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

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.

“I don’t think that we as women alone can create the change. I think we need the awareness and the reflection, and the perception change overall. I think it´s much more than to make sure that women have the right representation, but we also need the cultural change overall. So it´s really a bit of a transformation that will take time..“

 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

Additional 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 online

LinkedIn

Corina Grünenfelder

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.