Under 2% of CEOs Female – Trinity College Conference Addresses Key Issues Concerning Women and Ambition

Posted on: 27 March 2008

The Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies, Trinity College Dublin in association with the Irish Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform Women hosted a conference focussing on the issues surrounding women and ambition in the workplace this week. Opened by Senator Ivana Bacik, on Thursday 27 March, the three-day conference aimed to provide an international feminist context for understanding the nature of ambition in the working lives of women.

“Women now are better educated, better qualified and better equipped than ever before to succeed and advance professionally. However, it is an unusual anomaly that we still have a situation where a recent Financial Times survey found only 4 female CEOs in the world’s largest 300 companies,” stated Dr. Maryann Valiulis, Director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies at the conference. “There are clearly issues in the workplace, other than those of competence, that continue to restrict women’s capacity to fulfill their ambitions.”

Keynote speakers at the conference included Professor Nuria Chincilla, Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empressa Business School, University of Navarra and Director of the International Centre on Work and Family, Professor Michael Kimmel, State University New York, and Ms Kristin Engvig, CEO, Founder and Creative Director of Women’s International Networking.