From Left to Right: Patty Kruiswijk, Manuela Roth (RSM ‘10), Dianne Bevelander, Camilla Bjorkqvist (RSM ‘10), Eleonore Breukel, Saskia Trurniet, and Ursula van Rozemeijer.

Women comprise about 30% of the students in the OneMBA and the percentage of women faculty is even less. While there are complex factors that might explain this, members of the 2010 and 2011 classes have decided to put women on the agenda.

The effort lead in large part by Camilla Björkqvist and Manuela Roth has focused on securing eminent business women to speak at OneMBA residencies. By connecting with women across the OneMBA community as well as the European Professional Women’s Network( EPWN), the kick-off on during the Spring 2009 RSM Residency featured Mirella Visser, Owner of the Center for Inclusive Leadership and the EuropeanPWN President. This conversation was continued when the class went to Istanbul and met with local women business leaders.

In September 2009 another panel took place with a group of Dutch women executives on the topics of “Women – the saviors of our economy?” With several courageous men participating in the audience, there was a lively and honest discussion.

At the EGADE Residency in November 2009, a Cemex executive, Irma Gomez shared her perspective on women, employment, and the economy in Mexico.

Events are in the works for Hong Kong and the the U.S. All alumni are invited to attend a session at the RSM Residency on April 8 2010 with Carien van der Laan, co-owner of Women Capital, and executive search firm specialized in women and placing them on top level positions. Van der Laan will address what to do with once you get an MBA and the value that women add in the executive ranks.

Some interesting statistics from the United States are worth sharing. According to the report The Economic Impact of Women-Owned Businesses in the United States by the American Center for Women’s Business Research and funded by the National Women’s Business Council and Wal-Mart, women-owned businesses contribute nearly $3 trillion to the U.S. economy and create or maintain 23 million jobs. If women-owned businesses were their own country, they would have the 5th largest GDP in the world, ahead of countries including France, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Anecdotally, many women say that they start their own business because they want to balance work and family and that they cannot break into the traditional male-dominated positions—or do not want to.

Members of the 2011 class are taking leadership to continue the discussion of the women in the OneMBA. Anyone in the OneMBA community can join the events organized by Women@OneMBA, men included. If you would like to know more about this initiative, please contact Manuela Roth or Camilla Bjorkqvist in the OneMBA2010 class.

For more news about the one MBA programs and to see the full newsletter click through to the one MBA website.

More Female Partners at the top 10 lawfirms

Breaking news: finally there seems be an increase in the number of female partners at the large law firms in the Netherlands. The total number of female partners has increased at the top 10 law firms from 57 last years to 61 this year, whereas the total number of partners decreased in that top 10 from 450 to 430. These data are published in De Stand van de Advocatuur 2010. On 26 March the first copy of this document will be handed over to Saskia Stuiveling, president of the general Court of Auditors and member of the Council of recommendation of the Dutch order of lawyers.

There is also less good news for the champions of diversity: at the top 10 last year  a total of 865 female lawyers worked, this year that number has decreased to 808. Also the number of male lawyers decreased, from 1,211 to 1,168. In terms of percentage the proportion male and female lawyers now amounts to at the top 10 of offices 59.4% for 40.6%, in contrast to last year 58.9% and 41.1%.

This text has been translated from: http://www.advocatie.nl

It is with great pleasure that we announce that our fellow EuropeanPWN member of the Oslo City Network, Magali Rouyer-Johnsen, is the recipient of an IE EPWN Scholarship.   She will receive 20,000 Euros toward her academic program at IE Business School, Madrid, Spain.

Magali writes :  “Thank you so much for all your congratulations. I am awed to be part of such a wonderful organization and would like to thank you all at EuropeanPWN!  Special thanks go to Jennifer Varino who has been giving me her unconditional support since July 2009 and to Marijo Bos who has brilliantly negotiated this great scholarship!”

On behalf of the Amsterdam City Network, we once again congratulate Magali and we wish her all the best in completing the International Executive MBA June 2010 program, English track.

The IE-EuropeanPWN Scholarship Program

According to Margarita Alonso and Celia de Anca, professors and leaders at IE:  “We want to obtain from this partnership, open dialogue with top-level women professionals who want to make a career breakthrough by using top-level business education as a key component of their career progression strategy. This program is a way for us to do this and help them financially. A key factor for choosing to partner with EuropeanPWN in the EU to attract Masters degree candidates is that we believe EuropeanPWN’s leadership has what it takes to maintain and continue to grow a professional and credible organization. We look forward to developing a long term partnership, which benefits both organizations.”

It is because of the notable growth of the network over the past few years to a community of 17 strong networks made up of outstanding professional women that we are the recipients of this generous scholarship program. We want to thank you for making this possible and encourage you to apply and participate in this process.

Please contact any of the Amsterdam Board Members for further details.

Executives have markedly changed their leadership styles in the past year—but not their views on which ones will help companies most in the long term. Many of the most needed leadership styles, now and in the future, are those used more frequently by women than by men.

Read more from McKinseyQuarterly.com:

• Leadership through the crisis and after: McKinsey Global Survey results

From Forbes magazine on August 19, 2009:

For the 6th year in a row, Wolters Kluwer CEO Nancy McKinstry has been named to the Forbes List of 100 Most Powerful Women 2009. This year she is ranked #43 – a significant move upwards from last year’s list, which ranked McKinstry at #82.

In this video interview, McKinstry discusses with Heidi Brown of Forbes Magazine subjects ranging from how Wolters Kluwer is innovating in the changing publishing industry, the role of women leaders in Europe, and the company’s strategy of increasing organic growth by staying on top of customer needs and emerging technologies.

The women of the 100 Most Powerful Women list are chosen for their leadership positions, the amount of money and resources they control, and the frequency of media mentions.

From NRC on October 22, 2009, pointing to the list of “100 Most Powerful Women” from Opzij magazine, covering areas such as public works, politics, sports, law, business, healthcare, education, culture, media, and non-profit:

• Zapkliklees: De honderd vrouwen met meeste invloed
• De 100 Machtigste Vrouwen van Nederland

Dutch telecom giant KPN is launching an affirmative action programme for women in top management posts.

In an interview with the Volkskrant, KPN CEO Ad Scheepbouwer notes the number of women among its top management currently accounts for just 17 percent. The figure, he says, is too low and needs to be raised. As prior attempts to do so have produced little improvement, the company has decided that from now on only women will be considered for certain posts. The company still needs to determine the exact number and nature of the functions. KPN is thought to be the first large company to start an affirmative action policy for women. On Monday Parliament is to discuss a proposal by the Labour Party aimed at boosting the number of women in top management to 30 percent.

Source: Radio Netherlands Worldwide

From FT.com:

• FT top 50 women in world business

From Forbes.com:

• The World’s 100 Most Power Women

A review on the introduction quota of up to 40 percent women in the companies in Norway:

From the Financial Times on June 15, 2009:

• Skirting the Boards by Richard Milne