Even as women empowerment and gender equality efforts and campaigns are spreading across public and private spaces, the World Economic Forum (WEF) gave a sobering statistic: it will take 217 years to close the gender pay gap.
Yet, there are businesses and corporations who are taking the lead in creating work environments that are safe against gender discrimination and harassment as well as providing more opportunities for women to move up the corporate ladder and take on work and positions that bring out their full potential.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Unilever Philippines, as part of a multinational entity composed of employees of different genders and diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, gathered a group of influential women and one man to discuss how to create a culture of gender equality in the workplace.
The esteemed panel of accomplished and empowered individuals included Gina Lorenzana, Unilever Philippines VP for Personal Care, Amrita Padda, VP for Human Resources, Arif Hudaya, VP for Finance, and guests Myrza Sison, Summit Media Managing Editor and Armie Jarin-Bennett, CNN Philippines President. Unilever Head of PR Apples Aberin moderated the session.
Family plays an important role in gender equality
The family is the first teacher of values, and in terms of gender equality and empowerment, family members that encourage young girls to stand their own in the world help them to grow as strong and socially-aware individuals.
“It’s really helpful when the father believes in his daughter and believes in her potential. I have a father who is otherwise macho in other ways, but when it came to raising his daughter, he didn’t treat her based on gender,” Sison said. Yet, she also saw how Philippine society and other parents influence their children in a way that reinforced gender stereotypes. “Seeing this inequality and this situation moved me to do something. I didn’t know as a child that I would come to edit a women’s magazine. Heading a whole group of women’s magazines gave me an opportunity to influence attitudes,” Sison expressed.
Jarin-Bennett agreed with Sison saying, “I think family plays an important role. I have a very strong woman in my family. My grandmother raised me, because my parents were in medical school,” she shared.
Claim your rightful place at the table
Quoting Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook Chief Operating Officer, Sison stressed, “‘sit at the table!’ Claim your rightful place. Have unwavering belief in yourself and sit at the table.”
As a young marketing trainee, Lorenzana sat in wonder at the executives who had their own offices. What she noticed was that these executives were either all men or single women. “They are either single without kids or they are single with kids. So that is the cost of having to get into those rooms. To be honest, that was the first time I realized how come men had it all,” she shared. “Do I need to give up the part of me just to be there? That’s the thing about gender equality — it’s not just about reaching what you want to achieve but it also about what you may cost to get there,” Lorenzana added.
“We want to stop taking permission. We’ve got to stop thinking that someone is giving us something. It’s equally our decision, it’s our right,” chimed Padda. While many women now have supportive husbands or good male mentors, Padda believes that equality means not having to ask permission from men in order to pursue what they want to do.
For Jarin-Bennett, she advised women to never give male colleagues a reason to doubt their strength. “I never gave my male colleagues a reason to think even more that ‘eh babae yan eh’. She is female; she was always going to be emotional, she was going to cry she was going to be upset about these. I wanted to present myself to them that I’m equally strong, equally talented, and I can take on any assignment.”
As the lone male figure in the panel, Hudaya expressed his admiration and support for women who continue to be successful and passionate in their lives and career. He told the story of his wife who has decided to take up a tough course in the Asian Institute of Management. “She is busier than me,” he exclaimed. “I see my wife showing me the way how to be special and how to make a difference in whatever situation and whatever gender you are,” he shared.
Be conscious of unconscious biases
Padda warned against unconscious biases which women also have against other women. “We have to educate ourselves about the biases we have,” she advised. Lorenzana agreed, saying that society must create an environment that is inclusive for everyone, not just in terms of gender but also behavior.
Jarin-Bennett shared a story of being in a panel with Olympics Silver Medalist weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz. While she admired Diaz very much, she found that the other woman was intimidated by her because of her stature as president of CNN Philippines. When Jarin-Bennett approached Diaz to express her admiration, she suddenly asked the Olympian if she had the strength to carry her. When Diaz did, Jarin-Bennett asked for a photo to be taken. The photo, which was captioned with “strong women carry each other” went viral on social media. Jarin-Bennett advised the audience, especially the women, to encourage and empower one another.
The event ended with the panelists calling out to the audience to cultivate a young generation of gender-sensitive and gender-equal individuals. Lorenzana said, “we can’t change the problems of the world but we can start with younger people and how they help mold that. Then that can actually help create a next generation of young men who can create that culture in which it is okay for everybody to be equal because everybody should have a place at the table.”
