San Jose, United States. 08 March, 2022 – The Business Innovation Leaders Forum is asking the industry to nominate their choice for the Women Business Leaders Award. Entries are now open, to coincide with International Women’s Day.
This award recognises CEOs, CIOs or C-Suite woman executives for their exceptional contribution towards business innovation. It will shine a spotlight on these leaders and their potential to inspire a new generation of successful women business providers and entrepreneurs. The winner of the award will be announced during September 2022.
“There is growing recognition that diversity fosters innovation,” comments Mark Fox, chair of the board of the Business Innovation Leaders Forum. “People of different gender, culture, age and race bring the challenge of different experiences and approaches. Their collaboration breeds creativity and strategies better adapted to the diversity of global markets.”
Last year’s Fortune 500 list, as compiled and published by Fortune magazine, featured only 41 companies run by women, barely 8% of the total. This figure, up from up from 5% in 2018, represents more women business leaders today than there have ever been since the Fortune 500 was established in 1955.
Different vertical sectors are clearly moving at different rates. The UK Government’s Women in Finance charter, established to encourage gender diversity targets in the banking sector, recently reported that the proportion of women in senior management positions increased by just 1% between 2018 and 2020.
The tech sector offers a slightly more encouraging example, according to Silicon Valley based entrepreneur Tam Dell’Oro, founder & CEO of tech market analysis firm Dell’Oro Group, and a special advisor to the Business Innovation Leaders Forum: “From my experience, the culture in the high tech industry in Silicon Valley, welcomes diversity in leadership positions,” she says, “High tech is very competitive, and the winners are richly rewarded, so the focus is on the best person for the job.”
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. The event has occurred for well over a century, with the first gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. This year’s International Women’s Day has the campaign theme of “Break the Bias”.
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