3 Influential Women Changing the Workplace

The month of March is host to Women’s History Month, as well as International Women’s Day on March 8. To celebrate, we are highlighting three influential women who are changing the face of the modern workplace for the better. At EasyLlama, one of our primary training topics is diversity, equity, and inclusion, and you can trust that we practice what we teach. More than half of our workforce is made up of women, and we constantly strive to improve our equity and inclusion efforts for minority genders and races on our small but diverse team.

The Role of Women in the Workplace

Since 1995, March has been designated by U.S. presidents as Women’s History Month to celebrate the individual accomplishments women have achieved throughout American history in a range of disciplines as well as the contributions women have made to the country as a whole. celebrating the important role that women played in American history and encouraging research on it. International Women’s Day (IWD) has been celebrated since 1911, with communities around the globe gathering to celebrate the social, cultural, political, and workplace achievements of women.

The theme of International Women’s Day 2023 is #EmbraceEquity, with a statement that “Equal opportunities aren’t enough.” When it comes to a diverse workforce, it’s important to understand the difference between equality and equity. Equity recognizes that our identities affect the organizational possibilities we have access to, in order to alleviate obstacles that some marginalized persons may experience.

While equality simply means that everyone has access to the same resources, equity takes into account that we all come from diverse places and have distinct needs. Minorities of any gender, gender, or disability may technically have equal opportunities under the law, but if they begin with fewer opportunities than their peers, they will ultimately have fewer opportunities overall. Equity is what we all deserve, and the women below are doing their part to fight for gender equity in the workplace.

Ursula Burns

Ursula Burns served as the CEO of Xerox from 2009-2016, the first Black woman to become CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She started at Xerox as a summer intern in 1980, joining full time after earning her BS in mechanical engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and a master’s in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. Burns climbed the ranks at Xerox, including a role as senior vice president of corporate strategic services alongside soon-to-be CEO Anne Mulcahy, in a relationship that both women have said was a true collaboration.

Burns succeeded Mulcahy in 2009, becoming not just the first Black female CEO of a company that size, but also the first woman of any race to succeed another woman as a Fortune 500 head. After her tenure as Xerox CEO, Burns went on to serve as a board member for several well-known U.S. companies, such as Uber, American Express, and ExxonMobil, as well as Chairwoman of Teneo and chairwoman and CEO of VEON. In addition to her economic achievements, Burns also served as leader of the White House STEM program during her time as Xerox CEO, and was named by President Obama to head of the President's Export Council 2015-2016.

Burns continues to provide leadership in nonprofit and educational programs, such as FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), the U.S. Olympic Committee, and MIT. She was a founding board director of Change the Equation, which focuses on improving STEM efforts in the U.S. education system. Her tenure at Xerox and workplace improvement efforts since can serve as a great inspiration to women and minorities everywhere.

Melinda French Gates

Although many know Melinda French Gates for her 1992-2021 marriage to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, she has a very successful career in her own right. French Gates has a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics and an MBA from Duke University and started working as a marketing manager at Microsoft in 1987. She was later named General Manager of Information Products until 1996 when she left Microsoft to focus on her family and later on various philanthropic ventures.

French Gates co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, having been noted as saying, "As I thought about strong women of history, I realized that they stepped out in some way.” In 2015, she founded a second organization called Pivotal Ventures to find, assist in creating, and put into practice creative solutions to issues impacting American women and families. In 2019, she released her debut book, “The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World,” highlighting society’s failure to acknowledge the unpaid labor of women, expanding on the research of feminist economist Dame Marilyn Waring.

Melinda French Gates has consistently been ranked by Forbes as one of the world's most powerful women, and she has been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and French Legion of Honour for her work in the Gates Foundation, known since 2015 as the world's largest private nonprofit organization. Her time at the male-dominated Microsoft offices inspired her efforts to encourage more women to go into STEM/computing fields, specifically stating her hopes to improve gender diversity in the workplace.

Indra Nooyi

Indra Nooyi served as the CEO of PepsiCo from 2006-2018, becoming the first woman of color and first immigrant to lead a Fortune 50 company. In 2009 and 2010, Fortune magazine ranked her first on the list of Most Powerful Women in Business. Nooyi began her career in India, coming to the U.S. in 1978, to earn her master's degree in public and private management from Yale School of Management. In 1994, Nooyi joined PepsiCo, rising in the ranks as president, chief financial officer, senior vice president, and more.

During her time at PepsiCo, Nooyi led their restructuring to sell a group of restaurants including Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell (now Yum! Brands), allowing Pepsi to acquire Tropicana, Quaker Oats, and Gatorade not long after. As CEO, Nooyi also created the “Performance with a Purpose” strategy, aiming to leave a positive impact on society by shifting corporate spending into healthy alternatives, including the removal of aspartame from Diet Pepsi in 2015. This strategy also prioritizes sustainability and environmental issues, revamping packaging to generate less waste, saving water, converting to renewable energy sources, and recycling. Company-run facilities are powered entirely by renewable energy as of 2020.

The final element of her Performance with a Purpose plan was developing an environment where employees felt supported in sticking with the PepsiCo business. For example, to establish a personal connection with her employees, Nooyi wrote to the parents of her leadership team and paid them a visit. Nooyi also declared her intention to create a line of snacks targeted specifically at women based on behavioral variations in how men and women consume snacks, because she believes this market has not yet been explored. Sales at PepsiCo increased by 80% during her tenure, which was 7 years longer than the average CEO, according to an Equilar analysis.

Encouraging Diversity in the Workplace

Are you looking to improve diversity efforts at your organization? Studies show that companies can thrive by embracing the skills and abilities of people from all genders, cultures, and races and hiring employees with diverse backgrounds. The Diversity and Inclusion courses from EasyLlama provide realistic, practical advice for establishing a welcoming and inclusive workplace. Access your free course preview today to learn more!