You can now obtain Prince2 certification in a single sex class – but at present only if you’re a girl.
Courses are running every month or two in London and the initial responses have been very positive. As well as an all female environment there is a free massage after the Practitioner exam on the final day of the course to help you unwind.
Training company Maven summed up feedback from the last course as follows:
“The overall view was that it gave some of the more timid members of the group the power and confidence to interact more freely with their other colleagues. The ‘girls only’ learning zone created a nurturing and inspirational experience and made some delegates more relaxed.”
At Focus we are very supportive of innovation in the training market and if this concept works, why not do more of it?
The next course is on 22 June 2009.
>> Book Online
>> Information about PRINCE2
It’s a radical step – What do you think ? Good idea ? Sexist ? Daft ?
Female project managers may also be interested in these sites:
>> http://www.pm4girls.elizabeth-harrin.com
>> http://www.equalitec.org.uk/
>> http://www.womenintechnology.co.uk/
Blogalot – April 2009
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I think this is a thoroughly good idea. Having the right environment in training courses is very important so that people feel happy to ask questions, to try ideas, and to express opinions before they go back to their workplaces and put what they have learned into practice. If attending a ‘female only’ course helps people to get more out of training then this has to be a good thing.
Great idea – but it should be called Princess2
A poor sexist idea along the lines of women only gyms and swimming sessions. If you were to offer similar men only sessions there would rightly be an outcry.
There is opportunity to learn from everyone one during a training course and both genders view situations differently so a single sex course would limit the learning for the delegates in my view.
I can’t begin to express how angry I am at this.
For a start, anyone old enough to be on one of these courses should be addressed as a grown adult, not a “girl”!
Suggesting that women are delicate flowers, who need an insulated environment and, for heavens sake, MASSAGE, in order to learn all these hard, grown-up things is incredibly insulting.
Please remove me from all of your mailing lists. I want nothing more to do with a company who can promote this sort of tosh!
I love this idea for girls. I think its great especially for female leaders who will like to participate in this coourse because other than academia, other issues such as social obstacles can be discussed on the side line (outside of the classes).
I can’t see that it does any harm. If it encourages girls to come along that normally would not then why not indeed. 2 points however; Firstly I gained a great deal from the input of the girls on my PRINCE2 course – I would not have enjoyed it or benefitted half as much without them being there and secondly you surely must provide balance with ‘men only’ courses for the timid guys to allow them the ‘power and confidence to interact more freely with their other colleagues’??
I think this is a bad idea. We need to be able to work with each other in a positive and professional way. If you are not confident enough to do a course with member of the opposite sex are you really the right person to be managing a project as I doubt that everyone involved in your project will be a woman.
I agree with Muriel McGrath. This is patronising, reinforces stereotypes and perpetuates the fiction of the poor little woman who can’t cope in the “man’s world” of project management.
Another training provider (who did not wish to be identified) suggests “PRINCE2 for Real Women” might be better.