else → Women in product roles prioritised culture and flexibility more than any other group The company checked their employer brand. Their careers page talked about “great culture” and “exciting opportunities.” But it said nothing about what actually mattered to the people they were trying to hire. They weren’t losing candidates because of the salary or the benefits. They were losing them because they don't know what their target talent groups actually want. The companies getting this right aren’t guessing. They’re using data to shape their employer brand - so they attract the right people, with the right message. Download our women in tech report to access more of these insights: https://lnkd.in/enYcGpeW And tell me if you've turned down a job offer for similar reasons? #WomenInTech #Hiring #EmployerBranding #FutureOfWork #DiversityMatters

More women are needed to shape future science and technology – in particular in Finland Less than one third of people employed in science and technology in Finland are women. We score second worst in Europe in engaging girls and women in science and engineering. In the EU, the share is just over 40%. Finland praises diversity, equality, and inclusiveness (DEI) in its strategies and orations, but when it comes to concrete measures to make a change, the results are meager. Aalto University is not an exception from the average Finnish society in recruiting women to leading positions in science, though DEI is an important part of our core values: 27% of new tenure track recruitments, 23% of academic manager positions, and 31% of academic positions involve women. Our KPIs do not include gender balance (nor DEI) to track this development more closely. How to make a change? For a start, recruit more women to leading [academic] positions, committees, science academies, engage academia more with topics important to women, etc., and reward improving the gender balance (NB. this does not inflate quality as often is claimed, but the opposite).  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”.  Also, in #DEI & #gender balance. European University Association Svenska tekniska vetenskapsakademien i Finland Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia – The Finnish Academy of Science and Letters Research Council of Finland | Suomen Akatemia Aalto University Opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö/Undervisnings- och kulturministeriet/Ministry of Education & Culture Opetushallitus - Utbildningsstyrelsen - Finnish National Agency for Education Tekniikan akateemiset TEK

I interviewed a woman who has two master's degrees and runs a team of 15 people. She told me she's never once asked her husband about their family's investment strategy because she doesn't want to seem "distrustful." That sentence honestly rattled something in me. This piece started as research. I wanted to understand why women in India, even successful, educated women, approach money so differently than men. Why we hold 27 million demat accounts but still park most of our wealth in gold and fixed deposits. Why we invest more but feel less entitled to returns. What I found wasn't about financial literacy. It was about scripts. Boys are raised to see money as glory. Girls are raised to see it as survival. And that split, protection versus propulsion, shapes everything. Career choices. Investment portfolios. The ability to negotiate. Even the language we use when we want more. This isn't about telling women to "just take more risks." It's about building the conditions where risk becomes possible, and ambition stops being treated like a character flaw. If you've ever been called "money-minded" like it's a bad thing, or if you've wondered why your biggest financial goal is just "enough to leave", this is for you. You're allowed to want more. Money doesn't make you greedy. It makes you free. I hope you share this with a woman in your life, and more importantly, I hope you share this with the men in your life. Naming and accepting discomfort is the first step towards fixing it. Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/db9pHWDD (And huge thanks to the Plum team (esp Ganapathi Ramanathan and Shreyas Achar) for publishing this as a part of their new Humanise edition on Matters of Money, featuring the wonderful, incredible Rohit Kaul, Dravisha Katoch, Sarthak Dev, and Ria Shroff Desai. What august company to be in!) #WomenAndMoney #FinancialIndependence #Humanise #MoneyMindset

Recommended reading! From London. While urban planners strive to create inclusive environments for all citizens, truly inclusive cities require acknowledging that our spaces do not serve everyone equally. Cities historically designed primarily by and for men need deliberate recalibration to address the needs of women and other overlooked groups. This requires policymakers and designers to specifically examine how urban environments function for diverse populations with different lived experiences. The 2024 Handbook: Gender-Informed Urban Design & Planning LLDC (London Legacy Development Corporation) and Arup have released a usefull handbook addressing a critical gap in urban planning: gender-informed design approaches. The publication features beautiful illustrations by Shanice Abbey. Key findings: • Urban environments, traditionally viewed as gender-neutral, often contain embedded biases that compound gender inequalities • Over half of UK girls aged 13-18 report unwanted sexual comments in public spaces • Women's movement patterns are significantly impacted by caregiving responsibilities • Research identified specific "hotspot" areas perceived as unsafe within the LLDC boundary Practical recommendations for implementation: • For local authorities: Establish gender-informed corporate strategies, implement gender budgeting, adopt targeted planning policies, and utilize planning obligations • For developers: Embed gender-informed principles throughout project lifecycle, conduct participatory engagement, and prepare Gender-Informed Design Statements • Deploy specific design interventions including strategic lighting, carefully placed public realm furniture, and thoughtful land use planning This handbook offers evidence-based insights and practical tools for integrating gender-informed principles into existing planning frameworks, emphasizing intersectionality and meaningful community involvement. The guidance extends beyond theoretical concepts, suggesting concrete design solutions such as layered lighting for human scale, social seating configurations, and interim uses for vacant sites. A valuable resource for all urban professionals committed to creating truly inclusive cities. #UrbanPlanning #GenderEquality #InclusiveDesign #PublicSpace #UrbanSafety #SpatialPlanning #DesignInnovation #CommunityEngagement

Motherhood Raised My Standards (And My Salary) There's a shift that happens when you become a mother and work in corporate that nobody really talks about. Two things change fundamentally: The bar for your work becomes exponentially higher. You have this gorgeous baby at home. Suddenly, your work must be more satisfying, more meaningful than snuggling that tiny human. Where before maybe it didn't matter so much that your job wasn't particularly fulfilling, now it must pass an incredibly high threshold. I remember my first week back after maternity leave as a lawyer. Still breastfeeding. Hormones raging. Already pulling long hours. Then a partner asked me to work on another tedious case. I sat there looking at a picture of my baby and thought: this work isn't worth being separated from her. It needs to be SO much better. That's when everything changed. I became laser-focused on what mattered. Started negotiating for bigger, more interesting cases. The ones that would actually make the sacrifice feel worth it. Truth: Once you become a mother, you cannot afford to waste limited time and energy on work that doesn't meet your new, higher standards. You will need to negotiate more than ever Your expectations of work have increased dramatically. And others' expectations of you? Those increase too. As the first woman to have a child during lawyer training at my firm, I felt the entire place watching. Could I manage both? Would I still be committed? The unspoken question was: "Can she still do this?" This means: - Setting stronger boundaries - Negotiating for work that's worth your time - Pushing back on demands that don't serve you - Advocating for flexibility that allows exceptional work You must get better at working ON your career, not just hamster-wheeling IN it. Real example: One of our earliest clients joined during maternity leave. I taught her how to negotiate her return to work. Result: Returned to promotion + pay increase. Six months later: Another promotion + pay increase. And she hasn't stopped since. This is what happens when you realise motherhood isn't a limitation - it's a clarifying force that makes you ruthlessly prioritise what matters. Women who struggle after becoming mothers aren't the ones who can't do the work. They're the ones who haven't: - Raised their standards for what work is worth their time - Learned to negotiate for what they need Whether you're navigating this transition, expecting, or simply recognising you need better boundaries and higher standards - this is your moment. Stop accepting work that doesn't meet your standards. Start negotiating for what you actually need and deserve. Motherhood shouldn't lower your career trajectory. It should elevate your standards for what you'll accept.

The value of external perspective. I called someone who used to be my Partner when I was much more junior. He taught me a lot. Sharp. Direct. Zero nonsense. One of those people who made you better just by being around them. At some point in the conversation he says: “By the way, my daughter just started in consulting. She asked me the other day: ‘Do you know Beltrán?’” He laughed. “She reads your posts. Says you say the things no one tells you. No filters. She’s learning a lot.” And I thought: It’s fascinating that she needs to read a stranger on the internet… when she literally has one of the sharpest, most unfiltered consultants I’ve ever met sitting at her dinner table. Her father. However, it made sense to a certain extent. Sometimes we need to hear things from someone who has nothing to do with us. No emotional load. Sometimes advice from a stranger feels clean. Same message. Different weight. When I was junior, I learned the most from people like him. People who didn’t sugarcoat. Who told you where you were weak. Who didn’t wrap feedback in corporate varnish. This is similar on why sometimes top CEO need consultants around. Not because they lack smart people. Not because they don’t have the answer somewhere in the building. But because sometimes the organization cannot hear itself. There’s too much history. Too much politics. Too much emotion. Too much baggage attached to every sentence. An external voice has no past in the room. It can say what others think but won’t articulate. It can connect dots without triggering defensive reflexes. It can challenge without reopening old wounds. Sometimes the value is not the slide. It’s the fact that the message lands. And sometimes, the guru is at home. But you still need a stranger to say it out loud.

When we say “apply a gender lens to everything,” this is exactly what we mean. For over a century, many everyday inventions were designed by men, for men, and women simply adapted, often at a cost to their comfort, safety, and health. The redesigned speculum is a perfect example. After more than 150 years, women engineers finally asked a simple but radical question: What if women’s bodies and experiences actually mattered in medical design? And the speculum is not alone. Inventions originally not designed with women in mind: • Car seat belts – modeled on the “average male body,” increasing injury risk for women and pregnant people • Car crash test dummies – long based almost entirely on male bodies • Smartphones – larger sizes that strain smaller hands • Voice recognition systems – struggle more with women’s voices • Office temperatures – calibrated to male metabolic rates • Personal protective equipment (PPE) – often ill-fitting for women • Medications & drug dosages – tested primarily on men • Tools and machinery – designed for male grip strength and height And here is a critical fact many people still don’t know: 👉 Women were largely excluded from clinical research until 1993. Yet women metabolize drugs differently, experience different side effects, and respond differently to treatments. Still, medicine was labeled “neutral.” It wasn’t. And yes, this goes beyond medicine. Even road and transport design carries gender bias. Without applying a gender lens: • Roads prioritize private cars over public transport • Routes ignore caregiving travel patterns (school, market, home, hospital) • Pedestrian safety, lighting, and crossings, used more by women are undervalued In Ghana, this means some road designs systematically disadvantage women, especially those who walk, carry loads, use public transport, or move with children. I’ll write more about this when I get the time, but this is the heart of the matter: Design is never neutral. Policy is never neutral. Research is never neutral. If gender is ignored, inequality is designed in. #academia #phdjourney #genderlens #womeninacademia #scicom

The Future of Law is Women “I became a lawyer for selfish reasons. I thought I could do a lawyer’s job better than any other.” - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court For decades, the legal profession was known as an “old boys’ club,” a place where men dominated leadership roles and set the rules. But that era is ending fast. As a policy expert once noted, “Law firms remain a boys’ club, even those with many women working there, which tends to reflect the fact they were established by men in more ‘traditional times.’” But today’s numbers tell a different story: • By 2026, women will achieve gender parity in the legal profession, and soon after, they will become the majority of practicing lawyers. • Women now make up 56% of law school students in the U.S., a trend that began in 2016. • Women account for 41% of all practicing lawyers, and they are rapidly climbing into leadership roles. • Women are the majority of law firm associates, and their influence is growing across all sectors of law. What This Means for the Profession: This isn’t just a demographic shift and a cultural transformation. Women in law are redefining how the profession works, what it values, and how success is measured: • Work-Life Balance is a Priority: Women want flexible work arrangements, and firms that provide this will keep the best talent. • Leadership Looks Different: Women excel in collaborative, mentorship-driven leadership. Firms that recognize this will thrive. • Purpose Over Profit: Many women choose roles in public interest, government, and corporate counsel, seeking impact over income. • Bias is Real. Fix It: Gender bias and harassment still exist. Firms serious about success must enforce zero-tolerance policies and build an inclusive culture. Why This is Good for Business: Diverse teams perform better. Firms that adapt to this shift will attract top talent, serve clients better, and lead the industry. The future of law is about having more women at the table, and about ensuring they lead, their voices are heard, and their impact is undeniable.

Have you ever been told you are too quiet? Maybe you don’t speak up enough so, “people worry about your leadership skills.” Or, you don’t advocate enough for yourself so, “you aren’t taking control of your career like a natural born leader.” If so, this article is for you. Maybe you’ve received feedback that there is concern over your analytical skills and “quant chops.” Or, there is some general, yet vague, feedback that leadership worries, “you lack that killer instinct.” Or, maybe it’s the opposite and you are “too bossy” or “too opinionated.” Have you heard any of these things?  I have over my career. Instead of letting them control my path, I got upset, then angry, then curious. I decided that none of these descriptions were really a good read on me, or my leadership potential, and I decided to change the perception. You can too. I’ve interviewed hundreds of women in senior leadership over the years and one thing is clear: we’re navigating a constant push and pull. Be strong, but not too strong. Be likable, but not too soft. Show your ambition, but don’t make anyone uncomfortable. Women aren’t just doing the job, they’re doing the extra work of managing how they’re perceived while they’re doing the job. We wrote this piece for HBR because it’s important for women to know how to not only subvert stereotypes and shape how others see them, but to do it without losing themselves in the process. Too many of us think there is nothing we can do when we hear feedback that doesn’t feel quite right. Sometimes, there are actions we can take. I love this piece so much because it says we don’t have to be victim to the stories about us or around us, we can do something about it.   1️⃣ Craft a counternarrative – Instead of internalizing biased feedback, reshape how people see you by aligning your strengths with what the organization values (on your terms!). 2️⃣ Use positive association – Enthusiasm and future-focused language can subtly shift others’ assumptions  and build trust. 3️⃣ Turn feedback into power – Don’t immediately accept or reject it, investigate it. Use it to understand what success looks like in your environment, and then find authentic ways to express that in your own leadership style. So if you’ve ever felt like your success depends not just on what you do, but how you’re seen…you’re not imagining it. Especially in times of economic uncertainty and shifting priorities, it becomes even more pronounced. And while there are no one-size-fits-all strategies, when women take control of their story, they open doors for themselves AND others. Let’s stop contorting ourselves to fit outdated models. We can rewrite the models themselves. Let me know what you think. https://lnkd.in/gcCSE7XW Colleen Ammerman Harvard Business Review Lakshmi Ramarajan Lisa Sun

Innovation knows no gender. Reflecting on my journey as an engineer over the past 25 years, from stepping into the workforce to witnessing the remarkable strides women have made today, I am struck by both the progress achieved and the many challenges that persist. When I started my career in the late 90s, women engineers were a handful and today, I'm heartened to see more women not only entering the field but also pioneering innovations and driving meaningful change. ➡️ However, looking at the numbers, in 2023, men outnumbered women in global engineering by 86.3% to 13.7%. And despite the demand for tech skills, women constitute only 28% of engineering graduates globally. In STEM fields, they make up 33% of researchers but hold just 12% of national science academy memberships. ➡️The leaky STEM pipeline begins early and persists over time. It is not just enough to keep feeding the pipeline by increasing the number of female students. It is imperative to work towards breaking gender stereotypes through early investment in reskilling and the promotion of STEM education. Apart from making STEM education more fun and engaging, introduction to female role models and mentors can help change stereotypical perceptions related to these subjects and inspire more girls to choose and work in the area. ➡️I see technology as an enabler here. Achieving equal representation of women in the tech industry requires a collaborative effort from organisations, academia, and government bodies. At the organisational level, tech firms should focus on creating supportive structures that not only attract but also retain and nurture female professionals. Flexible working policies, improved leave and well-being benefits, and support networks serve as key factors in promoting women in the workplace. Investing in training and mentorship programs is essential to equip high-potential women technologists with the necessary skills for leadership roles. Initiatives like involving female employees in the recruitment process, hosting career fairs, and offering internship programs can help organisations move towards a more gender-balanced workforce. The future of engineering is bright, and women are an integral part of that future. By continuing to support and celebrate women in engineering, we are investing in a world where innovation knows no gender, and where the contributions of all are valued and recognized. #InternationalWomenInEngineeringDay 🎉✨