Christophe LANGLOIS (first version)

UK - Women wear the trousers on DIY

Another interesting facts from the UK: last week the results of a survey showed that it takes an average of 20mn for men to ask for their direction. And this week, let's talk about another commonly debated topic: home improvement!

Do-It-Yourself (DIY): women better than men?
* About 5.3million women claim they are better at carrying out DIY jobs than theyr male partners
* 2.5million women who live with their partner said they did most home improvement jobs
* ... But men dispute the trend, with just 4% agreeing their wives did most of the jobs around the house"!

Please post your comments!

the Wall Street Journal: good articles on Networking

I did not have time to read them all, but I would like to share with you some interesting articles on Networking (found on the Executive Career site of the Wall Street Journal): http://www.careerjournal.com/jobhunting/networking/

Women & Networking
* Why Women Make Better Networkers
* Savvy Professional Women Promote Themselves Well
* Women Find Nontraditional Ways To Network for Advancement

Job hunting
* If You Want a New Position, Start Networking Now (I always urge people to start as soon as possible)
* Why Networking is Still The Best Way to Job Hunt
* Stay Connected With Others Throughout Your Job Search
* Savvy Job Hunters Learn to Network Nicely

Blogs & Women (in France)

In a recent article posted on the blog from L'express magazine, I found list of blogs from networking groups for women.

List of blogs (in French)
* Du rose dans le gris
* Action de femme
* Administration moderne
* Arborus
* HRM Women
* EPWN

European Professional Women Network (EPWN)
If you are a professional woman I would advise to check the website from the excellent networking group, EPWN.

I know this network very well: the members are bright, open-minded and available, the team is great, and the events are always excellent!
Moreover, it is a real pan-European network with chapters in Paris, London, Oslo, Geneva, Vienna, Amsterdam, Sophia, Brussels, Milan, Madrid.

EPWN: interview with Malika on ZDNet.fr

Malika Mir-Silber, réseau EPWN: «Notre club de dirigeantes veut montrer des réussites au féminin, sans être féministe» Par Sylvaine Luckx
ZDNet France - Mercredi 8 mars 2006 (full article)

Earlier today, I was looking for blogs about EPWN on google: I found that article posted on ZDNet.fr.

I met Malika a couple of years ago at an excellent EPWN event in Paris. Malika is very dynamic and successful, with an impressive career in IT and at Microsoft. Congratulations for that interview!

UK - "Cost" of a mother? £25,000 per year

(UK) Mothers do an average of £25,000 worth of work around the house - double the level of men, research shows. They spend around 66 hours a week on household chores, including childcare, cooking and cleaning. Men put in just 34 hours.

So, who would dare to say that being a mother at home isn't a full-time job?

Breast cancer: Men are at risk too

Please find below an article published recently in the UK. This is a reminder that breast cancer does not only kill Women!
A national awareness campaign may even be launched in the UK soon.

Men's breast cancer ignorance 'can be fatal'
Polly Curtis Friday February 17, 2006 The Guardian
Men are dying unnecessarily because they do not know to check for signs of breast cancer, a doctor warns today. Around 70 men a year die from breast cancer and 250 are diagnosed.
Men are less likely to seek immediate medical attention when they discover a lump in their breast because they are unaware that the disease can affect them (...)
"Half the men who get breast cancer in the UK are not diagnosed until their cancer is very advanced." (...)
   
A man has explained how it happened to him (here)

UK - Scary: Half of all women "hit by partner"!

Today, I was reading my Metro, as usual: I was (one more time) amazed by some "statistics" about women in the UK... Half of all women "hit by partner"!

Domestic violence...
More than half of women have been beaten by their boyfriend or husband and a third have been forced to have sex with them, a survey claimed yesterday.

One of five women complained of being hit regulary, and a third said their partner put them in fear of their lives.

But it is the psychological bullying which affects most women, with two-thirds having been subjected to threats and intimidation.

... leads to the worst
Davina James-Hanman, director of the Greater London Domestic Violence Programme, said: "Two women are killed a week by a current or ex-partner. You don't know until you cross the line whether your partner is going to be one of those. And nothing destroys a woman more than sexual abuse."

Women's Aid: Domestic violence charity which deals with 140,000 female victims a year.
They published "The Survivor's Handbook" (access here)

Herceptin: Breast cancer drug test for all

I would like to share with you an article I have just read today: on many occasion, we had to deal with breast cancer in my family. And I am not the only one... But we need to communicate to make things go forward!

This new drug could prove to be very useful and could play an important part in saving hundreds of thousands lives.

Breast cancer in the UK
One in every nine women in the UK will develop breast cancer at some point in her life - more than 41,000 cases are diagnosed each year.
It has become the most common cancer in the UK, and is the leading cause of death for women aged 34 to 54.

Herceptin
All women with early stage breast cancer are to be tested to see if they could benefit from the drug Herceptin, the government has announced.

The drug is currently only licensed for use in women with advanced breast cancer.

But it is also thought to be effective at treating the early stages.

Testing now should mean women in England who could benefit can receive the drug as soon as the licence is extended, probably next year. (...)

(full article)

Herceptin facts

* It targets the HER2 protein, which can fuel the growth of breast tumours

* Herceptin prevents this process happening

* Around a fifth of breast cancers are HER2 positive

* It is currently licensed for use in women with advanced breast cancer - where the disease has spread * within the breast or to another organ

* Early stage breast cancer refers to the first occurrence of the disease

* The cost for one year's treatment with Herceptin is £19,500

Women bosses hit 'glass cliff'

Please find below an article I read in the metro on Wednesday, August 31st. (It is also available on cnn's website)

Chris

------------------
LONDON, England -- Social psychologists have identified a new obstacle to female success in the workplace.

"Growing numbers of women are smashing through the so-called "glass ceiling" into senior managerial roles, but many are finding themselves in precarious positions with a high risk of failure, according to Professor Alex Haslam of Exeter University.

Professor Haslam's research followed an article last year in The Times newspaper of London, which questioned the performance of FTSE 100 companies that had appointed women to their boards.

But in a study of FTSE 100 companies, Haslam and his team discovered that most appointed women to senior positions only after a downturn in their fortunes, leaving them standing on the edge of a "glass cliff." (...)

(http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/09/08/women.glasscliff/index.html)

13/09/05 EPWN - Sarah Sands, Editor, The Sunday Telegraph (London)

Read all about it! Sarah Sands, the new editor of The Sunday Telegraph, ex-associate editor of The Evening Standard, author and broadcaster for BBC2's Newsnight Review joins EPWN-London on Sept 13 to talk about newspapers and women. Time was newspapers were the private preserve of men, written by men,largely for men. There's no question things have changed a lot in Fleet Street, from women-friendly supplements to the number of female editors - and at the Mirror Group their first female chief executive.

But are women getting what they really want from newspapers? What is it like for women working newspapers? And what is the difference between a headline that works for a female reader and one that works for a male reader?

Come and find out what Sarah Sands thinks about newspapers today, her plans for The Sunday Telegraph and her thoughts on how women connect with media. In tabloid-speak: Exclusive!!!!! to EPWN-London