This month, the IDEAS Council reflects on the importance of Woman’s History Month and highlights major achievements made by women around the world. More than 100 years ago, the first “Women’s Day Celebration” took place in New York City after a group of 15,000 women protested for better working conditions. It would be a turning point for women, leading to earning the right to vote, increasing their pay and making advances in education, the arts and sciences, and adding contributions to modern medicine, technology, and legislation.
In the United States not all women were shown the same type of equality. Though women earned the right to vote in 1920, the Asian American female community was not given that right till 1952. Despite the setbacks they have encountered, Asian American women have flourished in conquering boardrooms and shattering glass ceilings in every profession.
This decade has seen major milestones for women. The first woman of color was inaugurated as Vice President of the United States, and across the world, women have risen to significant positions of power. New Zealand set a milestone with the female Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden. She led her country through the COVID crisis to such success that New Zealand’s maintained record low numbers of both COVID cases and COVID deaths throughout the pandemic.
As we commemorate Women’s History Month let’s remember the long list of empowered women that got us here and push other women to achieve so that we may see further generations continue to prosper.
Key IDEAs Council topics for the coming months:
May – Autism Awareness Day & Ramadan
June – Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
June – Jewish American Heritage Month
June – International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia
A few thoughts on Women’s History Month from Yvette Brown, Senior Director, Customer Engagement & Innovation
We as a women-owned company have the pleasure of working with some empowered & wonderful women, here is a quote about being a woman in a men’s driven field from our very own Yvette Brown, “I’ve had the good fortune to work in this industry for a very long time – working in utilities, transmission companies and open market energy sales and services. I’ve seen improvements in not just the work environments, but in our customer, client and employee relations that have resulted from increases in diversity at all employee and leadership levels.
In women-led businesses, gone are the scarcity mindsets that made room for just a few women at the top. Studies have shown that companies with strong female leadership deliver 36 percent higher return on equity, and the companies with at least one female executive board member outperform those with male-only boards.
My experiences in the last 10 years working with women-owned/led organizations enabled me to see and experience a team that is focused on the health of the organization from both an employee perspective and the bottom line. We care about each other to make the work more enjoyable/fun for all.
I am pleased to be part of the CMC family and look forward to shaping an increasingly exciting and fulfilling place for women to work.”
– Yvette Brown, Senior Director, Customer Engagement & Innovation