Levelling the workplace playing field for both genders

Women need men to help them succeed at work, whether it's their boss, a mentor or their husband. But too much support and it can disadvantage male colleagues, say three UAE businesswomen.

Rana Nawas, senior vice president of structure finance and capital markets at GE Capital Aviation Services. Reem Mohammed / The National

Male advocates, from bosses to spouses, are needed to help women thrive at work, say three leading UAE businesswomen – but too much positive discrimination can also alienate male colleagues.

“Happy men empower women,” says Rana Nawas, senior vice president of structure finance and capital markets at GE Capital Aviation Services. “When I was more junior, what I needed was mentorship and sponsors. And they were generally male, because most senior leaders around the world are male.

“But now I have children, what I need more is flexibility. For a woman to thrive, the key is giving her what she needs when she needs it. Our needs are different to each other and change over time – just like men.”

Krista Pilot, the vice president of corporate affairs at PepsiCo for Asia, Middle East and North Africa, says she has a “super-supportive spouse”, who gave up work to look after their children, as well as “really supportive bosses”.

“To me, that’s someone who demands the best of you but not unreasonably,” she said, speaking at the Global Women In Leadership Economic Forum in Dubai last month. That means challenging assignments but also understanding when a mother needs the afternoon off to look after a sick child or go to their art show.

Training, she says, is a “great leveller”. “The playing field hasn’t been level for women, so whenever you offer training that is open to everybody and you encourage female participation, you’re already giving women a leg up.”

At AstraZeneca, more than half of senior leaders in the Gulf are female. “Male advocacy and buy-in is quite important,” says Lara ElAmine, the pharmaceutical company’s human resources director in the region. “When you have a workforce that is a majority male, it becomes more difficult to empower women to grow.”

But Ms Nawas, who is also the president of the Dubai chapter for women’s network Ellevate, counsels not to take it too far. “It drives a wedge if we look at women’s flexibility rather than employees’ flexibility,” she warns. “We complement each other and want a better workplace for men as well.”

Q&A

Where is the UAE in terms of gender equality?

A Gender Balance Council was set up last year to make the UAE one of the top 25 countries for gender equality by 2021, says Borys Dackiw, managing partner for the UAE offices of law firm Baker & McKenzie Habib Al Mulla. He also says a woman is entitled to the same wage as a man for the same work, according to article 32 of the UAE Lab­our Law. This year, the Emirates Security and Commodities Authority also created a corporate governance rule to ensure at least 20 per cent of a board’s seats are held by women.

But do women really have the same career goals as men?

A Bain & Company study last year showed that women aspired to top management positions more than men in the first two years of starting a new job – 43 per cent of women, compared to 34 per cent of men. But after two years that had dropped to just 16 per cent for women, while men still had the same ambitions.

How do we ensure managers are treating employees equally?

“The right talk at the top is critical to gender parity; however, as it filters down, it breaks down,” says Rana Nawas of GE Capital Aviation Services. She says that proactive steps need to be taken with middle managers – making them ‘heroes’ of advocacy. She says many managers do not even realise they are discriminating; training is needed but the first step is self-awareness.

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