My present role has been the fourth one working for a global multi-national.
Each of these global companies have built-in ethos to see more women in senior roles. It is heartening to see 33 women have occupied the top roles in the Fortune 500 list today. No doubt, the way our women are progressing, the list should be larger. It was extremely pleasing when I got to know that a lady for the first time is soon going to lead Citigroup globally.
Women in the workplace were most-talked-about when PepsiCo named Indra Nooyi as the chief executive officer (CEO) to succeed Steve Reinemund, putting her among the leading women in corporate America. Indian-born Nooyi was ranked number 11 in Fortune’s list of the most powerful women in business.
Is it only Indra Nooyi who has been a pride to many Indian women? I believe not.
Recent examples of many women professionals in Bangladesh may deserve equal respect and recognition. Greater educational and employment opportunities for women, influence of Western media, and particularly the growth of individualism, combined with self confidence and earnest desire to win over adversities have brought the discussion of “women breaking the barriers” to the forefront.
In our country as well, some women have had the courage and ability to lead an institution, both home and abroad.
For a multi-national bank operating in a country like Afghanistan, finding customers is one thing; finding bankers to serve them is something else. And for a woman, it is even worse, especially when she sees some of her male colleagues in other banks or institutions resigning and going back to the home country.
In a rigidly conservative Afghanistan, Nasreen Sattar, former CEO of a foreign bank, had quite competently marked her presence while leading the bank. Quite apprehensive about how the Afghan men would react, she has broken barriers by successfully managing the bank’s growth.
The first Bangladeshi woman to take up a topmost position in a country like Afghanistan has truly made a difference in the society and can be cited as a role model for many. Nasreen and I worked together for more than eight years, and what made her different from the crowd is her commitment to continuous customer solutions building, and ability to get the best out of co-workers.
Today I am very proud that my former colleague, Humaira Azam has become the additional CEO of a large commercial bank. Another colleague, Nadia Mizan has become managing director and head of risk at Standard Chartered Bank. Humaira and Nadia made their way through hard work, commitment, and talent.
These ladies proved that they can work at par in the world of finance, risk management, or hardcore numbers, which was predominantly a male-dominated area in the past. It was not because of their influential family background or favourable fate that helped them come up the way; they made it with their hunger for learning and fortitude, the ability to look beyond the boxes.
A critical element in making it to the top is being in the pipeline to do so -- here women hold only very few key line jobs that make up the pipeline in most corporations. Aside from being in the pipeline, women in our country also have to believe they can make it.
My own experience confirms that it is hard for women or for other minorities to believe they can progress if they cannot look up and see faces like their own at the top. When highly educated women perceive a dearth of viable options and leave the workforce, the pipeline narrows even further. This creates the possibility of a vicious cycle -- a cycle in which a woman’s desire to make it to the top is sapped by the very paucity of other women who have done so.
So how do women balance careers with their responsibilities as mothers and wives? Often it takes energy, patience, hard work, and creativity. Millions of women around the world, however, somehow manage to do it all, often at the cost of their own personal time. Perhaps this is nothing to worry about, since it reflects choices made by women clearly in advantageous positions.
But the concern is over the best and brightest women, those future leaders, to leave -- not just because it’s not what PepsiCo CEO, Indra Nooyi, or Nasreen Sattar or Humaria Azam or Nadia Mizan of a multi-national bank has done, or other successful women leaders in other parts of the world, but because of the ever-increasing need for a highly-skilled workforce.
It is in everyone’s interest to redouble our efforts to help women rise to the top and help close the leadership gap.
And why not? I have seen many of my junior female colleagues, newly married ones, expecting ones, and aged ones not leave their work until or unless they can finish it properly. Some of them went home after midnight, some of them stayed up the whole night, just to ensure last minutes details for a morning event.
Some of the expecting women worked until the last day of their delivery. The recently-introduced “flexible working time” or “working from home” has made it much more encouraging for women to do more for the organization.
I personally feel a woman always likes to protect whatever she does. As a mother she protects her child, as a wife she takes care of her husband and similarly, as a professional, she protects her work ethic, reputation and, in turn, the organization.
When I joined Citibank, the gender balance was around 5% in favour of my “she colleagues.” When I left after nine years reached 20%, three occupying very important positions in the eight-member management committee. Same -- if not better -- is the case with my present organization; most of the divisions being headed by women.
I thought I should be very happy about this, until my boss questioned me: Why not 50%?
A male colleague of mine whispered: “You don’t even see 50% females in university classes. Besides, there’s usual comments about ladies taking six months maternity leave, young ladies getting married and leaving the job, and the ladies’ inability to stay late at work.”
My boss came back pretty strong: “How many of your lady colleagues nag about higher pay, better work-life balance, and inappropriately but regularly contributing in office politics, thereby spending their energy in the undesirable way? Very few, or almost none, which is quite contrary to the opposite gender.”
Given the right environment, women can continuously contribute to the “positive energy” in the workplace by finishing their work more efficiently. We believe that the future of corporations lies in how best they can utilize their women force and create an atmosphere for them to excel.
Mamun Rashid is a partner at PwC. Views expressed here are his own.