Despite slow and uneven progress towards gender parity, data shows that women are still largely underrepresented at all levels of decision making in public offices, business, and, politics globally. For instance, among traditional brick-and-mortar companies, female CEOs represents just under 5% of the Fortune 500 list and only 6.3% for the current S&P 500 list. Likewise, as of January 2021, the  Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women “Women in politics: 2021” map, showed that despite the growth  in the number of women at the highest levels of political power such as women Heads of State or Government, the number of countries with no women in government has increased,  advancement of women holding ministerial portfolios has slowed and only 25.5% of national-level parliamentarians are women. Thus, gender parity in leadership remains an unachieved and thus a long-term goal.

Likewise, although few women move on to the top echelons of leadership, their advancement in public offices, politics and business are often hampered by several challenges. While both women leaders in politics and business generally face intense challenges to meet career and societal expectations, there exists unique differences in the challenges faced by each group. On one hand, women in public offices deal with attitudes deeply characterized by ingrained stereotypes which political opponents capitalise on to question women’s capabilities. Women in business on the hand are more often faced with lack of adequate funding, societal norms and traditions that doubt their competence, lack of role models and limited mentorship programs.  

To overcome these challenges, an even stronger propelling approach which integrates the power of resilience and transformational leadership is required. 

According to research conducted by Women Leading with Resilience and Optimism, McKinsey and Company, Huffington Post, Harvard Business Review, among others, resilience is a critical tool for driving and sustaining our success in leadership, particularly for women in public offices, business, and politics as these are largely male dominated sectors. Studies prove that women who have been able to hone their level of resilience in their respective career made it to the level of managerial positions. However, how do women apply resilience in their journey to the top positions in their various industries?

Similarly, Transformational Leadership is considered one of the most effective styles of leadership, becoming increasingly acceptable as a management strategy. Transformational leaders tend to use rapport, inspiration, and empathy to engage followers. They are known to possess courage, confidence, and the willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good. 

In addition to these two vital attributes, a notable study, published in the American Journal of Political Science has shown that another way to improve women representation in politics, public offices and business, is through the mobilization effect, where  women in prominent positions serve as highly visible role models for women both within and across sectors.

Put in simple terms, the mobilization effect contends that having female role models in political and business leadership positions can positively influence the decision of more women to take on such influential roles and as such provides both figurative and practical value for upcoming and potential women leaders. 

Nevertheless, in order to have more of such women as role models with the aim to drive and sustain an increased number of high performing women in leadership positions, it becomes expedient to adopt a multi-pronged approach of advancing resilient and transformational women leaders as this potentially offers great prospects for both current and emerging women leaders across three power holding pillars- Public sector, Politics and Business.

Therefore, this edition of the Global Power Women Conference, which is organised by the Amazons Watch Magazine in collaboration with the Centre for Economic and Leadership Development and  the African Leadership Magazine UK, aims to convene top global women leaders and gender diversity champions and stakeholders to lead the discussions on how to address this dearth of women in decision-making positions across the globe by adopting a multi-pronged approach of advancing resilient and transformational women leaders for sustainable leadership and high performance. The relevance of this edition of the GPWC is hinged on the fact that no society nor institution can be said to be truly democratic or strong if women who constitute half of its population are not included as part of the top decision makers across all levels. 

Consequently, it is anticipated that insights generated from the GPWC can be utilized to shift the frontiers of knowledge on the impact of resilience and transformational leadership in building exceptional women leaders – who will contribute significantly to the long desired global sustainable development, peace and prosperity across the world.

GPWC New York 2022 Highlights

Insightful presentations and panel sessions, such as:

Panel Session 1: Being the female pioneer in a male-monopolised terrain: Lessons in Resilience and Strategy

Overview

This panel session will feature female firsts, who are pioneers in their various fields, to discuss the different approaches and strategies that they utilised to thrive,  challenge restrictive norms and proved their worth in male-monopolized terrains whilst remaining resilient and relevant.

Panel Session 2- Timeless Lessons from Global Companies at the leading edge of Gender Diversity

Overview

In a bid to create an even playing field, where the focus is on top talent irrespective of gender, this high-level panel will feature real stories relayed by CEOs and other top leaders with proven track record of tangible action and commitment to towards the achievement of gender-diversity in their various organisations. The aim is to utilise the emergent gender diversity success stories from this high level panel to build  a stronger case and commitment towards diversity

Presentation 1– Confidence: The Secret Sauce to Propel Women into Leadership Positions

• Global Power Women Awards Ceremony
• Launch of the World of Amazons and the World We Want for Women (WWW)
• AWM Global Power Women Magazine showcase

Who should attend GPWC New York 2022?

• Female Heads of Government, 
• Deputy Female Heads of Government, 
• Female Business Leaders/CEOs,
• Senior Female Government Office holders,
• Female Entrepreneurs,
• Top First Ladies of Nations,
• Global Companies at the leading edge of Gender Diversity
• Academics/ Researchers with interests in Gender Studies

Organisers Profile

Amazons Watch Magazine

The Amazons Watch Magazine is a premier women development publication, committed to continually highlight the giant strides of women from Africa and the rest of the world. The magazine which is published by the African Leadership Organisation (UK) Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom (Company No. 07435198), has a media philosophy that is rooted in the preservation of the pride and dignity of women through an objective reportage on gender inequalities and social injustices experienced by women while profiling the amazing achievements of these Amazons; for reference, duplication and inspiration to the up-coming generation of women leaders. As the foremost voice for women globally, the Amazons Watch creates a compelling voice and coverage of female-led governments, institutions, innovations, inspiration and legacies, including news making for the unreported and underreported women across regions- through multiple platforms comprising print, web & digital editions, events, conferences and films.

CELD

Centre for Economic and Leadership Development (CELD) is a leading human capacity, gender empowerment and development-based organisation that sees itself as a catalyst and thought leader in developing the theory and practice of leadership, social, educational and economic empowerment particularly in Africa, and also the developing countries of the Middle East and Asia. As an organisation currently in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC) since 2012.

African Leadership Magazine UK

The African Leadership magazine is published by African Leadership Organization UK Limited, a company registered in the United Kingdom (Company No. 07435198). The magazine focuses on bringing the best of Africa to a global audience, telling the African story from an African perspective while evolving solutions to peculiar challenges being faced by the continent today.

The magazine shall continually seek to herald the dawn of a new Africa as the continent of promise and global leadership, championed by people of integrity and resilience who are rising from the challenges of an unpleasant past; thereby preserving a legacy for future generations of our people.