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Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations (ECWO)

Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations (ECWO) is a research, education and advocacy centre based at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Founded in 2014 at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), the organisation is driven by a vision of a world where all women have an equal share of organisational power and influence.

History

Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations was established in 2014 by Prof. Dianne Bevelander who wanted to address gender imbalance in organisations and society, and create a space where women can connect, communicate, collaborate and lead. She conducted research to explore collaboration amongst the diverse student population in the RSM classroom. When looking beyond nationality and considering gender, the results showed that women skewed towards men in trust situations at work. The riskier the project, the more often women chose men as their team members. With this Bevelander had a powerful realisation that groups of people coalescing around an injustice drive the big changes in society. In 2012, Dianne designed and launched the first women-only elective at a business school: the Kilimanjaro Leadership Project at RSM. Establishing ECWO was the next step.

Organisation

The Erasmus Centre for Women and Organisations (ECWO) at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is an organisation that is committed to creating organisations where all women are fully and equitably engaged at all levels.

ECWO does this by through education, research and advocacy that benefits individual women, organisations and society as a whole and helps create communities of women who support and empower each other in creating change. ECWO’s open programmes, in-company programmes, coaching, events, advisory alliances, research and advocacy drive its vision of a world where all women have an equal share of organisational power and influence. In 2022, ECWO's broadened its focus to include empowering women, engaging men and driving positive change.

Programmes

ECWO’s executive education programmes aim to optimise leadership capabilities and help create communities of women in organisations to mobilise for systemic change. ECWO also works with organisations to create social safety in the workplace.

The following open programmes are offered:

·      Women in Leadership

·      Communication with Power and Impact for Women

·      Negotiating for Success: Women, Careers and Business

ECWO works with organisations and businesses to create customised programmes focused on all areas of the open programmes including Women in Leadership. Expert faculty and facilitators work in partnership with these organisations to identify and diagnose business needs and design a tailored solution that maps to their objectives. ECWO’s Stand Up. Reach Out workshop is designed to address harassment in a professional setting from the perspective of the individuals involved and enhance the participant’s ability to productively intervene.

Research

ECWO’s primary research interest is related to diversity, in particular gender, and business. The focus of the centre’s research is both on a macro level, addressing organisations and business in a broader sense, but also on a more micro level that focuses on individual’s experiences in the workplace. In November 2022, ECWO published a research the current offer of overarching women’s organisations and networks in the Netherlands. Furthermore, it looked into the extent to which these organisations collaborate and if there is a desire to collaborate more.

Among several ongoing research projects, ECWO is one of six organisations that are part of the EQUAL4EUROPE consortium. Largely conceptualised by Prof. Dianne Bevelander, EQUAL4EUROPE is an H2020-funded four-year project. Starting in January 2020 and running to December 2023, the project is tasked with developing and implementing gender equality plans that accelerate the process of removing barriers to the recruitment, retention, and career progression of female researchers, address gender imbalances in decision-making processes and integrate the gender dimension in research and educational/innovation content.

Publications

‘Our Need, Your Interest: Responsible Decision Making in Private Equity’ in the book Beyond the Bottom Line: Integrating the UN Global Compact into Business Practice written by Dianne Bevelander.