PARIS and NEW YORK, January 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- 'Gender Balance Key to Corporate and Economic Growth'
www.WOMEN-omics.com

"Women are business's secret weapon, and the world's highest performing
companies -- and smartest men -- are realizing and acting upon the
opportunity," says Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, publisher and founder of the new
Website, WOMEN-omics.com, which is launching today.

WOMEN-omics (www.WOMEN-omics.com), the first Website making the business
case for gender balance and the economic power of women, provides exclusive
global reporting on women's growing economic impact on companies and
countries, and aggregates the best information, ideas, and insight in the
field, updated daily. A one-stop Web portal, the site is designed for
corporate leaders, top executives, policymakers, journalists, researchers,
business schools, and women in the workplace.

MAKING THE BUSINESS CASE

"This is an economic issue, not a diversity issue," says Ms.
Wittenberg-Cox, a leading gender consultant to corporations and co-author of
WHY WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS (Wiley, 2008; published as WOMENOMICS in its French
edition), a groundbreaking book that provides a step-by-step guide to how
companies can gain competitive advantage by better understanding and
responding to women's growing influence as consumers, employees, and leaders.

"WOMEN-omics shifts the debate from 'What's the matter with women that
they aren't reaching leadership positions?' to 'What's the matter with
companies that haven't optimized the other half of the talent pool and
marketplace -- the female half?'

"Putting gender balance in the diversity bucket to redress
'glass-ceiling' issues, rather than seeing it as an incredibly powerful sales
and strategic proposition, misses the opportunity," says Ms. Wittenberg-Cox.
In fact, recent research reports from McKinsey and Catalyst have shown that
having women in corporate leadership positions is correlated to stronger
financial returns.

ONE-STOP GLOBAL PORTAL

With contributions from some of the most important global thinkers and
writers on gender balance, both male and female, WOMEN-omics explains the
business case for moving women into positions of leadership (the "Why"),
provides best practices and toolkits for achieving this (the "How"), and
highlights the companies and CEOs that are doing this the best (the "Who").
The site brings together news updates, case studies, rankings (e.g., best
business schools for gender balance), exclusive CEO profiles, research
reports, statistics, and other resources.

Moreover, WOMEN-omics' global focus enables cross-country and
cross-regional comparisons, says Ms. Wittenberg-Cox. "North America and the
UK have long dominated the discussion on gender, but in fact the U.S. trails
behind many other countries when it comes to gender equality."

Morice Mendoza, an award-winning editor of business and professional
magazines and Websites, is the editor of WOMEN-omics.com. The site features
exclusive interviews with global CEOs and corporate leaders who "get it,"
such as:

-- Paul Bulcke, Nestle (http://tinyurl.com/bulcke);
    -- Michel Landel, Sodexo (http://tinyurl.com/landel);
    -- John Griffith-Jones, KPMG (Europe)
       (http://tinyurl.com/jgriffith-jones); and
    -- Laurent Blanchard, Cisco (France) (http://tinyurl.com/lblanchard).

Other articles at launch time include:

-- The Evolution of "Marketing to Women" (http://tinyurl.com/52fnvj);
    -- GE Women's Network (http://tinyurl.com/7lfgtg);
    -- Gender Balance in the Fortune 100 (http://tinyurl.com/8wbfqc);
    -- The WOMEN-omics Special Report on the Credit Crunch
       (http://tinyurl.com/a8zoa2);
    -- India's IT Women (http://tinyurl.com/9ehw9n); and
    -- The Rise of the "Nerdette" (http://tinyurl.com/9sj6xa).

"WOMEN-omics is as much a site for men as it is for women," says Ms.
Wittenberg-Cox. "Addressing the gender issue may indeed be one of the most
important decisions a company can make in today's economy. And while women
may hold the keys to the untapped economic opportunity, men still control the
locks."

For more information about WOMEN-omics, to use its articles, or if you
would like to speak with Ms. Wittenberg-Cox, please contact Davia Temin or
Suzanne Oaks of Temin and Company (http://www.teminandco.com) at 
+1-212-588-8788 or news@teminandco.com.

About WOMEN-omics

WOMEN-omics (www.WOMEN-omics.com) is the first Website making the
business case for gender balance and the economic power of women. Providing
exclusive global reporting, updated daily, on women's growing economic impact
on companies and countries, WOMEN-omics aggregates the best information,
ideas, and insight in the field. The site is designed for corporate leaders,
top executives, policymakers, journalists, researchers, business schools, and
women in the workplace.

About Avivah Wittenberg-Cox

An expert in corporate gender bilingualism (getting companies to speak
the language of both men and women), Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is CEO of
20-first, one of Europe's leading gender consultancies. Based in Paris, she
works with progressive companies to develop more inclusive leadership styles,
promote more gender-balanced management teams, and review processes and
policies to better respond to women as employees and consumers.

Ms. Wittenberg-Cox is co-author of the bestselling Why Women Mean
Business: Understanding the Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution
(http://tinyurl.com/9glo5t) (Wiley, 2008) with Alison Maitland. She is also
the Founder and Honorary President of the European Professional Women's
Network, a certified executive coach, and spent five years as a Visiting
Coach at INSEAD. She has spoken on leadership and growth opportunities across
Europe and has published articles, reviews, and interviews in publications
ranging from the Harvard Business Review and the International Herald Tribune
to the Financial Times in the UK, Le Temps in Geneva, Le Monde and ELLE in
France, and the National in Abu Dhabi.

Ms. Wittenberg-Cox is Canadian, French, and Swiss. She has a B.A. from
the University of Toronto, an MBA from INSEAD, and has completed the Women's
Leadership Program at Harvard. ELLE Magazine recently recognized her as one
of the "Top 40 Women Leading Change."