Women in Business 2009
What is it that makes a woman an issue? What is it that makes the men talk about a woman? What is it that makes the world discuss gender parity at a time when a woman is at her most sensitive state; sensitive about bias, discussion and even special attention? Her history is not one which may be corrected; the path she crosses can never be revisited; her struggle is barely noticed and yet she has chosen to be the one to be talked about in a business summit.
This was a summit organized by Standard Chartered in collaboration with Group Women Council in Singapore. Three of us had made it to the place to simply listen and to brainstorm about womanhood and potential. That she is a good debtor is no news; that she braves her personal storms is not unusual; that she lives in a world crossed by chauvinistic challenges is no surprise.
Yet she needs to be discussed and addressed.
The first evening at a dinner date at the Marina Mandarin, in a restaurant that hosted almost 125 beautiful women and hardly three men, we all looked at each other, networked and enjoyed our moment. The reality came sooner than expected next morning when Lehmann Moment became the key issue of the opening phase. The part to discuss was the recovery phase. The Q3 GDP Growth in China, the land of the Impossibly Capably Aggressive had stood at a 9% while the Q4 growth had dipped to a 7. UK, alas, had reported a -1.4% and USA at this point was riding on a 3.5. Apparently, the conservative stimulus pattern had led to the frustration in the UK and therefore the country was working on an extended stimulus now. Discussion centred on the reality of the recession not yet having reached the V stage and the world probably not seeing a V curve in a long time to come. Voices concluded that we would all be looking like an incomplete V, rather a square root and would simply have to pat each other at the back and smile through the semi-yet-tried the hardest phase.
At a time like this, what were the women doing, especially in Korea and Japan, where profession becomes a zero right after marriage? Well, the story does not end there as most of these women trade in the funding currencies like Yen, US Dollar and British Pounds from home and are busy. Japan, the country that had 2.2% negative growth and Korea, the country which had ironically 2.2% positive growth definitely had women who were not to be labelled as passive. As far as the world of women could stretch from Far East to the Extreme West,starting from one having a house husband down to another having an extra supportive husband to single mothers, starting from ones having begun their careers after fifty down to some who had always had to work, starting from ones who have grown their own business initiatives down to the ones who had grown their family businesses…all that morning had one voice and one conviction: they all had a choice and they had all pursued their passion. Whether it was to have raised half a dozen kids and then having stumbled upon a neighbourhood bank next door pitching a business, or whether it was all about slogging twenty hours a day at a store, all had one vision and one mission to cater to: Growth.
Well, how will the Bangladeshi women respond to this creed of Growth which meant sustained progress?
By 2014, the world is going to be poised to salute the better half as the earning power of the women will reach US Dollar 18 trillion, which is more than twice the GDP of India and China put together. In a country like Bangladesh, since gender banking has indeed become a focus with the Central Bank announcing a single digit commercial lending rate for women entrepreneurs, all commercial banks should share the spirit. After all, lending to women has always been beneficial; after all, women have always been responsible clients; after all, businesses need to move from micro finance and unofficial enterprise credit to institutionalized platform, don’t they?
Though the world in 2008 witnessed the Falling-off-the Cliff feeling, Bangladeshi women have perpetually lived there, prepared to take the fall in the form of a divorce mantra recited thrice in the village or an elite insult or bias. While most of the Western world has been recovering with currency adjustments, more aggressive policy responses and increased confidence, and through exiting the stimulus bubble, the East has been watching the role reversal. To put it simply, the west saves while the east spends more today. On one hand, the world has been oscillating between multiple shifting gears, on the other the steering wheel has rested safely with the women. Why though? It’s simply because women define Smart Economics the best while negotiating a fine Work-Life balance.
Strangely a Woman Anywhere has, at any point, a unique tale to offer. She is a silent partner to the growing family business, a quiet mentor for her children, a partner for her ambitious better half, a symbol of aesthetics for her home and workplace, a friend to many like her, an aspiring academic having to put away her laptop or her worksheet the minute her husband comes home…yet she has never been waited upon, and yet, she does not complain.
Time to track back to Here and Now:
In Singapore, Standard Chartered shared a success story with the participants in the summit. It was the story of Kaniz Almas.
A woman from Bangladesh, Kaniz is known to be one of the most resourceful women in the country. Her investments were all in the beauty sector. She ran salons and spas. We watched her story during dinner. Kaniz had no capital to start with. Her funds came from Standard Chartered, Bangladesh. At a time, when most of us were complaining about our interest rates still not coming down to a single digit (for women, finally it has) Kaniz had borrowed at 17% and has grown her business all over the city with 1200 employees. When she began, she had less than 7 to assist her and today when she looks around she sees her colleagues, her family, her customers and her love.
By her side, her husband, an ex banker, beams with pride and photographing our moment. Kaniz, ever polite and ever humble stands for a simple statement of confidence. She took a leap of Faith when she couldn’t see the bottom and landed on a higher plain. Kaniz is a simple story that teaches the women in Bangladesh never to despair and never to settle for plateaus. Surely mountains were made for women and plains for men?
The Skies, on board SQ 436
Nov 01, 2009
