If you spend much time with young kids, you're sure to encounter one question: "Can you tell me a story?"
For all except the most gifted storytellers among us, it can cause a moment of anxiety. "What story do I tell?"you ask yourself. You want to fill little heads with wholesome and encouraging ideas — damsels in distress and damagingly masculine heroes are all out of the question. But on the other hand, spinning a completely original tale on the spot is a pretty tall order.
This is one story that you might be able to tell kids is true just a few years from now:
This is what life could look like for women in 2025.
Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, April 26, 2017
It's wonderful to imagine a world run by both women and men. But as of right now, it's still a fantasy.
In the first part of 2017, there were only 27 female CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies. What's worse? That's a record high. Women hold only 12% of board seats worldwide, and only 4% of boards around the world are chaired by women — which makes it even harder to set policies that allow women to rise to leadership positions.
Photo via iStock.
It's time for us — all of us — to end the gender inequality that dictates corporate culture.
It's in everyone's best interest to have more women at the executive level. Companies with female leaders tend to have policies that grant more generous family leave and make progress toward narrowing the gender pay gap. Research also suggests that female-led businesses are better at creating inclusive workplace cultures, meaning that gender diversity helps increase other types of diversity, too.
Oh, and also? Financially, companies with female leaders knock it out of the park.
Photo via iStock.
The Rockefeller Foundation's goal of 100 (or more!) women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies by 2025 means charting the path of progress toward a fairer, better world of work.
"100x25" may be ambitious, but it could — and should — become reality. With more women at the helm, we'll also see increased opportunities for people of all identities at every level. When the work world is fairer, it will be possible for everyone to write their own story.
So when that happens and you hear, "Can you tell me a story?" you'll know just which one to tell: ours.