January 2021
McKinsey & Company, in partnership with LeanIn.Org, recently completed their 6th annual study of Women in the Workplace. Since its inception, this study has garnered information from almost 600 companies and a quarter-million people and has acted as a lens to shine a light on the challenges that women face in the workplace. This study took on new importance in 2020, as many women faced their largest challenge to date: managing their careers, families, and homes amid the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The 2020 publication of Women in the Workplace addresses timely topics such as how COVID-19 is affecting women at work and how it is forcing some women – at all levels – to contemplate leaving their careers. It also looks at the impact that COVID-19 has had on women of different races, ethnicities, and women with disabilities. Finally, the report recaps progress that has occurred over the 6-year history of the study and cautions how the effects of COVID-19 could disrupt, halt, and potentially reverse the progress that women have worked so hard for.
However, with every cloud, there is a silver lining. While COVID-19 has turned everyone’s worlds upside down, it has also created opportunities for corporations to step up and create a more flexible and empathetic workplace for all employees – now and into the future.
“Diversity of experience, leads to diversity of thought, leads to diversity of action” -Bobby Umar
“I want my daughter’s generation to see the electricity sector as a welcoming, inclusive industry. I want them to see themselves in our leaders and know that there are no artificial limits to their possible success in our sector.”
“One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn't as individuals.” -Jean Vanier
“Please do more to hire, support, and encourage talented women who want to work. Women don’t look or talk like Perry Mason, and you don’t want us to. We often are more creative, smarter, more persistent, and harder-working than men, and we actually win cases. So call me a Lady Lawyer. Just don’t underestimate me in Court.” -Lisa Blatt
“Women have always been powerful and strong. We have made our mark throughout history. When women come together, energy is created, great things happen and we forge our path today and for tomorrow. We are making our history mark now – why not make it even more awesome through initiatives like Women+Power!”
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” -Epictetus
“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” -Ryunosuke Satoro
“Leadership is causing something to happen that otherwise wouldn’t. Women+Power is leading a positive shift in the power industry that customers, stakeholders, and shareholders will benefit from for years to come.”
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.” -Michael Jordan
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made … It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” -Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“It is critical that women have a safe place to come together, to support and empower each other in this industry. We will all benefit when we create a strong community.”
“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.” -Anne Sweeney
“You can tell who the strong women are, they're the ones building each other up instead of tearing each other down.” -Brene Brown
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” -Margaret Thatcher