CSR in Saudi Arabia

I know, it is a long time since the last blog, but the world is getting more and more interested in CSR and travels have taken me to many more places, one of them being Saudi Arabia, where I had the chance to speak at the 1. CSR Exhibition as key note speaker and it was simply a great experiance. The company organising the conference, Batola, is a purely women owned and run company and they managed to set up this 3 day event in the best hotel in town with the largest Saudi companies participating. Congratulations again from my side. Of course there was the division in the room, women sitting on one side, men on the other with screens between them, and they needed a permit to have the event accessible for men and women. But at the opening, were the govenor of Riyadh attended and spoke, also Sheika, the director of Batola also spoke opening remarks, and strong statements she made, which were refered to later during the conference. I never saw her face, as most women wore face masks or veils, no idea what the proper term is, so only eyes could be seen. We agreed to meet in Dubai later and then have the opportunity to speak "face to face". By the way, she had just married the week before the conference, so she managed the stress of organising her wedding and a huge CSR conference. I always believed that women are better organisers!
As CSR Company it was also a successfull visit, we met with our new partner in Saudi and it looks very promising. He and his wife are coming to Austria in the next days to visit us. He is quite famous in Saudi, he is a lawyer by profession and also a great writer and analyst of the situation in Saudi, that is changing so dramatically at the moment. He published an article about the issues of Saudi in a large Arabian newspaper and I have asked him permission to reproduce it in my blog, and he agreed. So, if you want to really learn something about this great country and the issues and transformations this country is going throuh, please read on:

By DR. KHALID ALNOWAISER | ARAB NEWS

Human rights issues in Saudi Arabia

Existing sponsorship system no longer conforms to the life in the 21st century

I recently criticized Western governments for continuing to support dictators in the Arab world, although I did not criticize Westerners and I did point to some recent progress in upholding human rights by the current US administration. Now, I must speak candidly on the status of human rights in Saudi Arabia. The recent tumultuous events in some parts of the Middle East show that any nation's stability and progress depends on its success in dealing with three major issues: Its economy, the integrity of its government, and human rights. Although it is difficult to discuss all issues involving human rights in Saudi Arabia, five major issues are as follows:

First: Women

After women were encouraged in recent years to come forward to enjoy their rights as human beings and as an important part of society, the authorities recently decided not to allow Saudi women to participate in the municipal elections now but rather "in due course." This delay essentially means that at least half of Saudi citizens are being deprived of their basic rights and will continue to be marginalized. There was no public referendum to ask women about the matter, including when rights would be given to them. The Shoura Council never held a session to discuss such an important issue for the country. Further, the Council itself offers women no representation, so one may question whether any of its decisions on issues affecting women have any merit!

IF, however, one accepts the argument that it is better to wait and not tackle the issue of women now due to ongoing political tensions in the region (and the Kingdom does not need more challenges that may provoke some sections of society), the truth of the matter is that there is no indication that the issue of women’s human rights will ever be considered. For example, the issue of women driving has been debated for decades and no action has yet been taken. The answer always seems to be that Saudi society "isn't ready". What exactly does this mean? What does society need to do to be ready so women can drive themselves in the Kingdom? Likewise, the ability of women to work, travel and live normal life have been restricted in order to please extremists in the country and sadly at the expense of our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers. This is wrong because Saudi Arabia will never progress without the real and full participation of women. The issue must be decided politically. To this end, the government must make the necessary decisions to ensure that women have all of their rights and eliminate these draconian restrictions.

Second: Youth

Saudi youth nowadays are experiencing a great deal of difficulties. In addition to chronic unemployment, our young people face discrimination by continued segregation of men and women in public and private places in the name of Islam, even though this practice has never existed throughout the entire history of the Muslim faith. As I have said before, young people need to be given more opportunity to pursue their hobbies, satisfy their love of art and theater, and have access to forums, movie theaters and festivals, which will give them the chance to exercise their personal freedoms. However, some of the activities of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), which include monitoring the people, have attracted criticism from human rights activists. My objection is more specifically to the practices of this Commission and not to the idea of the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, which is supported and promoted by Islam.

The Saudi young people deserve the opportunity to live a good and dignified life without the oversight of the CPVPV. To deny them this chance will prevent Saudi Arabia from taking its rightful place among nations that honor or protect human rights.

Third: Political and civil rights

People have a fundamental right to be free and safe. No person should be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention or deprived of his/her freedom. People have the right to think and freely express themselves, whether in writing, in art, by any other means they choose. Individuals also have the right to peacefully assemble with one another, provided that such meetings do not violate the law. Individuals must have the unrestricted right to form associations and organizations, including the right to establish and join social organizations in order to further their personal interests. So long as public safety is not threatened, no restrictions should be imposed on exercising this right. All Saudi citizens should also have the right to participate in the management of public affairs, whether directly or through their freely elected representatives. Individuals must have the right to vote or run for office in fair and regularly held elections in addition to many other civil and political rights set forth in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights issued by the United Nations in 1966.

Fourth: Freedom of non-Muslims

If we look at several non-Muslim countries around the world, we can find places where individuals are free to exercise and practice their religious beliefs without oppression or governmental restrictions. When they are prevented from doing so, Muslims rise up and express their objections. What about the non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia that are here at our invitation? As a tolerant and forward-thinking country, should not we ensure that non-Muslims are free to observe and practice their religions without interference? Should not they have the same rights as Muslims in Europe demand and in most cases enjoy? This freedom of religion is a basic human right.

Fifth: Sponsorship of foreign labor

The Kingdom's sponsorship system for foreign workers has many drawbacks, and it is always criticized by international human rights organizations when discussing Saudi Arabia.

There are more than six million foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, some of whom experience violations of their human rights by their sponsors under the present system. Violations include not paying financial entitlements, such as their salaries and wages, not giving them vacations on a regular basis, not providing the right environment to enable them to carry out their job duties, not providing them with adequate accommodation, and not giving them breaks and time to relax after their shifts. As a result, the existing sponsorship system no longer conforms to the life in the 21st century and fails to provide foreign workers with basic human rights.

THE current sponsorship system should be abolished in its entirety and replaced by a new system that incorporates a comprehensive and flexible legal framework to organize fair relations between employer and foreign workers, classifies such relations as employment relations and not sponsorships, and cancels the traditional practices of sponsors. Such a system must also include in all employment contracts that a contract will be automatically terminated if the employer violates any human rights and that the worker shall have the right to proper compensation. This is not a plea for granting unfettered freedom to foreigners. While protecting their rights, we should not do anything that might endanger our national security or social cohesion.

The question must be asked: Is the Saudi government ready and willing to make significant political decisions to advance human rights for all of its citizens, especially its women and young people? A resounding "Yes" is the answer that the whole world is waiting to hear from the Saudi government, and it cannot come too soon.

— Dr. Khalid Alnowaiser is a columnist and a Saudi attorney with offices in Riyadh and Jeddah. He can be reached at: Khalid@lfkan.com and/or Twitter (kalnowaiser).

Germany is marching ahead in CSR - Where is Austria?

In short, what it says in the article below is a strong manifestation that CSR is becoming more and more the centre of attention, and politics, at least in some countries, have realised it. Chancelor Merkel of Germany is saying that she wants to change the brand "made in Germany" to "CSR - made in Germany" as a quality label for German products in the world. In addition, and that is for me the most interesting fact, she wants to bring CSR to schools and universities, so it becomes common knowledge for customers of the future to look for products produced socially responsible. Wednesday this should be presented to Parliament.
What a change of attitude, and what a way to move ahead.... and where are we?

Bundesregierung Merkel will "made in Germany" ändern
Christian Ramthun (Berlin) 02.10.2010 Jetzt kommentieren!(5) 2 (1) Legende
Die Kanzlerin will die Marke „Made in Germany“ reformieren und plant ein neues Gütesiegel für deutsche Unternehmen.
Bild vergrößern Anteil der öffentlichen Aufträge, bei denen die Behörden ökologische Aspekte berücksichtigt haben (Klicken Sie auf die Grafik, um eine leicht vergrößerte Ansicht zu erhalten)
Amerikanische und britische Manager übertreiben gern, wenn sie erzählen, wie vorbildlich sich ihre Unternehmen gegenüber Mitarbeitern, Umwelt und Gesellschaft verhalten – heißt es aus der Bundesregierung. "Die werben in Saudi-Arabien und anderswo mit Leistungen, die noch weit unter unseren gesetzlichen und tariflichen Normen liegen“, ärgert sich ein deutscher Regierungsbeamter. Tatsächlich stehen deutsche Unternehmen in der Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), wie der Fachbegriff dafür heißt, weltweit an der Spitze. Um das bekannt zu machen, will Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel jetzt ein sichtbares Zeichen setzen.
Die Bundesregierung will die altbewährte Herkunftsmarke „Made in Germany“ reformieren. Den schon 1887 eingeführten Herkunftsnachweis möchte sie mit dem Kürzel CSR zu einem neuen Gütesiegel kombinieren: „CSR - Made in Germany“. Das geht aus der Nationalen Strategie zur gesellschaftlichen Verantwortung von Unternehmen hervor, die die Bundesregierung an diesem Mittwoch zusammen mit der Nationalen Engagementstrategie für eine Bürgergesellschaft beschließen will und die der WirtschaftsWoche vorliegt.
Der Schritt ist dem Entwurf zufolge ein „Beitrag zur Bewältigung der zentralen Herausforderungen in einer globalisierten Welt des 21. Jahrhunderts“. Um den neuen Slogan bekannt zu machen, will Merkel die deutschen Botschaften und andere Institutionen im Ausland „gezielt einbeziehen“, heißt es in dem Papier.
Öffentliche Aufträge ohne Makel
Gleichzeitig will die Regierung deutsche Unternehmen drängen, noch mehr in Sachen soziale Verantwortung zu tun. Ein wichtiges Instrument dafür sind laut Entwurf öffentliche Aufträge und Beschaffungen. Wer sich darum bewirbt, sollte hierbei keinen Makel aufweisen. So ließen sich staatliche Aufträge von 360 Milliarden Euro jährlich"„im Sinne der Nachhaltigkeit nutzen“, heißt es. Diese Ausgaben könnten helfen, „innovativen Technologien den Marktdurchbruch zu erleichtern“. Zudem ist ein zentrales Informationsportal im Internet geplant. Dort sollen "verlässliche, transparente und vergleichbare Angaben über CSR-Aktivitäten von Unternehmen“ abrufbar sein.
Mit einem "Aktionsplan CSR“ möchte Merkel das Thema zudem in Schulen, Universitäten und bei Verbrauchern stärker ins Bewusstsein rücken. Auch seien Beratungsprogramme für mittelständische Unternehmen und runde Tische zum regionalen Erfahrungsaustausch geplant. Und wer sich besonders engagiert, den will die Bundesregierung künftig auszeichnen: mit dem neuen CSR-Preis.

CSR Toolkit in featured by CNBC & covered by Reuters

Our CSR Software "The complete CSR Toolkit" - www.toolkit.com was covered this week by CNBC and then a day later by Reuters in a US press release. See links below! We are getting global, and that is where we should be!!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/39264989

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS42585+20-Sep-2010+BW20100920

Have fun reading!

CSR in Iran - a contradiction?

Last week took me to Iran to talk about CSR. Maybe not the first address that would jump to your mind when thinking of CSR, but there I was, 3 in the morning at Ayatollah Khomeini International Airport in Teheran and my friends from CSR Iran, Alireza and Tahereh waiting for me. Yes, there is such an organisation in Iran, and boy are they busy and professional. Customs was easy and no different than at any other place in countries were you need a visa to enter. Only difference were the women, who in the plane looked very European, but in the airport methamorphosed into Iranien ladies wearing a head scarf. Well, we drove all night to reach Esfahan, because the flight that should have brought us there for some reason had been canceled. It is a 4 hours drive on an astonishingly well developed motorway through rough and dry landscapes, past the holy city of Ghom. The workshop was in the office of the largest steel company in Iran, a semi state company called Mubareek Steel Company. To my surprise, the CEO came by, a number of directors and approx. 30 middle management people sitting there awaiting me, and what I had to tell them about CSR. I would wish sometimes in our western companies for such great interest in CSR. So I talked all day about CSR as the business concept, about making money by doing good, about ISO 26000 and its human rights chapter, about the respect for the laws of the country and the respect for international norms of behaviour and we had an open and engaged dialogue and discussion. Nobody took any offence in touching issues that we in the West associate with Iran in a negative way and I learned a lot about their thinking just as I hope they listened carefully to what I had to say.

CSR in Iran is still in most cases about charity and donations, it is not yet in the stage of becoming a strategical tool, but it is on the way and we found some elements in Mubareek that were not named CSR but cleary related to it. internally and externally. Still there are a lot of open issues, also in this company, but we planted the seed and we will see how big the tree will become one day. My hope is that my friends from CSR Iran will be able to pick up on this kick off meeting and work with the company in the future and maybe also have me coming back again as consultant. Not only for business reasons but Esfahan is a beautiful city, as I found out at a late evening walk through the historical city centre and across the ancient bridges of the city. As they say, you see Esfahan and you have seen half of the world.

Late at night the flights were operating again and I flew with Tahereh back to Teheran having a most enlightning discussion with a young, smart, well educated Iranian girl that does not fit in any of our clichees of surpressed, rightless women in this country. Of course I am not naiv, I know of the case of the woman sentenced to be stoned and many other such cases, but Iran is not black and white, it is, as in just so many issues in different countries all over the planet, different shades of grey. And with a strong light at the horizon with these smart and eloquent girls that will find their place in society.

This impression got even stronger the next day when I held a second workshop in Teheran with participants from different sectors of society, businesses, NGOs, academics and others. The questions I got from them put them in the top league of interested, smart particpants that I have witnessed during my many travels around the globe. We had planned the workshop till 1pm, at 2pm they were still sitting there discussing with me and nobody had left. Being openly critical to some of the government policies put me in strange situation of not really knowing how to answer, so I resorted to my usual tactics, being honest and transparent and saying what I think, and I guess that was appreciated by the people.

The evening then completed this picture with a stroll through some of the shopping malls of Teheran where the young girls were showing more hair than not and holding hands with their boy friends and just having fun. Maybe I only saw one picture of Iran, but that there is such a picture is something worth to be told about and gives hope for this beautiful and great country.

CSR - Status Austria

sorry, this one is in German - published also in "Profil" Magazine July 2010

CSR in Österreich – der Zukunft entfliehen

Wir schreiben das Jahr 2004. Österreich setzt sich ins Spitzenfeld der Europäischen Länder die sich mit CSR beschäftigen. Ein erlauchter Kreis. Da ist England, da ist Schweden, da sind die Niederlande, aber dann lange niemand. Die Industriellenvereinigung hat ein Leitbild der Verantwortung für Österreichische Unternehmen entwickelt. Und nicht einmal nur seine eigenen Wünsche reingeschrieben, nein, es war ein Multistakeholder Dialog, man hat auch anderen zugehört und deren Anregungen aufgenommen. Gleichzeitig wurde am Österreichischen Normungsinstitut ein Leitfaden entwickelt. Wie können Österreichische Unternehmen nun die Verantwortung auch gleich umsetzen. Dies war gleich so fortschrittlich, dass der Leitfaden in 5 weitere Sprachen übersetzt wurde, darunter auch ins Schwedische, Englische, Dänische und andere. Man schaute nach Österreich wenn es darum ging über CSR zu diskutieren. Ein Österreicher, Martin Neureiter, wurde in die Führung der ISO Arbeitsgruppe gewählt, zuständig für die Entwicklung eines internationalen Standards für Gesellschaftliche Verantwortung von Unternehmen – der ISO 26000.

Machen wir einen Sprung in die Gegenwart. Wo ist Österreich heute im Vergleich mit anderen Ländern? Es werden wohl alle zustimmen, unter ferner liefen. Was ist passiert? Die Antwort ist für einen gelernten Österreicher wenig überraschend, trotzdem international immer wieder schwer zu erklären. CSR wurde auf österreichisch institutionalisiert, und damit in die Bedeutungslosigkeit versenkt. Die Kammern, die Ministerien haben das Thema in seiner Tragweite durchaus erkannt, und als gefährlich eingestuft. Gefährlich wenn das Dogma „Freiwilligkeit“ fallen würde und plötzlich eine Verpflichtung draus werden würde. Freiwilligkeit aber im Verständnis von Willkürlichkeit. Alles ist CSR, solange wir es so nennen. Und nur keine Verpflichtung daraus ableiten. Das CSR etwas mit Verantwortung zu tun hat, ja mei, die übernehmen wir auch freiwillig, und wenn es uns nicht passt, dann gilt das Floriani Prinzip. The polluter pays ist ein Prinzip aus der Rio Declaration im Bereich Umwelt, der Verursacher zahlt. Leider ein hehrer Wunsch, in vielen Fällen eine Frage der politischen Zugehörigkeit oder der Drohung mit dem Verlust von Arbeitsplätzen. Verantwortung als willkürliches Ding dass dann gut ist, wenn man es im Marketing brauchen kann, aber ganz schlecht, wenn es was kostet.

Was heißt nun institutionalisiert? In Österreich hat man eine durchaus gute Sache gemacht, man hat eine Plattform gegründet, Respact, getragen von den Kammern, der Industriellenvereinigung, und dreier Ministerien (Lebens, Sozial und Wirtschaft). So weit so gut. Die Folge ist allerdings, dass jetzt von den genannten Institutionen keiner mehr CSR macht, sondern nur auf Respact verweißt. Wenn man mit einem Projekt an eine dieser Institutionen herantritt bietet Respact die ideale Ausrede nichts tun zu müssen. Dänemark hat CSR auf seine Fahnen geheftet. Nicht weil die Regierung meint, dass ist eine schöne Modeerscheinung und da machen wir mal mit, sondern mit knallharten ökonomischen Interessen. Dänemark feilt an seinem Markenimage, Produkte Made in Denmark sollen ökologisch sauber, ökonomisch profitabel und gesellschaftlich verantwortlich erzeugt werden. Der Käufer wird dann höhere Preise akzeptieren, weil er mehr einkauft als nur den Legostein, er kauft ein gutes Gewissen. Und dass tun immer mehr Konsumenten weltweit. Nur Österreich verschläft diesen Zug. Bio alleine reicht nicht mehr, es geht um Image, um Reputation, um die Frage WIE wurde das Produkt erzeugt. Vom Anfang bis zum Ende. Schweden hat einen CSR Botschafter, genauso wie Frankreich, der Unternehmen aus dem Lande dabei unterstützt ihre Produkte weltweit abzusetzen mit dem Image des sauberen, gesellschaftlich Verantwortlichen Herstellungsprozess. Und damit ein Gegengewicht gegen Billigproduzenten zu setzen. Selbst Deutschland, dass anfänglich den CSR Zug eher aufhalten wollte als aufspringen, hat inzwischen eine Lokomotivfunktion übernommen. Die Bundesregierung hat als Folge der „Heuschreckendebatte“ klare Vorgaben entwickelt, wie Ministerien Förderungen zu vergeben haben unter Einbeziehung von Umwelt- und Sozialaspekten. Selbst die G9 Staaten haben in ihrer Erklärung von Heiligendam 2008 CSR als das Instrument zur Steuerung der Wirtschaftsentwicklung gesehen und entsprechende Aufträge zur Weiterentwicklung gegeben. In Österreich hat das niemanden gekratzt.

Es gibt zwar einen CSR Verantwortlichen in der Wirtschaftskammer. halbtags wohlgemerkt, die Vorgabe aber scheint zu sein, alles so weit wie möglich zu verhindern. Im Normungsinstitut wurde eine Initiative gestartet, einen nationalen Standard basierend auf der internationalen Norm ISO 26000 zu entwickeln. Die Diskussion ist stecken geblieben. Dabei ist gar nicht die Wirtschaftskammer alleine daran schuld, keines Wegs. Auch die Arbeitnehmervertreter verwechseln das Normungsinstitut und das Thema CSR mit einem Gesetzgebungsorgan und würden am liebsten alles gesetzlich verankern, inklusive Monopol der Gewerkschaften auf das Thema.

Unter diesen Rahmenbedingungen verwundert es auch nicht weiter, dass die Österreichischen Unternehmen nicht wirklich sich um das Thema kümmern. Es gibt zwar immer mehr CSR Verantwortliche, mit und ohne Budget, und die eine macht mehr oder weniger als der andere, aber ohne großen Drive, ohne große Vision. Und bei Umfragen von Studenten oder von Respact kommt dann raus, sie tun eh alle so viel und sind eigentlich alles CSR Vorzeigebetriebe mit gelebter Verantwortung für die Mitarbeiter und die Umwelt.

Das Versäumnis seit 2004 ist zu erkennen, dass das Thema CSR sowohl ein politisches als auch ein wirtschaftliches ist, dass CSR sinnvoll von Staaten und von Unternehmen genutzt werden kann die eigene Position im globalen Wettbewerb zu stärken und sich in diesem Umfeld in einem Markt mit neuen Prioritäten zu positionieren. Geiz ist geil ist zunehmend out, Hausverstand ist in. Und CSR ist sehr oft nur das einsetzen von Hausverstand, Verantwortung für das was ich tue zu übernehmen, gesundes zu sich zu nehmen, nett mit seinen Mitmenschen umzugehen, Mitarbeiter nicht als Ware zu betrachten und nur wenn ich mehr einnehme als ich ausgebe ich längerfristig am Markt überleben werde. Ist nicht so schwierig, aber in Österreich schaffen wir es, in einer Mischung aus Standesinteressen, Kleinkarriertheit, politischer Verschrobenheit und Inkompetenz diesen Weg in die Zukunft zu verbauen.

Does CSR make you addicted?

I had a deja vu experiance yesterday which I want to share with you. I was talking to a good friend of mine, she runs a big CSR project and asked her if she would buy our CSR software (www.csr-toolkit.com) for her project and her answer was that she is "shocked" because of my proposal, she expected me to give it to her for free. Of course I would give it to her for free, as she had also contributed with ideas etc. in the making of the software and I had sent her the link already several times. But what is the point I am aiming at? The point is, I gave her as a person the software for free, not to her project. But I had the distinct impression that person and project were the same thing in her mind. Does CSR make you go gaga or act like a drug addict, who only thinks about the drug? I my earlier life I had been working for the largest National Park in Europe, the National Park Hohe Tauern, which covers most of the Austrian Alps. That was a cool job, very rewarding and makes you feel good, as you are protecting nature, animals, plants from extinction and preserve it for the future. High identificaiton. I then went into politics and worked as the advisor to the head of a political party who aims and goals I shared, so high identification again, And I had a relativly powerful position, as I was whispering in the ear of the party head and so many of my thoughts were actually put into reality. I had contacts to all other political parties, the President of the Republik is a personal you friend, the head of the consititutional court and many others were close "friends". In 1999 we dropped out of Parliament (hopefully not because of my advices ;-) and I suddenly lost my job and was Martin Neureiter again, not the advisor to the party head anymore. And all the people, very influencial people, still knew me, but did not have time for a meeting, did not have the possibility to find a job for me, did not write recommendation letters etc. because I was not "important" anymore. The lesson I learned from this was, I only had power given to me by somebody, it was not based on my me as a person. This is a hard lesson to learn. Now what does that have to do with CSR and my good friend. Well, we tend to identify ourselves with our work in CSR in a very high degree, because we like what we do, it is doing good, it is cool, it is reckognized etc. But it is not us as a person, it is the project we are doing. Our partners accept and respect us because we give them money or we are in other ways important for them to make THEIR thing working, not ours. Once we do not work for this CSR project anymore, do not have the power anymore to give them money or other benefits, very fast we fall down on the ground and realize, it is not us, it is the project. It is power given to us and it is power taken from us.
That is why I chose to open my own company, to earn my own credits and be respected for what I am not for something somebody else gave me. I know so many examples were people hired somebody, because he was working for example for the chamber of commerce and they thought if he would work for them it would open them many doors to many companies and get them new contracts. Nothing of that happened, because as soon as the person left the Chamber of Commerce, the companies did not take him serious anymore, he was not important anymore, it was not him, it was the position he had that was interesting for them. Look at Tony Blair, he might earn loads of money for holding speaches - about the past, but nobody gave him a new job, never mind all his contacts etc. well, he is not Primeminster anymore. That is why I guess politicians try to hang on to power as long as they can, because afterwards the fall is deep and the landing very often very hard.
So, my conclusion from all of this is: keep yourself seperated from your CSR project, you are you and project is project. It will allow you to think in alternatives and to think further than just the next event within your project. And the disappointment after the project ends is much much smaller, especially in the people you have been working with.

Is CSR female?

A few days ago I was doing some exams for Master Degrees in integrated Communication and a quarter of the students had chosen CSR as second subject. All six of them were female. Thinking about it, when I did the interviews for my post graduate class at the University for Applied Science in Vienna to become an "Academic CSR Manager", we had interviews all day long, one of them being a man. That mirrors the experiance we had the year before, when from 13 participants, 12 were women.
On the other hand, when visiting one of the many CSR award ceremonies, in very rare cases when the winner is announced, a woman comes up to the stage. Funny enough, awards seem to be in male hands.
At the Master Degree exams I asked several of the students, why they had chosen CSR as subject for the exams, and why they thought this was such a female issue. The answers might not be very surprising, but the long term meaning should be thought of. Their answers went in the direction of "it is so interesting", "I felt imediatly attracted by the subject", "it is the chance to do something good" on the subjective side to the more objective sphere, "the word social in CSR attracts women more than men", "it is a soft issue, men only want the financial stuff" to "CSR is like communication - female orientated and we need our domains".
If that is true, then we have to think of CSR differently. In my approach, that I preach on all continents, day and night, CSR is a business connept, it is about making money, it has nothing to do with being good, it is about being good to your financial bottom line. It is business strategy, it is how we do our core business, not an add on, something that we let "women" do, as they have no idea about the "hard business". Are we males really that stupid? Many studies show that women are the better bosses, they run companies better and more successfully, they should be where the money is made, not where the money is spent. But we live in a male dominated business environment, were networks are more important than qualification, knowing whom more relevant than knowing how.
What does that mean for CSR? Is CSR doomed to be not let into the holy grale of business strategy board room meetings? Well, dear managers, male or female, if that is the case in your business, then you are missing the point, and not only that, you are missing the benefits of CSR on your financial output. Your shareholders, who increasingly are also female, will punish you for leaving out business opportunities and by that increasing the financial sustainability of your enterprise. CSR is core business! CSR is strategic business management! CSR makes money. CSR prevents risks and increases opportunities! Guys, open your eyes, if you want to make a career in any business, go for a well founded, all enclosing CSR education, it will open the doors to the board room meetings you are now only hearing about.
But to achieve that, we CSR practioneers, CSR educators, CSR managers, CSR promoters, CSR communicators have to continue preaching the message and base it on evidence that CSR really makes the difference. This evidence we find, when we go around with open eyes, because not every company calls its activities CSR but they do it just the same. Take these examples and make CSR mainstream, then we will have also men sitting in the CSR exams, CSR courses etc. but maybe it will be to late then, because women have taken the top positions already!