“Men to the front, women to the top”
Since 1990, the annual Global Summit of Women has brought together women leaders in business and government from around the world. This year, the gathering held in Berlin focused on “The Global Marketplace: Opportunities and Challenges” which explored the business opportunities offered women by the global marketplace alongside the challenges it presents to women as workers and entrepreneurs. Almost 1,000 women business, entrepreneurial, and governmental leaders from 95 countries joined the event. The conference served as a platform where women from across borders, disciplines and cultures exchanged ideas and thereby energized each other to take on greater roles in companies and governments. While many women from all around the world attended the conference it was surprising for some commentators that only relatively few German business women took part at this year’s Global Summit of Women.
Irene Natividad, president of the summit stressed that companies can ill-afford to shut out women from decision-making positions given that women are increasingly turning important stakeholders enabling firms to better compete globally, “women constitute 50 percent of the world’s workers, run over 40 percent of small businesses and make 80 percent of consumer buying decisions.” This summit was sponsored by DaimlerChrysler, Pfizer, Deutsche Telekom, among others. It is reported that Pfizer alone sent around 150 people to this event, including employees and sponsored participants. At the Global Women’s Leadership Award Thomas Sattelberger, board member of Deutsche Telekom responsible for HR, underlined the importance of promoting more women to top positions, saying “Men to the front, women to the top”. During the gala dinner, three awards were given to German women, including Professor Rita Suessmuth, former president of the German parliament and former minister. Overall, the summit was well received by the participants and organisers and received media attention in Germany and internationally. The next Global Summit of Women will be held in 2008 in Vietnam.
