Tag: Diversity
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Have you encountered excluders?
Have you encountered excluders? This week marks the International Women’s Day – a day that I always want to celebrate in some way. Last year I shared with you my experience of being a woman at CERN in the 1990s. As I was exploring a new angle to gender diversity at CERN – a topic
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Being a woman at CERN back in 1990
Being a woman at CERN back in 1990 On Tuesday, March 8, we celebrated International Women’s Day. It is my pleasure to write an article from the Ombud’s corner on this occasion. I have been working at CERN for 36 years now and, trust me, I’ve seen major progress in the working environment for women.
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Three powerful tools to meet the challenges of 2022!
Three powerful tools to meet the challenges of 2022! As this brand new year starts, I would like to offer my best wishes, from the Ombud’s Office, for a healthy, happy and successful 2022! In addition to such traditional (and highly appreciated) wishes, what else could we wish each other as colleagues? Looking back on
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Each and every one of us matters
Each and every one of us matters Some visitors to the Ombud’s office tell me that they are “too insignificant” or “too low” in the chain of command for their opinion to really matter. Or they tell me they feel that, because they are an assistant or a technician, there’s a difference in attitude towards
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Sexism: let’s face the facts
Sexism: let’s face the facts “We don’t feel safe and relaxed when we’re at work. There are wolf whistles when we walk by, disparaging comments on our looks, stares that follow us from one end of the cafeteria to the other, lewd remarks from the next table when we sit down. Our ideas don’t get
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Gender at CERN
Gender at CERN CERN has a demographic imbalance in gender, only about 20% of employees are female. The Organization has always been aware of this situation and aims to create a welcoming and safe environment for all employees, regardless of gender. General research from around the world has demonstrated that women who want to develop
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“Women negotiate poorly, lack self-confidence and are risk-averse.” Really?
“Women negotiate poorly, lack self-confidence and are risk-averse.” Really? This stereotype is often trotted out to explain the lack of equality between men and women in the world of business, but recent research completely disproves it. The differences between the sexes are actually far better explained as the result of a set of practices and
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Don’t forget experience!
Don’t forget experience! Frans started his career at CERN as an engineer in 1992, after having worked for about 10 years in industry in his home country. He’s an ordinary chap who has progressed regularly in his career and has survived several reorganisations. He’s always been loyal to his job, shouldering his responsibilities with diligence
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Highly sensitive people: an asset to your team
Highly sensitive people: an asset to your team We’re working to increasingly busy schedules, under escalating pressure and with almost constant connectivity due to the increasing number of communication tools and applications available to us. We feel obliged to garner as many “like”s as possible and collect as many “friends” as we can. Most of
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Unearned Advantage
Unearned Advantage One of the topics that never failed to arouse interest during the recent Diversity workshops organised at CERN was that of “unearned advantage”, or the relative ease with which doors open for certain people, simply because they belong to dominant (often majority) groups, as compared to others. A useful example by which to