At the World Women’s Forum

I am at MBC’s World Women’s Forum, a partner conference of Lift gathering women from around the world in the Korean capital around the theme of “Women as agents of change: building a diverse and sustainable future“. The event is attended by 95% of women, a refreshing change from the usually male dominated Korean society.

I gave a short talk about the changing landscape of the ICT industry that I see become less and less about technology and more and more about branding, content, empathy and design. This evolution creates unique opportunities for women who are “innately better suited than men to navigate the new global economy” and should, now more than ever, consider careers in fields like web, gaming, mobile, ubiquitous computing or urban technologies.

Women conferences are very different from what I am used to. One of the most striking thing is that presentations are much more personal and emotionally charged. Like when Moses Farrow told the story of a disabled Korean child being adopted by an american family. He is the son of an amazing lady who had 4 childs, adopted another 11, and remained deeply human and accessible though hard times and celebrity. Rory Kennedy also who moved the audience by showing the suffering of women and families around the globe.

The first day ended with a presentation by Daniel Altman, the Global Economics Columnist of the International Herald Tribune. He talked about the place of women in the global economy. When asked by a participant whether the current financial crises would have happened if the banks had been directed by women, he grinned and answered that “in terms of raw competencies, women rank higher than men. But the risk taking behaviors are the same across genders. But it certainly wouldn’t have been worse…” An idea for a more stable world?