On Saturday, February 11, IE University’s Women in Business (WiB) club attended a roundtable discussion for all university Women in Business or Women in Finance organizations across Europe. The event was hosted by the Women’s Society Alliance (WSA), a hub that unites women-led university clubs across Europe. The roundtable was a chance to meet other Women in Business board members and discuss issues concerning women in the workplace.
What is the Women’s Society Alliance?
IE University’s WiB joined the Women’s Society Alliance in 2022, which now has over 60 members. The alliance is independent of any university and instead focuses on creating a platform for the WiB clubs to network, share ideas and learn from each other. WiB clubs from universities such as Cambridge, Imperial College and Bocconi are current members of WSA and attend their events. In addition, WSA has 18 different world-renowned sponsor firms including BMW, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. It also hosts events both for coordinators of the clubs and any members from their university. Their “WSA Bounce” program, for example, is a trip to shadow top finance firms and is open to all WiB members.
About the conference
For the first time, WSA invited their partner universities to attend an in-person conference to discuss women’s issues in the corporate world, and more importantly, how they as clubs could help tackle them. IE’s Women in Business representatives flew to Heathrow airport on Friday 10 and traveled to Oxford the next morning before the meeting. Angela Brito, the President of Women in Business explained that they “wanted time to get ready and look around the beautiful city before attending.” They walked among the 14th-century buildings before heading to the roundtable, which was held in St. Edmund’s Hall in Oxford City Center.
The meeting began with networking, followed by a presentation by the WSA team and a discussion. During the latter, the WiB coordinators talked about struggles for women in the workplace, what society can do to combat these, and what, as clubs, they could do to help. Some of the issues mentioned were the lack of women of color in leadership roles and stigmas around women in STEM. In addition, the attendees addressed how they could assist each other and how WSA could facilitate this. The roundtable concluded with networking, where the IE WiB representatives met many other university club officers.
Looking ahead
The WiB team explained that they left the roundtable feeling “inspired to be ambitious within [their] club.” Currently, the coordinators are focused on planning their annual Women’s Day Leadership Conference, with the theme of reimagining authentic leadership. The event will take place from 11:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8. The conference consists of several panels and keynote speakers from companies such as Google, Santander and Repsol. With the idea of women’s roles in leadership at the forefront, the companies will talk about their different sectors and career paths.
Women in Business continues to push for gender equality by leveraging the power of community, learning from inspiring executives and expanding. This roundtable showed the club how important having a community of people to support one another is. More specifically, it showed the team how relevant the Women in Business Club and WSA really are, and what a helpful tool they can be for young women. Now, they will put this newfound knowledge to use in the biggest event of the year on March 8.
Cover image by: Irene Pérez Lucerga
