International Women’s day was celebrated on Wednesday March 10th and was hosted by the Managing Director of Microsoft’s EMEA Operations Centre, Cathriona Hallahan. With over 85 attendees live at the event, including visitors from Ernst & Young, Dell, Accenture and Kanchi, and many more joining by Live Webcast, the Women at Microsoft team delivered a packed agenda to support International Women’s Day 2009.

Click here to view slide show of the event

Pat Meegan, Director of Localisation in the European Development Centre kicked off our event and introduced our first speaker Lisa Kepinski, the new Diversity & Inclusion Director for Microsoft International. Lisa shared our Diversity and Inclusion agenda and explained the plans for D&I onsite in Dublin over the coming months. She finished her speech by recognising Roslyn Allman, our first intern recruited through the WAM Program (Willing, Able and Mentoring), for her valuable contribution to Microsoft in helping us explore how we can support employees with special needs. Roslyn will be taking part in a Cycle to Fight Blindness in Australia this autumn, and Lisa had the great pleasure of donating €2500 to Roslyn and this worthy cause on Microsoft’s behalf .

Lisa Kepinski; Roslyn Allman; Cathriona Hallahan

 

From Hardtimes to Headlines:
Mary Kenny, the renowned journalist, author and broadcaster who Caitriona Hallahan introduced as being driver of the infamous condom train in the 70’s, shared her experiences as a pioneering feminist, reporter and mother with the audience. Peppering her talk with both witty anecdotes and wise insights, Ms Kenny addressed women’s talent for multi-tasking, with the often quoted “backwards and in high heels” comparison of Ginger Rodgers’ dancing prowess to that of Fred Astaire. She touched on the experiences of modern women, from the availability of contraception raising the importance of family, through work/life balance and the responsibilities of choice brings. In contrast to the message of the popular media, she sees hope during these times of Recession, referring to the fact that adversity often brings about innovation. In concluding her entertaining and informative talk, Ms Kenny stressed celebrating rather than debating the innate differences between men and women, calling it an enriching difference.

 
Mary Kenny; Cathriona Hallahan

 

Helping International Women:   Connect Ethiopia

Cathy Winston & Theresa Daly
What do you think of when you hear the word Ethiopia: Famine, Live Aid? These two representatives from Connect Ethiopia revealed to use the shocking statistics that after the huge celebrity charity efforts, the average life expectancy in this country has gone down, and the average family lives today on less money per day than they did before all the appeals. It seems obvious: money is not the answer. Compassionate assistance today needs to be built on a more stable foundation – like the old adage, give a man a meal and he’ll rest well tonight, but teach him how to fish or farm and he’ll have built a future, the most meaningful intervention in poorer countries is not cheques but knowledge. Experts agree that the way to combat poverty in third world countries is to provide an economic climate where countries themselves are given the opportunity to leverage their way through trade out of poverty. Connect Ethiopia is a business charity, linking businesses, institutions and associations in Ireland with Ethiopia, enhancing the Ethiopian capacity to develop trade and commerce. It was inspiring to hear how women in Ethiopia are working to try and lift their families out of poverty and how Connect Ethiopia is providing them with fantastic support.

 

Leading through Change
The final speaker on the day was Tim Hynes, Microsoft’s senior Director of internal IT Onsite services. Tim challenged the idea of doing/getting things to be happy, advocating that being (happy) was the important thing; one should start by being what you want to be, and then act on that. All Change starts with an end (such as this recession began with the end of the Celtic Tiger), and usually a period of confusion follows that. Tim argued that effective leadership during change is successfully negotiating the confusion to a new beginning, by knowing who you are and taking ownership.


Tim Hynes

 

Panel Discussion:
Cathriona Hallahan then lead a very lively discussion driven by lots of audience questions.  We were delighted to have a great panel including many of our speakers and some extra special guests from left to right:  Mary Kenny, Tim Hynes, Ingrid Devin(Dell), Kate Tempany (Ernst & Young), Cathy Winston, Theresa Daly,  Jane Dawson-Howe (Accenture) and Lisa Kepinski.

 

Network and Learn:
As part of our event, we asked all attendees to think about the areas they wanted to develop or work on.  The following are just a few of the suggested topics and over 25% of our audience have volunteered to get involved with Connect Ethiopia and we received a ton of suggestions for inclusion in future Network and Learn sessions.