How to promote a woman inside a company

How to promote and emphasize female accomplishments in a company. The French tell us what should we do if we want to prosper

Benoît Potier, CEO of Air Liquide, recognizes it gladly. In the question: - if you were a woman, where you would be? -, put on September 7th, during a conference organized in Paris by Great Feminine Schools (GFS), he answered: - If I had been a woman, I would not have same opportunities. I would surely be a part of the same company, having a responsible job, but probably in lower levels. When I was young engineer, a head of project management, I had a colleague woman. She had to work on 130 % so that her projects can advance, so she could clearly prove her credibility -, he said.

Have this rememberance marked him? His company made some variety and the promotion of the women in particular a strategic priority. - Not in the legal matters. But because the variety is necessary to approach different and more and more complex markets, to understand what do the customers want -, says Mr Potier.

A survey realized for GFS by the institute Ipsos, with 5 431 graduates of higher education, published on Wednesday, September 30th, identifies ten indispensable measures easy to implement - to facilitate the coeducation of the management teams. It is necessary to change rules of the game -, explains Véronique Préaux-Cobti, president of GFS, by developing in particular the evaluation criteria and the rules of career management, by setting up coded barometers and by integrating these results into the managers' evaluations.

Few companies are still engaged in this course of action. According to the McKinsey consulting firm strategy study to appear in October, only 9 % of CEO of European companies (and 14 % of the American) get involved in plans in favour of the coeducation. These nevertheless seem to congratulate themselves on it because - the crisis do not question the importance of the coeducation programs, unlike the other projects -, comments Sandrine Devillard, associate director, responsible for the McKinsey female programmes at the world level.

- When an executive position releases, I demand that there is at least one woman among the candidates. Otherwise, I look outside -, underlines Augustin de Roubin, Air Liquide human resources manager. Considering the fact the women represent the - high potential pool -, the age limit, fixed to 40 years for the men, was set forward to 45 years for the women.

Once a year, the executive committee of the group reviews their career - to see how we can help them -, asserts Mr. de Roubin. The method seems effective. Twelve women on 250 belonged to the "top management" in 2006. They are 36 today.

At Total, we grasp the problem by the root, by going to the students forums - to encourage the girls to go to engineering schools -, explains Philip Jordan, careers recruitment manager. No age limit is imposed among the "high potential", whether you are a man or a woman. And the imperative of mobility is not necessarily geographical any more. When a woman is on maternity leave, her salary is continually increased - at the rate of the previous three years -, specifies Mr Jordan.