Well, it’s time to share the big news I alluded to in last Thursday’s post. I was hoping to get ahead of this and post an update in the morning but with all the work that went into the execution of this HUGE event, I missed that window.
Today, the women of EMC celebrated International Women’s Day at the New York Stock Exchange. We went down to Wall Street and painted the stock exchange purple!
As Presidents of EMC’s Women’s Leadership Forum in NYC, my colleague Madinah McDonald and I rang the closing bell. For us, this was our moment to showcase our Company’s commitment around diversity & inclusion, but more specifically women in the workplace. I am so proud to play a key role in EMC’s efforts.
Ringing the bell was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! And the NYSE was an incredible host. You think they’ll let me do it again…like next week?
Watch EMC’s Women’s Leadership Forum ring the closing bell here:
The women of EMC are ringing the bell
Presidents on the Trading Floor: Madinah McDonald & I!!
Tonight I am writing my weekly post at the 11th hour, literally. I couldn’t resist TGIT (Thank God It’s Thursday!) on ABC. I watched the season premiere of Scandal and then watched the series premiere of How To Get Away With Murder. I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy, sorry! Do you know what my favorite thing about these shows was tonight? Watching two strong females in lead roles kick some serious butt! I am all about women power and ABC is doing a good job of portraying women as smart, savvy leaders. Tonight’s episode of Scandal even included the underlying issue of unequal pay for women with a government that is actually trying to get a bill approved in our favor. Our Washington representatives should take a cue from them. And I loved when Olivia Pope spoke during the press conference and, as if she had read my About Me page, and stated that women still make $.77 to every man’s dollar. OK, maybe she didn’t read it but one day…
And on the topic of gender equality, did you see Emma Watson’s speech at the UN launching HeForShe? She gave an incredible speech about why gender equality is as much a men’s issue as it is a women’s issue. But of all the points she made, the one that most resonated with me is that we live in a world that sets the expectations of a women’s role at a young age. “When I was eight, I was confused about being called ‘bossy’ because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents. But the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports teams because they didn’t want to appear ‘muscle-y.’ When at 18, my males friends were unable to express their feelings; I decided that I was a feminist.” We need to break the cycle by teaching the young girls in our lives that they can do ANYTHING that a boy can. There are no limitations. By the way, the same is true for young boys. We need to instill in them that they are capable of doing anything a girl can do. No more “that’s for boys” or “that’s for girls”.
What a week for women! I look forward to the day when gender equality is only discussed in history books because its no longer an issue in our society. Until then we must continue to bring awareness to it.
