Women supporting women
“I’ve done many different things in my career. I’ve worked in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors in a diverse range of roles spanning communications, media, consulting and training. Prior to joining PwC, I headed up communications for the World Wide Fund for Nature in the United Arab Emirates. I’m a proper ‘Jack of all trades’, but what pulls it all together, I suppose, is a passion for change – creating and realising intentional change – and a love of learning. That’s really what brought me London Business School’s Executive MBA in Dubai in 2015."
“I was very keen to expand my knowledge of change management and the LBS EMBA in Dubai delivered that. We spent a lot of time together within my cohort exploring new concepts and sharing perspectives, but we also had broadened access to very diverse groups of business practitioners across other programmes in the School – a wider network. There is a fantastic knowledge-sharing dynamic that pushes your learning forward but also broadens out the way you approach ideas, challenges and opportunities."
“My role as Senior Manager with PwC for Hong Kong and China has also encouraged me to explore new perspectives on culture and gender issues. Based in Shanghai, I work with a diverse team of men and women. I love challenging my team members - it’s a positive thing and I think it encourages them to achieve more. But I believe women in positions of seniority ought to stop and think about what they expect from other women a little more."
“Women are slower to be promoted than men in business. Sadly that’s still the reality. And because higher standards are expected of women, I think it’s reasonable to assume that women who’ve made it to leadership positions are in some ways conditioned to demand more from other women. And I wonder whether this just perpetuates the problem."
“There seems to be an attitude that stems from unconscious biases held by both genders. Women aren’t innately more risk-averse than their male counterparts, more afraid of making mistakes or less inclined to believe in their ability. These behaviours come from a kind of gender-stereotyped conditioning that not only hampers women’s ascent of the career ladder but can impair their judgment (of other women) when they make it to the top."
“Senior women need to challenge these attitudes. We need to share strong messages about how it’s OK to make mistakes, and how it’s not necessary to have everything lined up all the time. We’re conditioned to believe that we have to outperform men and ourselves to succeed, but women in leadership have a duty to question these mindsets and open up pathways to other women – to believe a bit more in women full-stop.”