Women hold half the sky

As the Chinese saying goes, women indeed comprise about 50 percent of the population of the world, and MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are made up of more than 60 percent women.

But when a business gets bigger and becomes a public company, chances are, the women are left behind to run managerial affairs but not to be included in future-charting corporate boards.

When I became a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) in 2006, my guess was, we probably had 10-15 percent women in the roster of independent directors.

The number of fellows has now grown to over 200, yet only about 10-15 percent are women. Most corporate boards are still male-dominated, as most industries are still an “old boys’ club.”

When I accepted the presidency of the country’s foremost business women’s aggrupation, the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines (WBCP), I thought to myself that this is one deliverable I should accomplish during my watch: have at least 30 percent women on corporate boards. In public and private corporations. In NGOs. In hybrid for-profits.

Diversity

It’s about diversity in the workplace, and diversity on the “strategy table”—that is, the board of directors.

Before preaching this gospel, I made a check on the boards I presently sit in.

The Management Association of the Philippines has three women governors out of nine seats. Perfect.

In the Philippine Coffee Board Inc., we have three women out of nine seats. Great.

In the Peace and Equity Foundation, an NGO, we have four women out of nine seats. Even better is the fact that we have a Catholic nun, a Muslim leader, a foundation stalwart and me, the social entrepreneur.

Now, that is diversity. I also sit in a relatively new NGO in Albay called the Philippine Social Enterprise Development Center (SedCen), and even in that board of five, there are two women. Now I can preach.

I am reading a book by Linda Tarr-Whelan called “Women Lead the Way,” and there she cites studies and statistics that companies with 30 percent women on board are more profitable and more successful.

Maybe, this is a secret we have to be more conscious about. Some company presidents elect their wives or daughters and there is nothing wrong with that. In our family company, my father always had two or three of my sisters on board. Women were always given a voice in our family corporations.

Now, the challenge is for each of us to check our companies and our organizations. If the 30-percent solution is not yet being looked at, we can suggest that future vacancies be opened to women directors.

A small change

We have had two women presidents, scores of women representatives and many female senators. Yet, in our own communities and organizations, we tolerate this unconscious male domination only because no one wants to change anything.

That is why results are always the same. Well, we can now say, we are conscious of women participation in ALL boards. Maybe, we can expect different if not better results.

May I humbly ask our members in MAP and in our other business organizations to look at their present board composition? You may be surprised what a small change can do to your bottomline or to your KPIs.

And second, may I ask more women to please rise to the occasion. We need you to make the business sector more robust and more interesting.  MAP is looking to invite more women CEOs and COOs to be members. Even women entrepreneurs are much needed to add diversity and talent, of course, in every organization.

If all the women business owners got together as we are doing in Chongqing, China, on September 27-29, we can band together and sell to the whole world.

This event, called the “Global Platform for Action on Sourcing from Women Vendors,” sponsored by the International Trade Center, aims to “increase the share of corporate, government and institutional procurement secured by women vendors for the ultimate purpose of bringing greater economic benefit to women and their communities.”

Did you know that over 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a supplier diversity program under which they actively source from women?

‘Multiplier effect’

As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said: “Investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity and sustained economic growth … Investing in women is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do.”

So, there you are ladies. You can speak up and get voted into your board. Or you can speak up in a forum such as what I mentioned above, and take your products to the world. Either way or both, you win.

(The author is governor-in-charge of the MAP membership committee and the MAP communications committee. She is also president of the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines. She is a social entrepreneur who co-founded ECHOstore sustainable lifestyle (www.echostore.ph) with two other women. Feedback at [email protected]. For previous articles, visit www.map.org.ph.)