Sandrine Joseph: I am proud to be a ‘poto mitan’

I am proud to be a ‘poto mitan’, a woman who embraces her femininity in a professional environment that is male-dominated, technical and elitist. EuropeanPWN was active in contributing to this renaissance. When I joined in 2004, I discovered a professional women’s network that was internationally established, strong, multigenerational, and focused on bringing together all business sectors and functional areas. Its values corresponded to my needs and career choices.
Sandrine Joseph

I immediately met women entrepreneurs, brilliant, enterprising, passionate messengers of entrepreneurship and very welcoming of others. They encouraged me to fulfill my professional ambitions and to take on and proudly pursue the just cause of gender equality. The strength of our network resides in the freedom given to members to approach one another, to share their experiences, to thrive, to choose how to express themselves and to move things forward. During a dinner organized by ‘Women in IT’, Senator Yvette Roudy’s suggestions on the evolution of feminism particularly struck a chord with me: ‘The women’s movement is not yet won. What do you have in mind to maintain our hard-fought rights and go even further?’

So I answered a call in January 2007 and became a co-leader of the think tank group ‘What is it Like for Working Women in Your Country?’, where women of different nationalities can share their observations on the environment for working women in their respective countries. As a result, I went from an ‘observing member’ to a ‘pro-active member’.

This enabled me to give a new direction to my career within France Telecom Group (my current employer). In March 2007, I joined the Exploration Center, an in-house knowledge and start-up incubator. I also launched my contemporary artist network that I promote through my blog ‘Arts & Talents’ by organizing contemporary artist evenings.

I am an active networker and I often meet women who inquire about the usefulness of professional networks and EuropeanPWN in particular. To these women I simply reply, ‘Come, experience it, and tell me how you feel afterwards.’ Because EuropeanPWN is a network that brings together women with established or developing potential who have worked or will work their way up to the highest levels of the professional world. It is an unrivalled space that mixes friendship and professionalism, and combines and cultivates creative energies. You can encounter very different, engaging and amazing personalities at every event, exchange on the forum, etc. EuropeanPWN is a world unto itself, at the same time structured and open, which allows its members to be themselves, is flexible vis-à-vis its members’ constraints and draws on the cultures of every member in order to move forward.

EuropeanPWN taught me to ‘live’ my approach to feminism and to share it with others. The network awakened me to the range of possibilities in order to overcome (together with other motivated women) the mental and societal barriers of inequality, to change our socio-professional environments and introduce new perspectives to encourage progress.

The future? Like the majority of you, I believe that the strength of our network can be used for lobbying and activities that are necessary and integral to advancing the cause of women, in both professional and personal environments.

*According to Murcie Joseph, a ‘poto mitan’ is a woman of leadership, a determined woman, who stands on her feet, a woman who manages the home, a true ‘network-router’ as everything must pass through her.

Sandrine Joseph
April 2007

For Sandrine’s blog, please visit: http://blog.arts-et-talents.com