Internal empowerment is key to gender equality: local business executive
True support within a sisterhood circle is key to achieving gender equality, Renee Chisolm, vice president of operations at DFS Macau, said at a seminar yesterday.
From personal experience, Chisolm suggested that females are harsher in their self-evaluation and that men may have greater egos in that respect.
Her experience was that when women were told to rate their own achievements, they tended to be conservative and underrate themselves. In contrast, men were usually bolder and rated themselves to be more successful, regardless of their actual achievements.
As such, instead of saying that women should be bolder – like what people usually say – Chisolm encouraged women to support fellow women in empowering each other to strive to achieve higher goals.
Also at the seminar, Eddie McDougall, group CEO of The Flying Winemaker, highlighted that women had been underrated in the eight millennia of wine making, noting the wide array of male icons used to represent the industry.
Women, however, were essential to wine making during World War I, when all the men were on battlefields fighting. Women were “instructed” to take good care of vineyards and produce.
However, he pointed out that the industry has become different now, with more women immersing in wine making. McDougall stressed that the first clear champagne in history was made by a woman.
Another speaker, Luisa Bragança, vice president at Sands China Ltd., revealed that her daughter was asked by her school to obtain parental consent on the commencement of sex education. She found this requirement bizarre.
Later, her daughter told her that she was not satisfied with the curriculum, as it was heterosexually-oriented. Bragança stressed that in the fight for gender equality, the equality of other sexualities should not be neglected.
Yesterday’s seminar was co-organized by the British and Australian Chambers of Commerce in Macau. It was the second edition of its kind in two years.
Panel facilitator and multi-property vice president of Sheraton Grand Macao and The St. Regis Macao, Janet McNab, said it was a great honor to be part of a celebration that recognizes the successes of women while acknowledging the many challenges women face around the world.
“Collectively everyone can strive for women’s equality and continue to make positive gains towards a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination,” chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Macao, Keith Buckley, said.
Meanwhile, Patrick Liu, chairman of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Macau, said: “Celebrating International Women’s Day and the achievements of women is especially important today as we reflect on why gender equality is good for everyone.”
The origins of International Women’s Day date back to 1917 when women working as textile workers in Russia protested to demand voting rights. International Women’s Day is now a globally recognized day of celebrations, first acknowledged by the United Nations in 1975.
The proceeds of the International Women’s Day event of 130,000 patacas will be donated to Good Shepherd Sisters, to support their work uplifting the welfare of women and girls, especially those marginalized by society.
