6 virtual events for women in leadership on IWD

This International Women’s Day (IWD), Monday March 8, and throughout the month of March, institutions and organisations are both celebrating women leaders and addressing the issues that hold women back from getting to the top. 

IWD’s theme this year is #ChooseToChallenge, a call-to-action to challenge the status quo by raising awareness against bias, celebrating women’s achievement, and taking action for equality. While this year’s UN Women Official theme is Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in COVID-19 world. 

Discover these top six virtual webinars, summits and conferences being held both on March 8 and throughout March which address these issues with a focus on women across the EMEA region.  

1. Daring Circle Public Sessions

Women’s Forum
March 17-25 2021, 5.30-6.30pm CET daily

The Daring Circle Virtual Sessions gather a global audience of diverse perspectives to unlock women’s leadership for impact, to look beyond recovery and steer the world toward a sustainable and inclusive future. On March 17, check into Women’s STEM leadership: Superpowering an Inclusive Recovery & Future, while on March 18, join a session on inclusive AI and find out what it can for our Economies and societies. March 23 sees a session on healthy ageing for women, while March 24 focuses on Women Entrepreneurs and how innovation will fuel recovery. FInally, on March 25, there’s a session titled The Green ‘She-Covery’ addressing the power of women in taking climate action. After each live session, you can join the Networking Rooms 18:30-19:30 CET to meet other delegates and continue the conversation.

2. Forbes Women Africa Leading Women Summit 2021

Forbes
March 8-9

With a focus on women leaders in Africa, this annual event to mark International Women’s Day returns for the sixth year, but this year as a free-to-attend two-day virtual event. Sponsored by Mastercard, and expected to draw 2,000 global attendees, this year’s theme Africa Reloaded: The Power of The Collective will reflect on a year that’s changed everything and look forward to a new path of recovery, growth and inclusivity. It promises to deliver diverse perspectives with the aim of helping women in business navigate the current post-pandemic world. Expect a stellar lineup of globally renowned thinkers and doers, more than 35 African and international speakers, including Nigeria’s Famfa Oil Vice Chair, Folorunso Alakia; Emirati entrepreneur, Sheikha Hend Faisal Al Qassimi; and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth in Africa, Patricia Scotland. 

3. Women in Banking & Finance: Growth Mindset Mini-Series

Women in Banking & Finance (WIBF)
Monday 8, 1-2pm / Wednesday 10, 8.30am

Following on from the hugely successful Growth Mindset Conference this time last year, Women in Banking & Finance (WIBF) has created a mini-series for 2021. Join Gina Unterhalter, leadership, mindset, career and business coach for women, on Monday 8 at 1-2pm (Mindset of a Successful Female Leader) to uncover the secrets behind creating the mindset of a successful female leader and the powerful tools and strategies you will need to achieve success while remaining authentic and keeping your core values intact. Perfect for current and future female leaders in any industry or sector, she will cover practical mindset tips to help you become a powerful networker self-promoter and collaborator. Alternatively, as part of the same series, join the Entrepreneurship Mindset session on Wednesday 10 March at 8.30am with David Roylance, an award-winning author and leader in Empowering Women in the Workplace through voice, leadership and presentation coaching. 

4. Women in Tech Day

TECH(K)NOW Day
Monday, March 8

A round-the-clock virtual event, so check in at any time wherever you are in the world, this conference sponsored by big businesses like Bumble, Netflix, Microsoft Azure, Shopify, GoogleCloud, JPMorgan, is also free. It will showcase women in tech and their craft, through a variety of talks (from coding to cloud, devops to data science, AI to IoT, backend to blockchain), as well as career, personal development, startups, business, strategy, and inspirational talks. Workshops and discussions will be led by women and/or allies. From software engineers, data scientists and frontend developers to digital business analysts, creative technologists and tech firm founders, and and including the Senior applied ML scientist at Microsoft, BBC, Deloitte, Google, Samsung, Airbus, Shopify, Amazon, JPMorgan and Netflix.

5. Siemens #ChooseToChallenge

Siemens
March 8 11.30am – 2.30pm CET

Join Siemens’ free virtual event to hear from an international lineup of inspiring speakers from around the world as they discuss how we can all advance gender equality and empower women with a focus on the central IWD 2021 theme of #ChooseToChallenge. All sessions will be in English. From panel discussions on Leading the Gender Equality Change and How Gender Equality Empowers Us All to sessions on creating an empowering employee experience and the importance of diversity of thought. 

The lineup of global speakers includes leadership members of the Siemens’ team worldwide including Lothar Herrmann, CEO of Siemens Greater China; Barbara Humpton , CEO of Siemens USA; Liliana Gorla, head of HR at Siemens Digital Industries; Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO at Siemens South and eastern Africa; and Sunil Mathur, MD and CEO of Siemens India. In addition, hear inspiring discussions from Philippe Mareine, head of CSR at Atos; Henning Beck, neuroscientist, biochemist and winner of the German Science Slam nationals; and Anais Bock, founder of Let’s Work Magic.

6. Accelerating Gender Equality in the Workplace

EY
March 10, 6-7.30pm

In celebration of IWD 2021, EY is hosting a virtual event focused on how the company is accelerating gender equality. Dubbed as an evening of “inspiration and learning”, the event will introduce legendary athlete Col Dame Kelly Holmes (MBE mil), who will be sharing her insights and experiences of gender parity and will further host an EY panel discussion and Women in Technology session. Further EY panelists include Catalina Hernandez, EY’s Diversity & Inclusion Manager for UK & Ireland; Gavin Jordan, COO, Financial Services; Nicky Burr, Association Director, Innovation, Global Data Office, EY.