There’s No Blueprint
Advice from Women Who Lead
I used to work with Secretary Clinton, running the Secretary’s International Fund for Women and Girls in the State Department. Now, I advise the executive office of Melinda Gates on global women’s issues. So the fact that women can lead, and do so effectively, is not a surprise to me.
But women leaders do constantly surprise me. Whether they are leading global Fortune 500 companies, or the Self-Employed Women’s Association in India, women leave a remarkable stamp on the systems and the people that they lead.
But there’s no blueprint, there’s no formula, that says this is how women lead and this is why they succeed. And in fact, they do succeed. The good news is that, in the aggregate, we have more women leading local and national governments, global companies, universities, and philanthropic foundations than ever before. And we’ve got more money in the hands of female consumers and female philanthropists. We know statistically that when we get financial resources into the hands of women, we see better outcomes in health, education, and economic prosperity, at all levels, all around the world.
In Brazil, for example, we know that when we affect cash transfers to marginalized women, their children grow taller. And here in America, it has been 95 years since we amended the Constitution to give women the vote. Now, in 2015, we have 104 women in Congress. That’s 20 percent of our Congress.
Which means that, at this rate, we’ll reach gender parity in Congress when I’m 156 years old.
So we’re moving. I’d like to see us move a little bit faster! But there is progress. Today, as of the close of the market, we have one woman in the Forbes Top Ten Billionaire list. We have 4.6 percent women among the CEOs of the S&P 500 companies. That’s 23 out of 500. And of the top executive positions in the major film studios, we’ve got 14 percent women. That’s actually two women.
Tonight, here at Aspen Ideas, the room is filled with women who lead. We’re going to hear from them how they harnessed their talents and skills, and are making transformative change for all of us, in myriad ways. And we are going to hear from them how they did it, why they did it, what were the moments, maybe the partners, and the insights that pushed them forward.
Join me now as we listen to their stories and hear their wisdom. Thank you very much.
