The future of the world economy lies increasingly in female hands

The role of women in society has changed dras4cally throughout the last decades. Looking into history, 70 years ago it was expected of women to stay at home. Even in the mid‐fiBies many educated women led a suburban lifestyle, cooking for the husband, cleaning the house and caring for the children. These were the deeds that society expected from them. The normal family structure consisted of the husband, who would earn the money for the family, his wife and the children. Today it is the excep4on. The women’s libera4on movement throughout the 1960s was the kickoff for the implementa4on of equal rights and payment for women, which passed through both Bri4sh houses in 1975. An4‐discrimina4on laws for women quickly followed in all of Europe, laying the ground stone for women’s success in business. Fields such as medicine, law, and science opened to include more women, whom are now surpassing many males on the level of educa4on. In the United States in women earned 62% of Associate's degrees, 58% of Bachelor's degrees, 60% of Master's degrees, and 50% of Doctorates in 2006. These are impressive results! Being granted equal rights provided women with the opportunity to make their own choices in terms of lifestyle. Women were, and in fact are, no longer dependant on their partners to provide them with a living and have consequently become more demanding in what they expect to find in a rela4onship. In considera4on that women have become capable of pursuing their own dreams and wishes, while simultaneously providing for their children, has pushed the classical family structure towards the border of ex4nc4on. One of the classical problems of many women is the disability to see and trust their own poten4al. But this is changing. Women are growing up in a different socio‐poli4cal surrounding and many have woken up to a new self‐image, which has been shown by several studies. „ Women are confident of their skills. Studies have proved that women go for higher studies once they have the right skills. They think before they take on the next role and make for great managers“ (Pierre\e Doz‐Perdix, business development manager at HEC Paris). This means that women basically only need the right push at the start to rise to great leaders. In leadership it is of necessity to have a strong rela4onship between leaders and followers, which means that rela4onship skills and emo4onal intelligence have become paramount. Building rela4onships is cri4cal for the success of any business. Many character traits that are said to be feminine can lead to a long las4ng reliable rela4onship. In general women have a lot more social competence than men. Women are reflec4ve, self‐cri4cal and show willingness to understand their partner’s point of view. In a s4ll sexist world, women need to be be\er than men to succeed, so they use their strengths more efficiently. They tend to examine the big picture before proceeding and understand and have the ability to adapt to the needs of change, rather than running into dead end streets by s4cking to their perspec4ves rather than admicng mistakes. This ability dissolves a lot of tension, makes