Associations

Last updated on 15 Aug 2024

24 Feb 2023 . 9 min read

Daniela Santos

Daniela Santos is the Marketing Assistant at Trade Finance Global (TFG). She holds a BA in Politics and Economics from the University of Leicester and an MSc in International Business and Politics from Queen Mary, University of London.

Content

Women in Trade – All categories

African Trade Associations Banking & Fls Emerging Markets Export Credit Agencies Insurance International Trade Legal Payments and Treasury Sustainability & ESG Trade Policy Women in Trade 2023

Women in trade, treasury and payments – associations

What does embracing equity mean to you, and how do you embrace that in your life and career?

Embracing equity means acknowledging and valuing diversity in all its forms. It requires a deliberate effort to empower individuals to reach their full potential, regardless of their background or circumstances. In my professional life, I strive to create a workplace culture that prioritises inclusiveness.

Equal pay for equal work is of course of utmost importance, but we need to go beyond that. I believe that creating a welcoming environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their experiences and opinions is key to achieving long-term success. In my personal life, I surround myself with people from different backgrounds to broaden my perspectives and help me understand and respect different experiences.

I also strive to instill these values in my role as a mother, teaching my children that everyone is unique and deserving of equal opportunities. My own children have taught me that one-size-fits-all solutions are not effective for everyone.

What are ways companies can make women feel more supported in the workplace? Do large-scale changes make the biggest difference, or are there ground-level initiatives that work better?

I firmly believe that companies need to create an environment where women are truly supported and empowered. This starts with having diverse role models and promoting diversity within the workplace. Family-friendly policies that are accessible to both men and women, as well as tangible incentives with specific goals set by an organisation to increase female representation, are crucial in creating a supportive environment. Quotas, although a controversial solution, may be the only way to increase female participation in areas where they are underrepresented. However, incentives and policies alone are not enough to create a sustainable and growth-oriented environment for women. Women need to support each other and acknowledge each other’s accomplishments, through mentorship programs, advice on how to speak up and through sharing of ideas. I believe that it’s important for women to feel comfortable and confident in sharing their experiences and difficulties in the workplace to ensure that their voices are heard. I believe that together we can create a workplace that truly supports and empowers women.

Did COVID-19 make work-life balance better or worse for women in the workplace?

Research on the subject revealed that women have been hit much harder on a social and economic level by the pandemic. There have been more job losses for women than men, most front liners were women not to mention the systemic challenges faced by women in the workplace, particularly with regards to work-life balance. The pandemic shed light on the persistent gender bias in the workplace. Yet, as I look back, I also see a renewed focus, as the pandemic left me more time to be creative. Inherently, my boys have juggled tasks that they previously never experienced and learnt to be more independent, leaving me more time to focus on my wellbeing. That positivity that guided me in the initial weeks to ensure we met our targets whilst working from home, will remain with me to help me have more faith when change comes along. I now see better hybrid models through enhanced connectivity and digitalisation with more women taking interest in this area. I am therefore optimistic that such an experience has made women more resilient and this in turn has encouraged women to optimise the advantages brought by the pandemic.

Deepa Sinha, BAFT

What does embrace equity mean to you?

To me, #EmbraceEquity means taking deliberate and intentional steps to ensure fairness and equity in every aspect of life. It means recognising and addressing inequalities, and striving to create an environment of respect, inclusion, acceptance, and appreciation for all. It means creating a world where everyone’s voice is heard, everyone has access to the same opportunities, regardless of their gender, race, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics, and everyone can thrive. It means understanding, respecting, and celebrating the diversity of all individuals and communities. It is about creating an equitable future for all of us. Equity is the means to equality. Ultimately, #EmbraceEquity is a call to action—to take action to ensure that equity and justice are embedded in all that we do.

Johanna Wissing, Credit Suisse

What does embrace equity mean to you?

To me, “embrace equity” means to create a just level-playing field where everyone can strive and thrive regardless of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or socio-economic background. Much has been achieved already, though with some stark differences across geographies, but much remains to be done. Embracing equity is uniquely important and an imperative to encourage and empower each and every individual to achieve the best they can for business, society, and a just and fair transition for a sustainable future.

I try to serve as a role model, encouraging women to build capacity, pursue self-development and be effective such that they can compete, positioning them for opportunities as they come

Irina Tyan, EBRD

What does embrace equity mean to you?

International Women’s Day is around the corner, and the question of embrace equity got me thinking about what this actually means to me.

For me, equity is about acknowledging that people are different and have different circumstances and demands. As a result, they may need additional or different resources and support to help level the playing field. As a working mother of two lovely boys, gender equity for me means enabling women to combine work demands and childcare so as not to feel guilty or stressed that you are failing at one or the other (or both!). Finding that balance requires support and adjustment from people both at work and at home.

Hannah Nguyen, International Chamber of Commerce

What does embrace equity mean to you?

#EmbraceEquity means creating enabling environments and elevating support networks for those who have been institutionally marginalised. I urge more women and allies to leverage the superpowers of insight, intuition and empathy that we are naturally endowed with, and use those superpowers to challenge biased assumptions, discriminatory practices and apathy that are the root causes of many issues our society is facing today.

Eleonore Juliane Treu, ICC Austria

What does embrace equity mean to you?

#EmbraceEquity is to understand that inclusion and gender equality are not simply marketing tools but necessities to stay on top of an ever changing economic environment. However, closing the #genderpaygap or offering one-size fits all trainings, incentives, and benefits will not be sufficient. Take the company car for example, once considered a one of a kind incentive, today by many viewed as a relict of yesteryear’s #corporateculture.

#EmbraceEquity recognises that a system created by and for just one group of people will remain highly limited in its offering of opportunities. Even if those opportunities are offered equally, these opportunities may not be suitable or simply right for those not belonging to the group they were designed for.

Similar, to the current trend to diversify global supply chains to increase their resilience we need to diversify and adjust our understanding of equality and inclusion. If we want to attract diversity we need to be willing to offer it in return.

We are equals, the support and rewards we desire however may differ, to #embraceEquity is to whole-heartedly welcome our differences and to provide for an environment in which growth happens not in spite of it but because of it.

Diana Smallridge, International Financial Consulting Ltd.

What does embrace equity mean to you?

As a women-owned and women-led firm that provides advisory services to institutions that provide finance for trade and investment, we embrace equity through our everyday work – whether developing a gender-sensitive integrated national financing strategy for the Government of Namibia or designing a trade finance facilitation programme for the Commonwealth Small Island Developing Countries.

To us, “embracing” means valuing equity and living it in the way we approach working with our team and our clients. In our 20 plus years of experience, we have seen incredible successes when diverse opinions in decision-making are sought and valued by management teams wearing this lens of equity,

leading to improvements in financial and organisational performance. Within our team, we strive to nourish this culture.

We are proud to be part of a movement which supports underrepresented voices in society, notably women. We apply a gender lens to ensure our advice and recommendations to our clients can help create improved and more equitable access to finance for those who face additional economic barriers because of their gender.

Jessica Wardle, M&C Saatchi Export

Trade and investment provide opportunity and can build equity through the strengthening of economies and the creation of more and better-paid jobs. There is evidence that demonstrates enhanced corporate performance when diversity and inclusion are embraced, so it’s not a stretch to consider this being the case for economies also. Those who succeed will be those who embrace equity in how they deliver investment and trade promotion strategies; creating a business culture that is both attractive to, and welcomes all and that build support structures and incentives that address a diverse set of audience and business needs.

The VC community, for example, is now beginning to realise the potential of bespoke strategies focused on women-led businesses, enabling this often-overlooked audience to break down some of the barriers faced in accessing capital.

Governments and trade promotion agencies need to follow suit. It is by understanding both the barriers and the untapped opportunities that we will build a sustainable pathway to growth, one that will benefit the many, not just the few.

Yupaporn Siribut, Mekong Institute

What does embrace equity mean to you?

To me, equity means ensuring all achieve progress with fair treatment. We require equity in access to opportunity in order to advance in our careers and remain satisfied at work. We should not ‘leave anyone behind’, especially working mothers who face many challenges behind their office roles while they still perform their tasks.

In the end, embrace equity as a means of being supportive, reduce unspoken pressure, and a comfortable capacity development program. We need support from a leadership team to foster inclusive and collaborative teamwork, as well as direction and guidance that believes that embracing equity and inclusion to create true equal opportunities for each member including workers with caregiving responsibilities – is the only way to grow as a person and, thus, as an organisation.

Jazreel Cheng, MSCI Inc. & WIFA

What does embrace equity mean to you?

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2022 says that at the current rate it will take another 151 years to close the global economic gender gap at all levels. #EmbraceEquity means closing the gap at a faster pace. Embrace initiatives and equitable relationships towards making a positive change by embracing equity across all aspects of society. The best way to create a positive impact is to do it together by inspiring both women and men to become advocates, change makers and leaders in our community. #EmbraceEquity is knowing that Equality is not Equity. Equality is only equal if we all started out in the same place. However, inequities may be rooted in social, economic, demographic or geographic differences. #EmbraceEquity is to embrace these differences and accept that everyone has different circumstances and requires different resources in order to have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Dr. Naheed Desani sums it up best. He said, ““Equality is giving everyone a shoe. Equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits.”

Noreen Burroughes Cesareo, OWIT UK & Market Accents

What does embrace equity mean to you?

Embracing Equity is embracing an inclusive world, especially one where we have moved away from gender-negative policies, practices, attitudes and behaviours. This is vital for our societies, our communities, our politics, our trade and economies, as well as our global politics and economies.

Trade in particular is not gender neutral – whether we look at trade from the perspective of a worker, producer, decision-maker, trader, tax-payer, policy maker or users of public services. We are not asking to move to gender positive, but gender neutral, where we know we have eradicated discrimination, abuse of human rights in supply chains, gendered-negative bias in policies and decisions that impact the way we live. I want to see us embrace equity to be more inclusive, to have more harmony and to be more successful in all that we do. That is what #EmbraceEquity means to me.

Julie Graham, World Trade Center Institute

Embracing equity for me gathers the concepts of fairness and justice so that everyone has a sense of belonging regardless of national origin, gender, race, skin colour, religion, gender identity, etc… To achieve equity, everyone should treat others with empathy and respect. Don’t assume everyone is like you or thinks like you. And if someone is different from you, instead of focusing on the challenges that “different from you” may bring, you should focus on the opportunities. If someone is different from you, it shouldn’t bring fear, rejection, or other negative feelings within you. Instead, it should spark interest, confidence, and even excitement so that we can learn from each other and achieve better together in a more cohesive way. Embracing equity and accepting that we are all different will help us live in a more unified and harmonious way, driving us to success.