American Chamber of Commerce TT (Amcham TT) president Toni Sirju-Ramnarine said women and girls have always held the power to cope, survive, transform and build back better, even after every major life crisis or conflict. She said they must keep invoking and tapping into these powers to tackle gender inequality at all levels of society.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of Amcham’s 9th Annual Women in Leadership conference at the Hyatt PoS Ballroom on Friday, Sirju-Ramnarine said gender equity is the business of everyone.
“Changing mindsets and combating structural and institutional biases require every male, every female, every nonbinary person, every employer, every employee, and every leader today to step up and work together to build a fairer and safer world for all. Gender equity is the business of everyone.
“If we are going to provide opportunities for all our daughters to reach their fullest potential and ensure that they are safe and respected wherever they go, then we must accept that we each have a part to play to challenge gender stereotypes, call out discrimination, draw attention to bias, and seek out justice and inclusion in all spaces.”
She said TT should not ignore the realities that still face it, including period poverty, a lack of research into the physical and mental effects of perimenopause and menopause on women in the workplace, violence against women and girls, and the under-representation of women in technology, among others.
Sirju-Ramnarine said working women want fair and transparent pay schemes, rewards based on merit, the elimination of bias at every step of the hiring, training, and promoting processes, more fulfilling jobs which allow them to have a voice while maintaining respect and safety, and a choice in when, where, and how to do their work, especially coming out of the pandemic.
BOND SPEAKS OUT
Keynote speaker US ambassador Candace A Bond said integrating marginalised or excluded voices is not about restricting access.
“Including women is not at the expense of men. Rather, the goal of inclusion is ensuring balanced opportunity and access. Equity and inclusion are economic issues. Societies that exclude entire demographics, restrict access to opportunity, and stifle inclusion, pay an economic cost. For example, it is estimated that closing gender gaps in the workforce around the world would add between US$12 and US$28 trillion in global GDP.”
Bond said McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace report found women are still dramatically underrepresented in leadership, with fewer women being promoted to managers, women leaders leaving their companies at higher rates, and being under-represented in technical roles.
“Women leaders are overworked and under-represented compared to men and they can face more bias and receive less support at work.”
She said the report showed flexible and remote work had the possibility to overcome some of the challenges women leaders face, as a majority of women prefe
