The future is fierce and it’s female, and now more than ever women are marching ahead unafraid, in the midst of pandemic madness and economic uncertainty.
Women are commanding position when it comes to leadership roles and impactful presence in the corporate learning and development sector.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), countless academics and researchers have long-established the lost economic potential carried by the global economy due to the lack of equitable and inclusive participation of women. If women engaged in economic activity on the same level as men, the world would add $11 trillion in annual 2025 GDP.
In the United States, a Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative was created in February 2019. As the first U.S. whole-of-government initiative, W-GDP set itself out to achieve the goal of economically empowering over 50 million women in developing countries over the next five years by focusing its efforts on the following three pillars:
- Pillar 1: Women Prospering in the Workforce with a focus on workforce development, vocational education, and skills training.
- Pillar 2: Women Succeeding as Entrepreneurs with a focus on entrepreneurship and access to capital, markets, and networks; and
- Pillar 3: Women Enabled in the Economy with a focus on addressing laws, regulations, policies, practices, and norms to allow women to reach their economic potential.
When it comes to leadership roles and more impactful presence within the corporate learning and development sector, women are however, at a more commanding position.
What is the way forward?
To begin with, women need to be aware of the learning and development opportunities available for them in their workspace.
So, what are the key traits that have led to women slowly but steadily taking the lead in corporate learning and development?
- Empathy in the workplace
- Growth potential
- Persuasiveness
- Taking initiative
Areas like education, corporate learning, and development continue to be fields where women find the lack of support less glaring than other sectors, and it is improving each year. Cultivating a generation of fearless female leaders is on the cards and will be one of the biggest trends to watch in the coming years.