Dato Aliyah Karen is the CEO at MAA Medicare Charitable Foundation in Malaysia. She believes that women with a modicum of experience should lead the battle for gender balance.
What according to you are the successes of gender equality movement which gathered momentum towards the end of the last decade?
Many countries had their own gender issues and fought for the rights to uphold pertinent issues, which included woman’s integrity, sexual harassments, equality in pay and positions, gender balance at workplace and upper management/ Board roles and even gender bias media / advertising campaigns.
I personally liked the focus on eliminating gender pay gap, which saw many campaigns; ‘equality can’t wait’, ‘equal pay today’ and #MeTooPay launch to end the gender pay discrimination.
#MeToo campaign went global against sexual harassment and humungous focus was placed on the very basic male vs female discrimination involving promotions, body shamming and even pregnancy.
At the start of this decade, what would be your three priorities for gender equal workplaces?
- Fairness (being fair) to all employees focusing on their strengths, abilities and capabilities, simply because it’s the right thing to do.
- Equal access to opportunities at the workplace.
- End presumptions that woman will be less productive if they are married, pregnant and have kids.
How important is the role of men in this movement and what according to you should organisations do to involve them?
Men will always be looked up to as a masculine, leader even when they are not heading an organisation. They can and would make good mentors at workplaces. Men somehow take on the role as buddies, understanding non-judgemental, good listeners and often father figures who dish out good advice.
How important is the concept of “Sisterhood” in accelerating change?
Sisterhood has stood the test of time and we have many successful ‘Oprah and Gayle’ who have had years of friendship. We often hear the phrase “Men just don’t get it”. Woman should stand by woman, be supportive, understanding and a be a good ‘sounding board’. Society today sees many unmarried or single woman, divorcees, single mums even lesbians. The concept and support of sisterhood, without being judgemental, often helps take off pressure, stress and certainly helps with even depression. Every woman wants to be heard and understood let alone needs a shoulder to cry on. That’s why we also hear some say “I wish I had a sister”.
Do you think we need a young champion like Greta Thunberg for this cause as well?
Personally NO !. Greta was and is being exploited. We have our own woman voices and woman leaders in our respective countries, expert in many fields of public interest and advocacy. One must be passionate and first go through, encounter and deal with a level of experience to even advocate for causes.