Strong girls - powerful women: EU Mentoring Days for Women

19.06.2020

“Everything is possible, no matter your gender, nationality, or traits. The key is to be open to the world and people, and to find ideas that will move you forward. It is awesome to have support of your family, and to meet like-minded people.” This is the main takeaway for one of the participants from a virtual three-day mentoring event for women that the Delegation of the European Union to the Russian Federation organized on 9 – 11 June 2020.

The event brought together 22 pre-selected Russian women and several mentors from the EU and Russia to discuss gender equality, women’s empowerment and career strategies. The participants had a unique possibility to exchange views with like-minded people and reflect on their learnings and findings. Moreover, they have created a valuable network that will, hopefully, inspire and support them in their future endeavors.

Deputy Head of the EU Delegation, Aleska Simkic, opened the EU Mentoring Days. In her inspiring speech, she spoke of her way to the world of diplomacy and politics. In the 90s when she was starting her career, many men in Slovenia rushed into the lucrative business world, while women opted for governmental offices. Leadership positions, however, remained mostly with men. Aleska emphasized the importance of gender diversity for better results, and the need to relinquish the stereotypes of what men or women are better at doing, and look at persons as individuals with certain competences, strengths and weaknesses rather than at their sex or other physical characteristics.

The first session was a live interview with Anastasia Mikova, co-director of the documentary “Woman”. This unique worldwide project gives voice to 2000 women from 50 different countries, offering an intimate portrait of the women with such vastly different lives, shaped by their culture, their faith, and their family history. They speak openly and sincerely about very personal topics, such as femininity, motherhood and woman’s role in the society. Anastasia told the behind-the-scenes story of this documentary, and shared her impressions and reflections.

The discussion with Isabella Lenarduzzi, founder of JUMP “Solutions for Equality at work”, gave to the participants useful insights into important factors to career success and how best to capitalize on them. What is stopping women today? What are the current visible and invisible barriers holding back women at work? Should women ask for more, and how?

Eric Way, Head of Inclusion and Diversity at the Schindler Group, spoke how to make workplaces better for women, providing examples of best inclusive work cultures and ways to ensure a good work-life balance.

Another guest was Varvara Melnikova, CEO of Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design. Being a successful woman entrepreneur in Russia, she spoke of the different challenges she had to overcome on her path to success and shared practical tips on how to aim high and succeed.