AIMA

The session started at 10:00 AM with a welcome note by Ms. Rekha Sethi - Director General AIMA. She thanked all the key note speakers and welcomed the delegates to the conference. Next in the line was Ms. Preetha Reddy who shared a personal experience and said that if she had a brother in the family, she probably would be cooking in some household kitchen for her family. She thanked her father for motivating her and apprising her of all the leadership qualities a female should have.

Both the ladies kept their salutation address short and simple. Mr. N K Singh – Member of Parliament- Rajya Sabha was welcomed on the dice to share his views on the topic. He stated that the business strategies should be inclined with the HR strategies to provide flexi hours to the female employees and also, the male counterpart plays a significant role in the corporate grooming of the female executive. He gave the examples of Sonia Gandhi, Mamta Banerjee, etc to say the increasing capacity of the females. He gave the example of Indian Banking Sector which is predominantly dominated by females.

Mr. Sandeep Chaudhary - Practice Leader - Aon Hewitt shared his views on the work culture of Aon Hewitt. He stated that in AH there are people coming from diverse fields and they very nicely work together. He shared a stats with the audience and said that we only have 11% female CEOs, 91% women who takes sabbatical after marriage wants to come back but cannot do so, because of family issues. He stated that if we can include more females in the business environment, the work culture can become better as with the combination of sensitivity and decisions based on instincts, women tend to do much better. He said that every time, there is a female cop doing a challan for him, he dares not to bribe her but can still think in case of male corps. He quoted this example to say that the females are more committed towards work and the organizations can do wonders in by incorporating female leadership in the board room. All the organization need is just a bit of more adaptability towards the flexible working hours.

Saadia Naveed - President - Management Association of Pakistan quoted Margaret Thatcher and said, “Being a lady is like being powerful; when you say you are powerful you are actually not”. She stated that the commitments which a female employee has can actually double the GDP of the country. Pakistan Bureau Statistics says that the women in the senior level role have reached from 13.6% in 2000 to 21.7% in 2011. She quoted the survey conducted by Fortune 500 companies which says that the corporates headed by females bosses shows faster growth rate that those headed by male bosses.

Next in the session was Ms. NainaLal Kidwai - Executive Director- HSBC and Country Head HSBC. She stated that the company in order to protect itself in long run needs to protect its female employees. Quoting the past stats of the commitment of female employees as compared to male employees she said that once the female employee is protected she will be more committed and can do wonders in the development of the organization. To change the world, the first point is to change the company’s policies. 50% of the talent pool is feminine and if that 50% is not working, we are not utilizing the optimum resources and this is a lost opportunity. The new company’s act will have more females breaking the glass ceiling and will be seen in the board rooms more often. She quoted that the people still prefers to go to male cardiac surgeons than female cardiologist. So there is still a lot to be changed in the mind sets of the people.

The last speaker of the day was Jane Endacott - General Manager- Octant Foundation Australia who said that women does not need to lead better than men or equal to men, she needs to lead differently. Assertive, Decisive and Independence are all the traits which a female boss must have and should possess in order to be more vocal in board rooms and also break that glass ceiling. The problem lies in the fact that what is considered assertiveness for males is seen as aggression for females and hence the people does not abide by it easily. She gave some bedrocks for the aspiring senior leadership females:

1. Support those organizations where the senior male leadership is the sponsor for female leadership.

2. It is not just about wide network but also deep network.

3. Steady in patience that the change takes adequate time.

4. Strike the right balance.

Followed by this the audience put forth their views and there was a Q & A session.

The session ended with the networking T.