Dear Third Sector Women
Welcome to our May e bulletin. As usual we are attaching an update of the TSW website with another thought provoking editorial piece from Tracey Faraday Drake. For me it poses the question what do we do as women in the third sector to foster the talent of women in more junior positions? We would love to hear from you all, maybe one action you have taken that has supported women around you pusuing their own careers?

My thoughts this month have involved women at very different levels of the third sector. Mary Robinson, former Irish President is someone who can't help but inspire as she discusses her views on female leadership. She is just beginning a new role as Chair of a club for female heads of state, The Council of Women World Leaders established in 1996 and representing women prime ministers and presidents. Robinson believes that collective female leadership is powerful and unique, that together women can draw upon their wonderful leadership qualities to change the world. It might sound a cliché or simply niave but I still want to change the world and that remains my motivation for working in the third sector. I was interested to hear that this is still the drive for Robinson and that she is prepared to define the particular strengths women leaders can bring to civil society issues. She describes a complementary female style that offers empathy, cooperation and problem solving skills. She is quoted in The Guardian (13.02.08) as saying that " women have been a bit defensive about exercising power, but this has made them more reflective. Women leaders are often more analytical and self critical and more honest about it than their male counterparts. Its as if they are still asking the question "Am I doing well enough?" How often do we ask ourselves this question, it is certainly a very familiar one to me? One final reflection, whilst I admire Robinson's determination to unite women with influence across all sectors and countries I would steer clear of using "club" terminology. For me this word is routed in a history of exclusive networks many of which disadvantaged women. I think Robinson wants to promote an inclusive civil socity culture which is a strong call to action.

The second woman who formed an impression for me this month was someone working as a receptionist in a cancer cause organisation. I watched her respond to people ahead of me in the queue and she was unfailing in her attention, interest and desire to help solve their problem or query. Her style was warm, she made people laugh and knew her information inside out.
She was a pleasure to talk to and put a smile on my face for the next part of my journey. The first person you talk to in a charity forms such an impression - perhaps influencing whether or not we will donate money, or how hopeful we feel about finding help. Most importantly we want to talk to someone who understands and has some compassion. She ticked all those boxes!

When thinking about the summer I autommatically think about the number of swimming pools my two boys will manage to puncture and our first and hopefully not our last camping expedition. On the work front I know I need to do some more networking and I have been thinking about conferences and events I might like to attend. I would love to hear your top 5 networking experiences from last year so please email them through.

So what's news in relation to TSW?

We have had a lot of interest in action learning sets for members of a senior management team and for women CEOs. We are now ready to confirm places and dates so please contact Nicki at the TSW office to take up this opportunity. We will be emailing everyone who has expressed an interest so far to confirm whether they would like to proceed. Sets will begin in September 2008 and initially run for 6 sessions.

We are in the process of registering TSW as a charity and at the same time pursuing funding opportunities to support development activities such as the retreat programme. If anyone has any bright ideas on potential funding routes please get in touch we know there are lots of fundraisers amongst the TSW membership.

We are accepting requests for coaching and mentoring services so please get in touch if we can help.

I think that’s about it for now. Stay in touch and more profiles please.