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The Training and Certifications Unit of the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) recently organized a webinar under the banner, ‘Women in Leadership: Working towards equal opportunities amidst COVID-19 challenges.’ The webinar which was aligned with the International Women’s Day, enabled a platform to discuss the efforts taken locally and internationally to shape a ‘more equal future’ for women leaders in the private sector whilst facing COVID-19 challenges.

The panel for the webinar comprised Jeanne Schmitt, Senior Programme Officer, International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Ransi Dharmasiriwardhana, Head of HR, Standard Chartered Bank, Ramya Weerakoon, Independent Consultant, Multi Sectoral Global Business Development and Ayomi Fernando, Attorney-at-Law and former Assistant Director General & Head of Training, EFC.

Gender diversity, as Jean Schmitt illustrated, helps businesses to thrive. Citing the ILO’s report, ‘The business case for change  (2019)’, she further noted that inclusive policies and an inclusive business culture have a positive impact on productivity, ability to attract and retain talent, creativity, innovation and openness and company’s reputation. The share of women in management is proportionate to a country’s income, the report further revealed. “Only 22% of all CEO positions are occupied by women,” pointed out the ILO expert who went on to note that the share of women CEOs decreases proportionate to the size of the enterprise. “Only 16% of women CEOs occupy large sized companies while 20% of them are found in medium-sized companies and 26% in small enterprises.”

While ‘glass walls’ and ‘glass ceilings’ hinder women from moving into higher levels of decision making and upper-level positions, their visibility, empowerment and leadership is even more crucial in the present digital age, remarked Schmitt. In moving forward and creating a public debate in championing a more gender-balanced workforce, employer organizations can play a crucial role, she added.

Sharing the success story of Standard Chartered Bank in realizing a ‘culture of equal opportunity and inclusion’, its HR Head, Ransi Dharmasiriwardhana alluded to the key enablers of ‘women win at work’, ‘employee retention initiatives’ and ‘fair pay charter’ which help ‘better the balance’ within the organization. “Diversity and inclusion is very much a part of our DNA and it is not just a HR initiative for us, but much more than that,” said the HR professional who cited the bank’s key focus areas of inclusive parenting, physical and mental well-being, professional development and grass-root impact.

Recognition of Standard Chartered Bank as the only bank in Sri Lanka to be certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’ is a testament to the people-centric, performance-driven and inclusive culture it strives to champion, said Dharmasiriwardhana. “This makes us an employer of choice,” she said, adding that nevertheless, her organization is conscious of overcoming roadblocks such as biases and self-limiting beliefs and priorities. “In a culture of honour and inclusion, there is nothing which you cannot achieve,” reflected Ramya Weerakoon. Sharing her personal journey of surviving and thriving in gender-based industries with tools such as navigating unconscious bias, developing a language of competence and focusing and strategizing on how to balance work and life, Weerakoon also enabled a dialogue on COVID-induced challenges women have to brave. The shift in work-life balance with increased and unrestricted demands on time, domestic violence, fear and anxiety take an enormous toll on women, noted the senior professional who called for various proactive interventions to mitigate the burden.

Unconscious bias which results from negative messaging can prevent many women from reaching their true potential, pointed out Ayomi Fernando. This is reflected across the board, said the lawyer cum senior trainer who cited a recent global survey which revealed that in every country researched, both men and women are less comfortable about women being CEOs.

“The free education of ours invests in our girls and when we look at our university output, we see many young women ahead of their male counterparts, but sadly after a while a good number of them take the back seat which is a huge loss,” observed Fernando. Calling for proper information to be made available for girls to select their future careers, she also stressed on the need to open them to wider career options.