Global Summit for Women discusses career equality, stereotypes
CAIRO: After a decades-long struggle for career equality, women have managed to increase their percentile in the workforce. Statistics show that more women enter the global workforce each year. They have even managed to push forward legal changes aimed at workplace equality. But while reassessment of goals, gains and losses is now inevitable, one key issue forces itself on the table: stereotypes, especially those embraced by women themselves.
During the Global Summit for Women that was held in Cairo this week, women from around the globe came together to discuss their stories, problems and achievements. Female ministers, high profile executives, social activists and entrepreneurs chairing $100-million-plus multinationals all contributed their input.
Each had a different recipe for success and many pointed to the strides the legal systems in their countries have taken towards workplace equality. Even on the corporate level, companies are now realizing the importance of accommodating working hours and regulations to better suit their female employees.
Regulations regarding sexual harassment, maternity and paternity leaves and establishing daycare centers are celebrated achievements on this front. Of course, the degree to which such regulations have been implemented and accepted varies from country to country. Some countries have made great strides and many others are lagging far behind.
But at one point or another, a number of the participants reflected on obstacles that had to do with stereotypes and social beliefs: men reluctant to accept a woman’s leadership and striking a balance between career and family. Globally, the problems are basically the same, with varying percentages.
In establishing authority, women in leading positions credited traits irrelevant to gender. Determination, self-control and passion are but a few examples, Debra Charpaty, corporate vice president of MSN operations, advised attending women during one of the sessions not to think of themselves as women but as leaders.
Yet, all stressed the importance of bringing the feminine side to business; some participants pointed to the fact that when women reach leading positions they try and ally themselves with the leading executives in the same company.
Iman Hill, vice president of British Gas in Egypt, says that being another man on the board won t help. The idea is to bring the female perspective to the workplace, she explains. Sahar El Sallab, vice chairperson and managing director of Commercial International Bank Egypt, says that women bring a family feeling to institutions.
“Family turns out to be a resource for [mothers in leading positions] and when the responsibility for the family additionally boosts the work motivation, then the children even become the career kick, reads a research done by the European Academy for Women in Politics and Business (EAF) in Germany.
CNN correspondent Valerie Morris stressed the importance of acknowledging vulnerable times. A good leader is one who knows when to ask for help, according to Morris. She recommends creating a network of women to support each other during vulnerable times or days.
The judgmental look some working mothers receive is not confined to conservative societies or developing countries. Kathrine Walther, EAF project manager, points to a term in German that describes working mothers as incompetent for leaving their children in daycare centers.
Sadaf Sadeq, from the Imagining Ourselves Project, said that working mothers are criticized for giving time to their careers and stay-home mothers are also criticized for giving up career opportunities.
But while the women are battling with numerous outsider judgments, they also fight their own stereotypes. At one session at the summit, participants noted women s multiple identity complex, meaning that a woman herself is torn between her responsibilities at home and at work, with a rising sense of guilt.
Wendy Papworth, head of the workforce diversity team at IBM, says that company flexibility with working hours – there are options of fulltime, shared hours and reduced hours with numerous additional variations – help accommodate women’s family-oriented lifestyle. The availability of daycare centers for youth and for elderly also helps.
But at the end of the day, women might think that taking advantage of such policies would jeopardize their careers. Papworth, who is currently working on the reduced hours system (four days a week), strongly disagrees as the various senior positions she has held throughout her career back up her words.
Other women refuse to take advantage of some of the options available due to their own stereotypes of gender roles. Hana Shams, president of Resonance for Mind and Energy Healing Workshops in Egypt, says that children need their mothers more, and mothers need to keep it real. They need to understand that they have both work and family to tend to, she adds.
The concept of paternity leaves, in which a father would take time off to take care of his newborn, wasn’t considered appealing by women 15 years ago, according to Walther. But now, studies show that women and even men accept and apply the concept. Men, however, don’t find much flexibility at work to respond to their needs to share family responsibility, she adds.
The paternity leave concept hasn’t been introduced in Egypt, but a previous The Daily Star Egypt article showed resistance from women to the idea. Meanwhile, Sadeq says that there are thousands of stay-home fathers in the United States.
Couples needs to have more confidence in their chosen lifestyle in order to face society, says Walther.
