The Council of Women World Leaders’ Madeleine K. Albright Women’s Voices at the Aspen Institute Series, in collaboration with the Aspen Institute’s Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series, hosted Katty Kay, Washington Correspondent for BBC World News America, and Claire Shipman, Senior National Correspondent for ABC News, on October 6, 2009, for a book talk on Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success (HarperBusiness). Walter Isaacson, President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, moderated the discussion.
Katty Kay and Claire Shipman discuss their new book, Womenomics
Companies that employ more senior-level women make more money. Women buy more cars than men. Women influence more than 80 percent of consumer activity. Data-points like these led BBC World News America Washington Correspondent Katty Kay and Senior National Correspondent for ABC’s “Good Morning America” Claire Shipman (both working mothers) to explore the power of women in the marketplace and how they might create a new model for working in the 21st century in their new book Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success.
Due to the overwhelmingly positive effect of women on the bottom lines of company profits, many corporations (such as Sara Lee and Wal-Mart) are starting to make concerted efforts toward integrating the needs of women, especially mothers, into the workplace—flexible schedules, time to work at home, productivity benchmarks instead of hours logged. “Time is really the currency women crave most,” said Kay. And, in the absence of extra money for raises and bonuses in a recession, Shipman added, “time and flexibility matter.” Because corporations need women as advisors and strategists to be successful—and women need to work in a different model than the traditional corporate structure—corporations are starting to emphasize results over where and when work is being executed.
