This Inclusively video series celebrated it first International Women’s Day with a wide-ranging conversation on how gender diversity is valuable in telecoms for women, men and business.

Increasing women’s participation in the workforce, especially at high levels, is more than a box-checking or quota-meeting exercise. It improves profitability and the workplace for everybody and gives women the opportunities they deserve. Yet it also requires real work – as an industry, we need to actively change the way we operate to increase women’s participation in the workforce.

In this Inclusively video, Antonella Faniuolo, head of network demand planning delivery and transformation for Europe at Vodafone, and Eugina Jordan, CMO at the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), share their experience and vision, and explain what they are doing to increase gender diversity in the workplace, both strategically and in their daily activities.

Some of the topics discussed are:

• The power of policies, such as parental leave and other flexible work arrangements, such as to take care of elderly family members or to take career breaks
• Support for different types of talent, with differences not necessarily due to gender. For example some people are more or less willing to speak out
• How to identify and confront bias, and become more tolerant of diversity of behaviour or preferences, such as clothing
• How to build more inclusive work communities
• Hiring and retaining women to reach the C suite, and the role of mentoring and coaching
• A diverse workforce has a broader set of valuable skills
• Equity and equality
• What we can do to help women (and everybody else): Listen, ask “How can I help you?”, and be open to feedback even when it is not what you want to hear
• What has changed over time? The impact of technology and societal change in encouraging women to enter technological careers, how the younger generations are more used to diversity and expect it
• Promoting and sponsoring women while ensuring the best candidate gets the role

Featuring:

• Antonella Faniuolo, Head of Network Demand Planning Delivery and Transformation for Europe, Vodafone
• Eugina Jordan, CMO, Telecom Infra Project (TIP)
• Monica Paolini, Principal, Senza Fili
• Moderator: Kendra Chamberlain, Analyst, Senza Fili

More from the Inclusively series

In this video discussion series produced by Senza Fili, Chris Lewis of Lewis Insight and Monica Paolini of Senza Fili talk with service providers, vendors, regulators and researchers about how inclusive design can benefit all parties involved in the ecosystem and how being inclusive is not just the right thing to do but also a way to generate new revenues from neglected customers for services they need.

Get involved and learn more about how you can shape the discussions