#17 How to keep up as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated working field - with Corina Grünenfelder

Fish in the Boardroom

with CORINA GRÜNENFELDER

Special thanks to EY in Switzerland for supporting this episode and advocating Diversity & Inclusion in Switzerland!

In Switzerland only 6,5 %, of the MINT jobs (Mathematics, Information technology, Natural sciences and Technology) are held by women, while in Swiss universities they represent less than 20% of students. This inevitably leads to the development of industries and professions that are clearly male dominated, including, for example, the Quant & Analytics division at EY.

EY’s challenge, like for so many other companies, is twofold: How to gain and retain more women and develop them into leaders and simultaneously how to create the best environment for women to step onto critical career rungs of the leadership ladder? How to support women’s motivation to lead and increase the likelihood that others will recognize and encourage their efforts—even when they don’t look or behave the way their bosses do?

I’m talking to Corina today about how it is for a woman to work in a male-dominated field, about how EY is supporting her in her career development and about where she still sees some progress to be made.

What you will learn

• How it is like to operate on a day-to-day base in a highly technical-mathematical (and therefore male-dominated) filed as a woman
• What initiatives EY has introduced to support equal hires and leadership programs in these areas
• What further approaches there are to pave the way and make MINT study programs more attractive for male and female alike

Tips

• Women need to support each other more and not treat each other as rivals
• Take the time to connect and exchange with other female colleagues and be open to speak up when you face or observe a problematic biased situation
• Look for a (female) mentor – consider someone from outside your company, who can give you an outside perspective

Resources

• General career site EY
• Technology jobs at EY
• Innovation-driven careers at EY-Switzerland
• Diversity, inclusiveness and your carrer at EY-Switzerland

Further resources:
Article: Re-writing the leadership norms / Inclusive leadership best practice by EY

Find Corina on LinkedIn

Biography

Corina Grünenfelder is a Director at EY Zurich with focus on quantitative Risk Advisory and Sustainable Finance for Banking and Insurance clients. She is a fully qualified Actuary (Swiss actuarial association) and studied Mathematics at EPFL. Corina is a diversity and inclusion advocate in the Swiss Financial Services EY team.