No. CCXXV; MAY 3, 2021
THIS ISSUE’S HIGHLIGHTS

I. EMPHASIZING WOMEN IN POST-COVID ECONOMIC RECOVERY
II. PIVOTING TO REMAKE YOUR BUSINESS AT THE 2021 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN – Bangkok, Thailand, Oct. 14-16th
III. ZOOM FATIGUE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

I.EMPHASIZING WOMEN IN POST-COVID ECONOMIC RECOVERY

Reports continue to show the harsh economic effects of COVID-19, both short-term and in the long-term, on women’s participation in the workforce.  Globally, women lost twice as many jobs due to the pandemic than men, according to estimates by McKinsey.  The World Economic Forum concluded in a March report that the pandemic added 36 years to the estimated time it will take to close the global gender gap, meaning it will now take 135 years to reach parity between women and men on economic opportunity, political power, education and health.

Government leaders know that vaccinations are key to economic recovery so efforts are focused on inoculations.  However, understanding the pandemic’s disproportionate economic impact on women, some countries are working on re-engaging women’s labor in the recovery and focusing on structural changes to improve women’s economic opportunities more broadly.  

In Canada, the country’s first female Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland has set up an all-women task force to make sure the 2021 budget is targeted to spark a “feminist and intersectional recovery.”  In Colombia, the government launched a fund to support women entrepreneurs and set up a digital entrepreneurship training program to teach women to conduct business online. Some of the most gender-sensitive COVID-response measures have come from Argentina, where the Director of Economy, Equality and Gender within the Ministry for the Economy Maria D’Alessandro is pushing to use government recovery efforts to expand care infrastructure, improve conditions for more women to enter male-dominated industries, and add more flexibility for parents to work remotely.   

These are laudable initiatives but more countries need to adopt a similar strategy. Analysts at McKinsey say that taking action now to address gender parity in the workplace would add $13 trillion to the global GDP in ten years.  After a year that has underscored how essential women’s labor is to the economy – from unpaid care work to frontline health care role – D’Alessandro says governments owe it to women, “Without all the work that women did this year, there’d be no economy to rebuild.”   (Time, “After a Terrible Year for Women in the Economy, These Places are Working Toward a Feminist Recovery from COVID-19,” April 20, 2021) 

II. PIVOTING TO REMAKE YOUR BUSINESS AT THE 2021 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF WOMEN-Bangkok, Thailand, Oct 14th-16th

The pandemic was not only a major hit on women workers, but also on women-owned enterprises, most of which are ‘foot-traffic’ dependent, and many were forced to close during COVID.  How to get small businesses owned by women back on their feet will be a focus at the 2021 Global Summit of Women taking place in Bangkok, Thailand on October 14-16, 2021.  A special Women Entrepreneurs Forum will feature businesses that survived by “Pivoting to Remake Your Business Post-COVID.” Three women CEOs of major enterprises will share with the Summit audience the necessary steps they took to stabilize their businesses during this global health crisis.     

Participating as panelists in the Forum are Marie Christine Oghly, Founder of EnginSoft France, which provides simulation-based solutions for state-of-the-art engineering, consulting, training, and research; Chadatip Chutrakul, CEO of Siam Piwat Co., Ltd., a retail and development company which manages Bangkok’s leading shopping centers; and Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, Chair and CEO of WHA Group, Thailand’s leader in fully- integrated logistics and industrial facilities solutions.  Each will share their experiences in changing the way they operate their businesses as a result of the pandemic.

Marie Christine Oghly, Founder of EnginSoft France; Chadatip Chutrakul, CEO of Siam Piwat Co., Ltd.; and Jareeporn Jarukornsakul, Chair and CEO of WHA Group

This session is just one of dozens taking place at the 2021 Summit, now in its 31^st year of bringing together women leaders in business and government from 70+ countries annually, under the theme of “Women: Transforming Economies.”  Throughout the 2021 Summit program, the spotlight will be on the critical role women are playing in emerging from the “shecession” caused by the pandemic along with successful strategies for women to grow their businesses and advance their careers in this time of transformation.

To see the full Summit program and some of the speakers participating in the 2021 Global Summit of Women, click here.

III. ZOOM FATIGUE AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT

With many of our work days now taken over with video calls, new research from Stanford University shows that the shift from in-person meetings to virtual ones has had a greater effect on women than men. The researchers found that 13.8% of women reported “Zoom fatigue,” the feeling of exhaustion after several online meetings, compared to 5.5% of men.  

What most contributed to the feeling of exhaustion among women, the researchers concluded, was an increase in “self-focused attention”  – in other words, looking at one’s image more times than normal with each zoom call.  There is also the feeling of being physically trapped by the need to stay centered in the camera’s field of view.  The researchers found that while women have the same number of meetings per day as men, their meetings tended to run longer and women were less likely to take breaks between meetings – all factors contributing to increased weariness.  Lastly, virtual meetings require greater concentration, since one is on view the whole time. (Stanford News, “Zoom fatigue worse for women, Stanford study finds,” April 13, 2021)

What are some pointers to reduce zoom anxieties? President of the Global Summit of Women Irene Natividad offers a few:
* Set your laptop on top of books so you’re looking straight at the camera, so you don’t look ‘jowly’ by looking down on your screen.
* Make sure there’s enough light that you can adjust to show the features you want to emphasize.
* Don’t sit so close to the screen. Press the grid button on zoom so your reflection becomes smaller & you don’t feel you’re looking at yourself for hours. If slides or videos are being shown, turn off your video during that time.
* If you’re a speaker or part of a panel, stand up instead of sitting down — gives you more energy and room to move.

Want more tips for giving a presentation, whether in person or online? Click here to hear from Mariette Rups-Donnelly, CEO of Powerhouse Presentations, who shared some tips as part of the Global Summit of Women’s Virtual Series “From the Summit to You.”

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