How to avoid gender stereotypes: Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jordan at TEDxZurich

Corporations across Europe share the same problem: a dramatic gender gap in leadership. Although the size of this gap varies from country to country, men far outnumber women in senior business leadership. What makes the most senior positions in business so inaccessible to women -- even in countries where there is considerable government and social support for gender equality? Senior women leaders across Western Europe tell us that gender stereotyping is an important barrier to consider; and our research supports it. While solutions are often sought through policy and engineered approaches, the real barriers to change may be much more personal and insidious. The companies that focus on tackling deep-seated bias and making their organizations safer for mavericks -- who are less concerned with fitting in and more on making a contribution -- may be the most effective in fixing the gender gap and, more critically, in business.

Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden has led Catalyst Europe since 2006, when it was established to work with corporate and academic members in Europe through thought-provoking events and programs that reflect the cultural diversity of the region. Under her direction, Catalyst Europe engages members and selects partners who are committed to developing creative solutions around organizational inclusion and innovation with the aim of being a learning lab that supports workplace innovation by practicing it. Apart from her European responsibilities, Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden holds a broader advisory role within Catalyst with a focus on developing the organization and its brand globally.

A frequent media contributor and lecturer (IMD, London School of Economics and Political Science, Yale School of Organization and Management, Columbia University Business School), Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden also sits on numerous boards. She is Chairperson of the The Humanity Initiative's Executive Board and Co-Chair of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA) European Board. Other board appointments include: the EU's Steering Scientific Committee, Seventh Framework Programme, Meta-analysis for Gender and Science Research; the Academy of Business and Society and Öko-Institut's Advisory Board for the IMPACT initiative; and the Advisory Board of the Tosca Group Future of Organisations Consortium. Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden has been designated a European Thought Leader on behalf of IBM's Global Innovation Outlook initiative and showcased in Profiles in Diversity Journal. Most recently, she has been appointed as a Leadership Advisor for the Zurich chapter of Room to Read, a global organization focused on literacy and gender equality in education.

Before joining Catalyst Europe, Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden worked in cross-cultural talent management and strategic planning as the Managing Director of the Paradigm Group. Prior to that, she was Founder and Director of the Public Policy Center in Philadelphia. She is also a former Vice President of the Advisory Services group at Catalyst. She attended Princeton University as an advanced standing scholar and Bryn Mawr College, where she earned her A.B. magna cum laude in history. She earned her M.Sc. in Industrial Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Eleanor Tabi Haller-Jorden is a single mother of two boys and an avid windsurfer. In her spare time, she is a performance poet—an entertainer who creates poetry onstage—and has performed in Zurich, Oslo, and London. She is the owner of the Living Gallery, a virtual art space and gallery in Switzerland.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[samueltrephan]

This is the kind of feminism we need. Not potty-mouthed toddlers, but strong, educated people addressing REAL issues. 

[chintharakesh]

Great presentation. Great onliner at 5:37 "What we underestimate, we underutilize". Another good oneliner 9:15 "We should learn to discern this differences and leverage them rather than seeking confirmations or validations, stereotypes are getting in the way of accurate assessments of talent"

[EunaJ]

Remarkably, articulately spoken Tedtalk about egalitarianism and the complicity of gender stereotypes-this Tedtalk is must-watch for our economic and social well being.

[wassilahowes]

A very interesting talk!! More is needed to create awareness, recognise gender biases and advance in concerted efforts to closing the gender gap in all sphere of our life.

[montoyaboy]

Does anyone know a website or something discussing the study they did?

[AirmailMRCOOL]

Aside from a few over simplifications I really like her speech.

[AquatikZero]

This was absolutely incredible. It's true; men and women's traits can be similar, but ultimately there's less differences between gender traits than the groups themselves. Well spoken.

[samdean]

Ted Talk needs to fix their microphones to not project all sounds...that background mouth stickiness is distracting on most videos

[ayushoberoi]

She had very intelligently first shown that women are mistreated and then said there should be environment for equality in workplace summarizing it as if women are victim.But then why there are more male sucide victims then that of women????(dont say because no of male are more than women because proportion is very high)

[JohnSmith-tdhd]

Can we get to the point where the amount of money a man or woman spends on his or her clothes is NOT a factor in getting a job?

[JoseGalvanJr]

but what are those MBA's in? medical engineering? or a less demanding and naturally lower paid position? thats one thing these people never talk about. men typically go into higher paid fields...hence why they earn more for their degree

[rastar]

Sarcastic views and the
Gender archetypes that follow gender roles.

[chelleroberson]

Gender stereotypes? Clothing or hair? Dont matter .

[socialjusticenews]

Please change the name of TEDx to FEMx - the bulk of TEDx talks are about this one issue.

[joyousstarparty]

i feel bad about being a man. Can anyone help?

[porg]

you cant avoid it boys and girls are very very different you can say there is no steryoptypes both genders are not identical they are very different and they will always be men do not give birth do they?

[TTWHOPPER]

I really don't think this is possible...I strongly agree that we often miss out on talent because of a pre conceived idea of what talent is but I think this pre conceived idea is strongly reinforced by actual evidence and reason. Although some women exhibit the qualities of a leader,  and its the loss of any company who wouldn't hire that woman, I understand why people assume it as a male trait. Men have evolved as protectors and leaders and we are still running on that old hardware that tells us this to be true. On top of that that it often is true. Nature doesn't lie.

[why]

I like women support but men are people to so don't give to much support or power to either.

[titusflaviusvespasianus]

Let's apply some logic to this.
You have a fact which you want to explain: women are unrepresented in leadership positions.

Then you propose a theory: people have a weird unconscious prejudice that they don't notice even with all this feminist propaganda, that makes men, as well as curiously women, avoid hiring or promoting other women. Because deep down they believe somehow women can't and this is all fault on a "patriarchy". Which is a discriminating institution that don't use any typical discrimination methods of any other institutions like written rules.

I will propose another one: Men and women are intrinsically DIFFERENT!

Occam's razor certainly favors mine, and with a bit of common sense and/or research it's easy to notice evidence points to mine as well.