I’ve certainly been inspired by New North women lately.
For the May issue of Insight on Manufacturing, I interviewed Marsha Nebel — the first female electrician in Green Bay and founder of the Northeast Wisconsin chapter of empowHER. She promotes women in the building trades, where nationwide representation currently hovers around 3% — a statistic that would no doubt leave Rosie unriveted.
For our June Insight cover story, I sat down with the first female CEO of the telecom company Nsight, Brighid Riordan. I was inspired by the thoughtful way she talks about empowering women at work — and how one of her first power moves as CEO was painting her office pink.
I connected with some incredible women at an organizing meeting for The Monthlies Project, a new initiative in conjunction with Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin aimed at alleviating the not-talked-about-enough issue of period poverty, which sidelines thousands in this region who lack access to menstrual hygiene products. And in June I attended my first “Women Rising” event through the UW-Green Bay Institute for Women’s Leadership, which offers everything from coffee meetups to formal certificates in women’s leadership.
But one of my coolest experiences was a May 20 trip to the jaw-dropping Acuity headquarters in Sheboygan for the 2022 Women of Influence in the New North Region photo shoot, where I got to meet and interact with this year’s honorees. Serving as something of a project manager for this year’s honors has been a real joy. I certainly hope you’re planning to join us at the Radisson Green Bay Aug. 2 for the awards luncheon. I can’t wait for you to hear these stories. (You can register now at insightonbusiness.com and read our special section in the August issue of Insight.)
I’ll admit Women of Influence has its critics — those who say having a separate awards program for women flies in the face of the equity it champions. While I understand and respect that perspective, I’m just not sure we’re there yet. When it comes to business, women still face unique obstacles. According to Kane Insights, 50% of Wisconsin’s working women consider quitting work “constantly, often, or sometimes.” Experts estimate that U.S. GDP would go up 5% if women’s labor participation was equal to men’s.
The pandemic had a disproportionately negative impact on women in the workforce. According to McKinsey’s Women in the Workforce 2021 report, the burnout gap between men and women has nearly doubled since the start of the pandemic. And with 275,000 U.S. women leaving the workforce in Jan. 2021 and caregiving work continuing to be undervalued, we still have a lot of ground to make up.
And, as is a common refrain in interviews I have done: In order to aspire to the highest levels of leadership, girls and women need to be able to see themselves in every role. In entrepreneurs like Nea Hahn and Emilee Rysticken, who were among the women who led our nation’s most recent small business boom. In women like Ann Franz, Holly Brenner and Alison Fiebig, who thrive in male-dominated industries. In educators and activists like Kristin Welch, Ingrid Parker-Hill and Karen Bruno, who are laser-focused on creating brighter tomorrows.
We can all learn from the many strong, wise and passionate women around us, and I’m proud to be part of an organization that is shining a light on them. Their stories are more than just empowering and inspirational — they’re influential.
And influence means action: the action we need to grow our economy, preserve our resources, be better, do more and think differently in the New North region. To the women who are moving the needle, I applaud you. And to women of influence everywhere: Thank you!
