Catalyzing

Catalyzing is the Catalyst blog, bringing together and amplifying diverse voices that share Catalyst’s mission to expand opportunities for women and business. Catalyzing reflects the wide range of opinions, ideas, and experiences of Catalyst employees, incorporating perspectives from our offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and beyond. It also features non-Catalyst industry leaders, experts, and academics committed to changing workplaces and lives. 

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    Catalyzing
    Stories From the Field: Global Challenges for Women

    Imagine living in a place where you are not identified by your own name alone, but in relation to a man: you are not simply you; you are known formally as the “wife of” or “daughter of” someone else.

    Imagine being a successful businesswoman but unable to speak of your success in public...

    April 18, 2013 by Alixandra Pollack, Anna Beninger

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    How Level Is That Playing Field?

    In light of yesterday’s events at the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, our hearts and thoughts at Catalyst go out to those spectators and runners impacted by this horrible tragedy. I have run this marathon three times, and I have been struggling to make sense of this event.

    I won a 24-hour...

    April 16, 2013 by Cheryl Yanek

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    Take 5 Holland: Is There a Part-Time Pathway to the Top?

    Today’s Take 5 tackles the strange dichotomy of the Netherlands—a country with generous leave arrangements, good flexible working opportunities, and adequate childcare provisions, yet a relatively low percentage of women in the workforce.

    Let’s be clear: I don’t see working full-time as the...

    April 11, 2013 by Caroline Pickard

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    The High Cost of Low Transparency

    This year, Equal Pay Day is Tuesday, April 9th—99 days into 2013 and women’s earnings are just equaling men’s 2012 earnings. What’s wrong with this picture? Everything. Shouldn’t every day be Equal Pay Day?

    The Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal for employers in the United States to...

    April 8, 2013 by Ilene H. Lang

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    Carpe Diem for Women

    I often pondered what a Women’s History Month section might look like in the greeting-card aisle. Would there be cards for CEOs to send their women ERGs/affinity groups applauding their organizational efforts for making change? Or perhaps a special section for mentors and sponsors to recognize...

    March 29, 2013 by Krista Brookman

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    International Women’s Day: The Instant Messages

    March 27, 2013 by Liz Mulligan-Ferry, Rachel Soares

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    What’s Wrong with this Picture? Everything.

    Picture this: three scantily clad, bound-and-gagged women stashed in the trunk of a car, with a smiling man at the wheel. This isn’t from the latest news story on rape or abduction. It’s from a prospective ad campaign in India for the Ford Figo.

    Images of this sadistic campaign leaked last...

    March 25, 2013 by Ilene H. Lang

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    What Ursula Burns Taught Me at the 2013 Catalyst Awards Conference

    Throughout our lives we come across individuals whose stories leave an impact on us. At Tuesday’s 2013 Catalyst Awards Conference, I had the privilege of sitting in on a conversation between Catalyst President & CEO Ilene H. Lang and a woman whose journey has truly inspired me: Ursula Burns,...

    March 21, 2013 by Brandee Sanders

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    Congratulations to our 2013 Catalyst Award Winners!

    Each year since 1987, Catalyst has honored exceptional initiatives that advance women in the corporate world with our prestigious Catalyst Award. We are very proud to celebrate three far-reaching initiatives in 2013:

    Click on the image below to learn more about the initiatives from Ilene H. Lang,...

    March 15, 2013 by Catalyst

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    Why Smart Companies Value Flexibility

    Pop quiz: what workplace advantage—recently in the news because it’s on the chopping block at several major companies—increases productivity, efficiency, and work-life effectiveness and benefits employers and employees alike?

    Answer: flexibility.

    I’ve observed many company cultures around...

    March 13, 2013 by Julie S. Nugent