Our partnership with Women Leaders UK
Empowering and celebrating womenâs leadership and education
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Cranfield Executive Development is proud to be partnered with Women Leaders UK.
Women Leaders UK
is a charity established to recognise outstanding women, promote and strengthen women’s leadership, and support gender equality and diversity. Their aim of promoting and strengthening women’s leadership is closely aligned with the work of CED, and we are proud to support WLUK’s dedication to inspiring and nurturing women in their careers.
Cranfield University
As part of the School of Management at Cranfield University, CED has a strong heritage in delivering women’s leadership education. Cranfield launched the first major women’s management development programme in 1986, and since then over 2000 women have participated in one of our women’s programmes. Since 1999 Cranfield has also compiled the annual Female FTSE Board Report which examines trends in women’s representation on FTSE boards and research on underlying contributory factors.
Women Leaders Awards
Women Leaders UK host the prestigious Women Leaders Awards event every year which recognises the achievements of remarkable women. The awards cover a broad range of sectors, industries and specialties across fourteen categories as diverse as âArt, Culture and the Creative Industriesâ, âEngineering, Science and Mathsâ, and âCommunity Impactâ. This glamourous event celebrates outstanding women and the impact they are making in their workplace and community.
Womenâs Leadership Programme
The alignment between our two organisations is most closely reflected through the Womenâs Leadership Programme, designed to inspire senior women to navigate organisational challenges to reach the highest levels in their careers . At CED we are passionate about empowering women to succeed, and we are delighted to be partnering with WLUK as an organisation that shares our pride and passion in womenâs achievements.
âWomen Leaders UK is delighted to be partnering with Cranfield Executive Development. We see first-hand the influence that leadership education has in empowering and inspiring women to thrive. Working together we strengthen our networks, amplify our impact and create more opportunities for more women to be even more successful.â
Dr Julie Mills OBE
CEO of Women Leaders UK
âCranfieldâs long heritage in championing diversity and womenâs leadership in business aligns naturally with the work of Women Leaders UK. We are pleased to be working together, fostering our shared values and promoting the success of women and their achievements in the workplace.â
Dr Deirdre Anderson
Director of the Gender, Leadership and Inclusion Centre, Cranfield University
Programme Director of the Womenâs Leadership Programme, CED
The evolution of womenâs experiences in the workplace
Nominations for the 2024 Women Leaders Awards opened at a launch event in Milton Keynes. Dr Deirdre Anderson was invited to deliver a keynote address on the topic of the evolution of womenâs experiences in the workplace. This is an extract from her speech.
In a wide-ranging keynote speech, Dr Anderson addressed many issues that women have faced in the work environment, including taboos around fertility and menopause, the motherhood penalty, limited flexible working, leadership development and career opportunities, and the importance of organisational culture change.
Dr Anderson was passionate on this point âWomen donât need fixing.â She is uncomfortable with any approach which implies that fixing the challenges women face in the workplace (being overlooked for promotion, unrealistic time demands, etc) somehow lies with the woman. Instead, Cranfield works with organisations to ensure that Womenâs Leadership Programmes are embedded into ongoing organisational change initiatives which reduce the systemic and structural inequalities faced by women and other under-represented groups.
So, what has changed in the work environment over the years? According to Dr Anderson âOvert discrimination has arguably reduced, but itâs been replaced by more subtle second-generation gender bias. This can include a lack of realistic role models, and the âdouble bindâ which women experience when, for example, they display behaviour considered assertive in a man but that is seen as aggressive in a woman, and thus criticised rather than rewarded. When women take charge, they may well be viewed as competent leaders, but can experience being disliked for their âmasculineâ behaviour. Weâre damned if we do, doomed if we donât, but getting it right is the challenge.â
Getting it right is what Dr Anderson helps women and organisations do through her teaching and research at Cranfield. She not only lectures on MSc and MBA courses, sheâs also Director of the Womenâs Leadership Programme (WLP).
âOur programmes encourage women to reflect on their career to date, the motivators and drivers, the opportunities theyâve embraced and the challenges theyâve overcome. We provide a safe environment to experiment and implement ideas and concepts which allow women to build on their existing achievements and successes, whilst being authentic and true to themselves. Importantly, we offer a greater understanding of intersectionality and cross-cultural sensitivity, recognising the inequalities faced by women of many different backgrounds. Change is still needed in many areas, but the work of networks like Women Leaders UK is helping to shift the dial, by promoting the outstanding successes of so many talented women and supporting lasting change within employing organisations.â
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