Draft:European Women's Management Development Network

The European Women's Management Development Network (EWMD) is an international association of women and men, individual and corporate members from Europe, who together pursue the goal of increasing the proportion of women in management positions and improving management. The EWMD is an NGO and a non-profit network.

EWMD is a European network with national groups, so-called chapters. EWMD is active worldwide, but mainly in Europe. The most active local groups are in,[1] Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Lithuania and Turkey and the ASIA chapter in Hong Kong. Some satellites created by individual members exist e.g. in Taiwan, India, South Africa and New York. The EWMD International office is in Berlin.[2]

History

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The European Women's Management Development International Network (EWMD) was founded by women from business schools, universities and international corporations in 1984. The initiator was the European Federation of Business Schools EFMD,[3] which believed that women in management needed their own network. The founders included Gay Haskins[4] and Valerie Hammond from England,[5] Helga Stödter,[6] Ariane Berthoin Antal[7] and Camilla Krebsbach-Gnath[8] from Germany, Frederica Olvidares[9] and Ambra Poli[10] from Italy, Margot Wallström from Sweden and Elisabeth Michel-Alder[11] from Switzerland. These women conducted intensive research into new forms of organization and management concepts. Although from the outset, EWMD was a network for women in management, men, who were committed to promoting women in management, were always welcome

The foundation of the network received support from the EFMD and its Secretary General Sybren Tijmstra. In 1983, Tijmstra organized a conference on women in management, which led to the formation of the first network structure. For the first ten years, EWMD shared the same postal address as the EFMD in Brussels and was supported by the EFMD and the Ashridge Management Centre Business School (now Ashridge Hult). Viki Holton wrote the network's international newsletter.

The first EWMD conference occurred from 18 to 19 March 1985 at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. The topic was "Women in Management in the Changing Organizational Structure". It was attended by 168 participants from 14 countries, including well-known speakers such as Giorgio Armani, Franco Bernardi (Direttore Centrale Operazioni, IBM Italia), Evelyne Sullerot and Eleanor McDonald. In 1986, Dr Helga Stödter organized the first conference in Hamburg and became President of EWMD Germany for the following two years. Due to differences of opinion about the organization of the network, Dr. Stödter founded the German-speaking women's network FIM (Frauen im Management) in Hamburg.

Female founders and their publications

In 1986, Ariane Berthoin Antal[12] and Camilla Krebsbach-Gnath[13] published a study showing that only 1.5% of management positions in West German companies were held by women.[14]

Membership

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To gain membership, an application must be submitted, and the respective group gets to know the applicant before deciding on their membership. Each member is a member of a local group (or country) and at the same time always a member of EWMD International. EWMD has also been offering corporate memberships from the outset.

Corporate members

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EWMD has corporate members in Europe: These are ASB, Comunicazione, Chiesi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Corrente AG, Daimler AG, Deloitte, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, Gerard's, Hogan Lovells, MVV Energie, Nomesis, Procter & Gamble, Rolls-Royce Deutschland, RW TÜV SAP, Taylor Wessing, TÜV Rheinland and Valeo.

Local structure

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Each EWMD country can decide how they wish to organize themselves locally and which legal form they choose to take. This depends on the culture and the local understanding of organization. If there are several local groups in a country, they form a separate unit. In Germany, all six local associations were dissolved in 2011 and united under the umbrella of EWMD Deutschland e.V.[15] Today, open management with agile teams has prevailed. In Austria, the structure of local associations has been retained, as has Italy. The other countries do not have any groups.

History of the National Chapters

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EWMD is a European network with national groups. EWMD is active worldwide, but mainly in Europe. The most active local groups are in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Lithuania and Turkey and the ASIA chapter in Hong Kong. Some satellites by individual members exist e.g. in Taiwan, India, South Africa and New York. The EWMD International office is located in Berlin in "Weiberwirtschaft", centre for female founders and entrepreneurs.

Objectives

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EMWMD's main objective is to make women in management visible. This is to be achieved through studies and best practice examples from European companies and business schools that have already gained experience in management. One of EWMD's first actions was to provide young, working women with new role models as managers. To this end, an international conference with speakers from research, politics and business has been held every year since the organization was founded. National conferences and local events with workshops and lectures have also been held, and from 2020, increasingly in online formats.

References

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