Dear Guest,
Are you a Sam, or a Samantha?
If you work in building, construction or manufacturing, chances are you are a Sam. Shortening names to sound masculine is typical for female tradies, according to weekend media reports on gender stereotyping and discrimination in the workplace.
It's a story that one female CEO in the solar energy industry shared with me recently. She regularly shortens her name to the more masculine version to get work. Sad, but true, she says.
As more women enter these traditionally male-dominated fields, we can expect change. And with more than 90,000 new tradies needed urgently to meet the shortage in residential construction alone, women hold the key to solving the housing crisis.
This will be among topics discussed at the upcoming Sydney Build Expo (May 1 & 2), where Women's Network Australia will attend as Ambassadors. You can register for free tickets to attend.
The program includes a Women in Construction Networking Event on the afternoon of 2 May. Networking just for women? Do women network differently to men?
Helen Fisher, Ph.D., biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and author of Why Him, Why Her says: "Men and women have very different brains and they do network differently. The male brain is more compartmentalised; they get straight to the point; they know the goal. They tend to decide right away, with little to no small talk, whether they will work with you or not."
Brian Uzzi, writing in Harvard Business Review, found that women more than men, need to maintain both wide networks and informative inner circles in order to land opportunities.
One way that Women's Network Australia has addressed this is through our new Ambassador network. As thought leaders in their own disciplines, our Ambassadors form an 'inner circle' within the wider WNA network. WNA Members benefits from both of these 'rings of confidence'.
WNA has conducted a review of our member offerings and membership fees against other business networks and, frankly, we stack up really well! We believe in transparency so we will be sharing these results with you in the near future. We have declared this month to be WNA Member Month and are offering three months free membership to all new registrations received during April. That means if you join WNA this month, you get 15 months instead of the usual 12 months membership. Current members who know and love WNA, please encourage your friends and colleagues to take advantage of this special offer. Read more about WNA Membership, and sign up here so you can start sharing the benefits too!
CHERYL GRAY
CEO, Women's Network Australia
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