The University of Johannesburg (UJ)’s College of Business and Economics (CBE) recently hosted the second annual Eagles Fly Above the Storm Women’s Conference, themed The Power of Personal and Professional Mindset Shifts. The gathering brought women (and men) together to explore what it takes to rise above limitations, challenge the status quo, and embrace new paths for growth.
Opening the event, Professor Sehaam Khan, the University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Teaching and Learning, shared a powerful symbol of progress. “This year, there was equal male and female representation at the Olympic Games 2024 for the first time in history.” Prof Khan challenged the audience to take this achievement as a call to action and an example of how gender balance should permeate all aspects of personal and professional life.
Professor Ben Marx, CBE’s Executive Dean, emphasised the broader mission. “Although the world has come far from the historical view of women’s roles and rights, all can do more to level the playing field. One of the United Nations’ values is to achieve gender equality and eliminate all discrimination against women, which are ultimately two fundamental basic human rights. Women play critical societal and educational roles, making women essential for societal values, development, and growth of future generations.”
In a keynote address, Professor Anita Bosch, Chairholder of the Research Chair for Women at Work at Stellenbosch Business School, mentioned that women’s victim mentality binds them to safe career decisions that go nowhere. She assisted the delegates in discovering how mental models may trap women in a complex and limiting network of rules and norms highlighting that it is possible to create new paths with a range of options that will give them the freedom to choose options that could boost their career once they embrace the values that anchor their lives.
The conference’s remaining speakers, Boniswe Madikizela (Department of Accountancy), Dr Joyce Toendepi (Department of Industrial Psychology), and Dr Susheila Moodley (Managing Director of The Facilitation Workshop) echoed a similar message that any mindset shift starts from within and that it is a deeply personal decision to break free from constraints and move forward as a resilient, unstoppable force.
