Women in Finance

Gender equity for me is being fair and respectful to all, irrespective of their gender, as it fosters creativity, innovation, and endless possibilities for success. It is about giving similar opportunities, roles, challenges, recognition and, most of all, a good working environment to all, which can help them perform and thrive.

It is critical because collective minds with unbiased thinking bring out the best in people and help them make better decisions. An organisation that welcomes diversity improves employee satisfaction and enables them to collaborate even more towards achieving team goals, helping an organisation succeed. It unites and empowers teams and improves employee retention.

As a leader, it’s important to sensitise teams and ensure they align with the broader objective. We foster a culture of inclusivity and participation by constant communication in the form of training sessions, workshops, and other relevant initiatives. We strongly encourage managers to provide fair opportunities to women, from hiring to career growth and recognition.

While we have made significant progress towards promoting gender equity, we also strive to achieve more. Our Diversity and Inclusion groups like WIN, PEP and BRIDGE seek to reduce unconscious bias and understand the different generations in the workplace. Promoting gender equity requires a long-term and ongoing commitment from an organisation and its leadership to create a more inclusive and equitable workplace.

If your skillsets match the job expectations, engage with people already working in these roles, to understand more about the role and the growth. Having worked in male-dominated industries, in my experience, the senior leadership has always been encouraging of women in these roles. Seeking advice from peers from mid to senior members has always been immensely helpful to me – setting up monthly / quarterly catchups with such peers has helped me gain confidence and learn from others.

In order to promote and practice gender equity, we need to have open conversations with employees, and understand their priorities and respective needs. I have been blessed to work with managers and mentors, who have understood these shifts in needs at different stages of my life and have guided me accordingly. And as a manager myself, I am currently paying it forward by adopting that same open culture with my team. In terms of what more we could do, maybe people managers should have more open conversations with each other on different best practices they follow in their own teams; these sessions would help us learn from each other and in turn achieve better gender equity.

There is a saying in China “Women hold up half the sky”. Girls have equal access to education and women play an important role in society and politics. The Chinese society has become more inclusive and provides more opportunities to women. Women’s economic independence gives them the courage and confidence to stand for gender equity in life.

Mentorship is helpful for the growth of leaders, irrespective of gender. The knowledge sharing and guidance from senior managers will help to become more confident in executive presence and address business challenges.

As a manager, my focus was not futuristic and was highly driven by goals. But when I saw myself as a leader, the extent of responsibility, as well as perspectives, grew wider, and the outlook became futuristic. I became more adaptable and open-minded, willing to take risks. I believe that personal branding is very important, and it must be a conscious effort, especially as you look to grow as a leader. What is very important is carving your own identity and being true to your personality. Taking feedback is essential, too. A consistent approach must be adopted and should be reflected in all parts of one’s life.

Equity at the workplace is often confused with Equality. Equity is about fairness and impartiality. Gender equity is about policies, provisions and processes that ensure fair and equitable treatment to all irrespective of their gender. Three ways to improve gender equity at the workplace:

• Education goes a long way in building inclusive habits, inclusive communication, inclusive leadership and in turn an all-inclusive culture.

• Policies and procedures that are gender neutral and all gender inclusive is a powerful way to create more gender equity in the workplace.

• Reviews of diversity matrices and regular reviews of policy effectiveness is a must to assess impact and if not, remedial measures taken.

Women tend to be better team players and have the potential to think big picture and collaborate well. Skills like relationship management come to women more naturally. To advance more women in sales, management needs to walk the talk. Saying that they support women in the workforce merely is not enough. An organization’s policies and culture need to reflect the same. Also celebrating women’s sales leaders’ success openly and giving them credit when due, helps set the path for future female sales leaders.

Women candidates seek work-life balance because this is how they have been positioned in society for years. Enabling working from home is a good policy to start, but at a personal level, society needs to create a support system to support women professionals.

Having more female role models in senior management positions encourages more women to join organisations where they will be given leadership roles. Conducting more workshops where women leaders address both professional and personal concerns would foster a sense of belongingness and inspire female colleagues to step up.

Gender equity in Costa Rican society is moving in the right direction, and dual-income families are the norm. Women in the workforce are now commonplace, however, we face different problems as we progress towards a more egalitarian society.

All women, especially those who are part of a minority group, know that at every step they will be scrutinized. To succeed, we need to be accountable, reliable and have the will to achieve greatness. I believe that someone with considerable experience in decision-making should have a say when it’s related to organizational decisions, and as women, we make small or big decisions daily.