The most important determinant of a company’s competitiveness is its human talent—its workforce.

Women account for more than half of the university graduates and are a growing portion of the talent pool.

To maximize competitiveness and development potential, companies need to strive for gender equality— that is, to give women the same rights, responsibilities and opportunities as men.

Yet, there are still discrepancies between job opportunities and wages earned by women compared to those of their male counterparts in similar positions with similar skills.

Numerous studies confirm that reducing gender inequality enhances productivity and economic growth and that the economic benefits of scaling back barriers to women’s engagement in the workforce are substantial. Innovation requires new, unique ideas—and the best ideas flourish in a diverse environment.

Companies outperform financially when they successfully integrate women across their leadership structures and their Boards yet less than 20% of the Fortune 500 have women on their Board of Directors.

Yes, this is 2018 and we are still having this discussion.  We still have under representation of women in leadership roles, and pay gaps.  Double standards are alive and well.

In this session, Marilyn Nagel (LinkedIn profile) Chief Learning Officer of SAMI, Founder of Ready-Aim-Aspire and Huffington Post contributor and Dr. Tom Tonkin, (LinkedIn profile) Principal Consultant, Thought-Leadership and Advisory Services for Cornerstone on Demand, engage on a twist of the fireside chat discussing the current challenges and practical solutions regarding gender diversity.

From that point, engage in a discussion that offers concrete ideas to move your organization towards gender parity.  Both Marilyn and Tom address some specific steps that you can take to create an environment where the best minds, ideas and leadership can thrive.