A look at countrymeters reveals that there is near parity between the number of men versus the number of women in the world today (50.4% vs 49.6%). So, you’d think that women should be near that ratio when it comes to leading or running businesses. Naturally you’d call me the CEO of Fantasyland before this will happen.
The World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index 2018 report revealed that despite humanity’s progress towards giving women due respect in society, much still needs to happen in the workplace. The report noted that the global average stood at 68% and only the top seven countries have closed the parity gap to at least 80%.
With a ranking of 8th in the index, the Philippines bested its developed sister countries including Singapore (67), China (103) and Korea (115). But enough of the fidgeting with numbers.
Fast forward to March 8, 2020, the world celebrated International Women’s Day, celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and just as important a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
To date there are still far too few women representation across industries, particularly in Asian culture where women have historically been homemakers.
That said, there are successful female entrepreneurs in Asia including Kalyani Gongi of Ancient Living in India, Tan Hooi Ling of Grab (formerly MyTeksi) in Malaysia, Xiaoqiu Zheng of Wan Shen Hui Co. in China, Angeline Tham of Angkas in the Philippines, Antiki Bose of Zilingo in Singapore, Chrisanti Indiana of Sociolla in Indonesia.
FutureCIO spoke several successful practice leaders to get their views on gender equality in Asia.
The message of IWD 2020 is generational equality as opposed to gender equality. How do you see the two related and does one trump the other?
Renee Welsh, CEO, Embed: To me they are similar in the sense that progress has been made towards gender parity (regardless of generation) but not nearly enough. The statistics speak for themselves: only 17% of Fortune 500 CEO’s are women and only one in four start-ups has a woman on the founding team. In 2016, only $1.46 billion was invested in companies with female leads. Closing the gender gap in tech is hard, but not at Embed. I’m a female CEO and over 50% of my leadership board is female too.
Joanna Lu, head of Consultancy Asia, Ascend by Cirium: It’s all about the nature of human beings – no one is better than others. The key is to always be open minded and listen to a different perspective.
Winnie Lee, COO, Appier: We should strive for both, as generation and gender are just two of several aspects that contribute to diversity and inclusion overall. For example, long-term business experience coupled with the ‘digital nativeness’ of younger people can lead to creative problem-solving. What we should focused on however, more than equality, is equity. Equality means treating everyone equally, but equity means giving everyone all the tools they need to be successful regardless of their starting point.
Anuradha Purbey, People Director, Asia (Aviva): Equality is not about just gender or generation. At Aviva, we believe equality at all levels makes business sense. We promote equality and inclusion across genders, generations, ethnicity, disabilities and sexual identities so that our employees can bring their authentic selves to work.
Mychelle Mollot, chief marketing officer, Solace: Gender equality is a subset of generational equality. Generational equality is the broadest and boldest statement of female empowerment across critical areas of concern, including poverty, education and human rights amongst others, while gender equality has been traditionally focused on equal opportunities for girls and women in sports, school, community and work.
In Asia, do you see women leaders continue face tradition (status quo) in their quest to leadership roles? Why or why not?
Joanna Lu: Sometimes yes, but depending on the industry, country or scene. It is probably due to legacy social bias on women. But women are generally more empathetic and great listeners, which make them great leaders.
Winnie Lee: It’s inevitable that some women will face this, just as members of other groups might face challenges due to long-held cultural or societal beliefs. These shifts can take a long time, but that makes the work of ensuring diversity and inclusion even more important, so that we can move more quickly towards an equitable way of living and working. Business leaders should be among those championing change so that everyone is given the opportunity to do fulfilling work.
Anuradha Purbey, Asia (Aviva): Research & data shows great improvement in women’s representation in leadership in the last decade but there is still a long way to go. There are challenges faced by women leaders in Asia but with the necessary leadership skills honed, there are more women leaders being heard.
Mychelle Mollot, Solace: Progress is slow but optimistic. While conversations about gender diversity and fairer rights have risen up the business and political agenda in Asia, women are still severely under-represented in senior leadership and government. However, recent legislative movements such as the possible extension of statutory maternity leave in Hong Kong, are positive signs of change that will encourage more women in leadership roles.
Renee Welsh: With over 50% of Embed’s leadership made up of women, we are living the example that others aspire to achieve. It is a testament to our value system, our culture and organisation, who we are and how we do things. Our MD of Middle East, Europe and Africa is female and our CMO and Chief of HR, based in Singapore, are both women.
How would you implement/encourage gender diversity in business?
Anuradha Purbey: The leadership team in Aviva makes every effort to develop women through experiences, programmes and workshops. Gender Balance numbers are a key metric in all key processes of the organisation such as Recruitment, Succession Planning, Talent Review and Development opportunities. In addition, Gender Pay Gap is closely tracked at Aviva. Our Rewards team keeps a close watch to ensure there is no gender bias in promotions/increments. Because of the progressive people policies we have, ~60% of our employee population is female and there is 40% women representation in our senior leadership team.
Mychelle Mollot: In order to tackle the array of challenges that women constantly face in a male-dominated environment, business leaders should foster an inclusive work culture that advocates for equality and prioritises active listening without biases as a first step. Given that representation in the boardroom has room for improvement, management should also look into how they mentor and guide the next generation of leaders.
Renee Welsh: Embed is high-tech firm employing people from 24 cultures of which 38% are female overall, with over 50% female at leadership level. Closing the gender gap in tech is hard, but I believe we are on the right track and have many exceptional role models to be able to continue this momentum. We’ve not had to set metrics for gender diversity because our balance is very healthy – we simply select the best person for the role and if that just happens to be a women and a millennial, it’s great!
Joanna Lu: We take the inclusiveness of our gender diversity very seriously. There are many programs that focus on diversity and the culture of inclusion. We coach teams to be mindful of their unconscious bias and be open minded when recruiting.
Winnie Lee: It’s important for organizations to have a level playing field when it comes to hiring, making sure everyone goes through the same process in which people are evaluated for the right skills first and foremost, and this is what we do at Appier. It’s also important to us at Appier that every member of the team- irrespective of gender- in every function is doing work that is meaningful and challenging, and to be a good employer it’s part of our responsibility to ensure this. We can do this by proactively reaching out to all members of the team to make sure they have the tools and resources they need to succeed, and that they know how to and are comfortable with advocating for themselves and their teams when they need help and support. Last but not least, encouraging a culture of embracing diversity and open-mindedness is critical to the long-term health of the business!
