We’ve recently explored the growing trend and importance of women’s initiative networks at companies across the world. This article examines how companies are addressing the gender gap in business, citing a recent report from the World Economic Forum that the COVID-19 pandemic delayed gender parity in the workplace by 36 years, making the current projection for reaching gender equality a staggering 135 years. Experts agree that it’s never been more important for businesses to take action to close the gap, and that companies who actively support women in the workplace make it part of their organization’s DNA.
We are proud to say Dassault Systèmes has had an active women’s initiative network for nearly a decade. 3DS WIN started in North America in 2012 and the program expanded worldwide a few years later. Its goal is to help women across the company achieve personal and professional growth, as well as create a culture of inclusiveness to attract more women to join the company. 3DS WIN has run many initiatives over the years, such as bringing in speakers on a topics like gender intelligence, business communication and work/life balance. Both women and men members. Each chapter runs its own programming, and there is also a comprehensive online community for all employees worldwide to participate in.
A 3DS WIN gathering, 2015
3DS WIN has also helped females outside of the company, including going to local schools and universities to promote opportunities for women in STEM. Another example is supporting the education for girls in Rwanda’s NYANZA Technical School.
Dassault Systèmes more than 20,000 employees represent 140 nationalities at 131 sites worldwide. We support 11 industries and work on a wide scope of projects. We believe the more we focus on diversity at every level of the company, the better we can serve our customers. Why? Because breakthroughs and innovation come when people look at a problem from different perspectives and offer up unique points of view and approaches.
Our WIN team is interviewing a number of senior leaders across 3DS as part of a series called WIN Conversations. In one of these videos, our EVP of Group Finance, Valérie Raoul-Desprez, shared her perspective which nicely summarizes our company’s success at having a long-term focus on inclusion: “I think that in terms of diversity, and not only gender, the company does an incredible job. The values of Dassault Systèmes around passion, innovation and challenging the status quo – and there is no discrimination and it is very difficult to make that statement.”
Finally, as part of our commitment to being a sustainable company, we’ve set a goal to have at least 30% of people manager roles held by women by 2025; we are currently at 20.6%. Several 3DS initiatives are currently going on across the globe to foster inclusion, offer equal opportunities, ensure recognition and fairness, and enrich diversity. To support gender equality and equity and help reach our 2025 goal, we’re launching a global leadership and management development program, Rise Up!
This program aims to develop and accelerate skills to help 3DS people access management or leadership influence responsibilities. By the end of June, 83 women and 15 men will embark on a 9-month personalized development journey that combines individual and group development including: self-awareness, structured individual mentoring with a 3DS senior executive, leadership fundamental trainings and co-development workshops, and external WIN conferences.
We’re looking forward to accompanying this new group of people through the program, and seeing the impact they make on the future of our company.
Alyssa Ross Alyssa is a Communications Director on the Dassault Systèmes Corporate Publishing team. She’s been part of DS for over 20 years, in roles ranging from public relations to marketing programs. Twitter: @DS_Alyssa