- Hemas Holdings hosts discussion addressing gender inequality
Hemas Holdings PLC hosted “#BreaktheBias – It Starts with Me”, a virtual discussion on the importance of celebrating women’s achievements and addressing gender inequality and bias that exists in today’s society, in honour of International Women’s Day (IWD).
Following in the footsteps of the Global Campaign of IWD 2022, with an aim to establish a society free of gender discrimination, the forum honoured achievements of women leaders at Hemas while also sharing their personal experiences on tackling bias.
Commenting on the event, Hemas Holdings PLC Senior Manager of Group Sustainability and Corporate Communications Ishani Ranasinghe said: “This Women’s Day, in the spirit of ‘Breaking the Bias’, we decided to celebrate the accomplishments of the outstanding women at Hemas to inspire and motivate women in our communities to push themselves to reach greater heights in their career.” She added that at Hemas they constantly support each other in the workplace.
Rafeek opened the discussion by sharing her story; hailing from a conservative family, she was the first girl to enter university. She shared that once she was accepted to university, her parents were bombarded with questions like why they were allowing her to enter university as she would pass her age for marriage once she goes to study. Luckily for her, her father was encouraging and motivated her to study, but she highlighted that not many women are blessed with such; most are just pushed into marriage at an early age.
On this topic, Wilson too commented, saying that there is an unconscious bias in the world where society thinks women should be gentle, soft spoken, caring, and nurturing. “When a woman is strong, decisive, and assertive, most don’t look at this person as a women, and will dislike her,” she observed, adding that in her 21 years at Hemas, she was often known to be too strong, too straightforward, and unwavering, although they did compliment her work. She shared that in her workplace, there were two views, noting: “One from those who looked at me as a leader and one from those who viewed my leadership style from parallel sectors.”
Sharing her thoughts on the same, Jayamaha stated that she thinks women have to work twice as hard as men to be seen. “I always noticed that when it came to promotions or salary increments, you had to be putting in more work than your male colleagues,” she stated, adding that it was tough but it also helped her build her character and gave her strength. It is clear that women are forced to become someone they may not necessarily be in the workplace, which will help build character, but women should be seen for who they are and be given the opportunity to feel comfortable in their own skin.
Rafeek added to this, saying that in her workplace, she was viewed as soft spoken and gentle, so there were doubts regarding whether she could handle certain tasks. “Within me, I knew I could handle it, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken on the role, and I proved my worth,” she said, adding that during the five years she was in charge of the task, everything went smoothly with zero setbacks.
Talking about a similar experience during a meeting, where she simply wasn’t being taken seriously for being herself, Wilson said: “The president of the meeting was male, and it was an industry-related meeting. Whenever I tried to give my input, I was asked to wait, ignored, and not given the chance to talk.” She added that they went around the table of nine men, and each time she tried to share her view, she was silenced. What was most demeaning was that the next topic of discussion was their annual dance, which was the only time the president asked her for her input. She shared that she stood her ground firmly and stated that her strength is strategic input, and dances are simply not her cup of tea. Fortunately for her, that was the last time they picked on her, which goes to show that standing your ground sometimes has to happen.
“Over the years, what I noticed is that sometimes you have to be yourself. Sometimes when you speak your mind, it comes to bite you, and you’ll be known as a bad person, but women have to be their genuine self, speak their mind, and be direct,” Hennedige affirmed, adding that these are qualities she adopted after she promised herself that she would not change for anything or anyone.
Going back to Wilson’s example, Hennedige observed that when women show emotions, they are told to control them and tame them, whereas with men, it would be viewed as passionate and determined.
Jayamaha added to this, noting that women can play either “good cop or bad cop – it’s a strength women have. Asserting this in any situation does help and looking at it objectively, irrespective of gender, sometimes we are not receptive to the feedback we are given”. She concluded that having an objective mindset is the only way to tackle this bias in the workplace.
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