Tackling Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in a Corporate Setting

by Monette Iturralde-Hamlin / June 23, 2023

(June 20, 2023) Last Saturday, I was invited as a guest in Inay Ko Po! This is a program of One PH, a 24-hour Filipino-language news channel in the Philippines that provides news, information, and public affairs programs. Part of Cignal TV, a direct-to-home satellite television service provider with 3.6 million subscribers, One PH features seasoned news anchors and reporters. 

My segment focused on helping working women thrive at home and at work. We talked about the burden of unpaid care work (cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, taking care of children and aged parents, and more) on top of earning a living to help support the family. I shared how my 31-year-old integrated marketing communications agency TeamAsia embraces diversity and gender inclusivity and ensures equal opportunity to all TeamAsians, regardless of age, gender, or sexual orientation.

In 2021, we applied as a signatory to the UN Women’s Women Empowerment Principles (UN WEPs) which are a set of principles guiding businesses on how to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, and community. We took the Gender Analysis Gap Tool and were surprised to get an Improver score of only 29%. 

Instead of being disheartened, we decided to take the challenge and determine what changes we needed to make to become better employers. We reviewed our policies, developed new ones, engaged our employees, attended learning sessions and best practice sharing by UN Women, and more. The next time we took the test, we scored 81%, making it to the Leader category, encouraging us to continue this quest.

A women-owned and women-led organization, TeamAsia has always been committed to gender equality, from our hiring and promotions policies to our work policies like Equal Opportunity Policy and Zero Violence Policy. We support our employees in their roles as parents and carers by extending the advantages of maternal and paternal leave to parents of adopted children. We have flexible work hours to support our hybrid work policy. We provide learning and advancement opportunities for all our staff. Of our 66 employees, 65% are women; of our managerial staff, 65% are women; and at the director or management committee level, 80% are women.

We continue to promote gender inclusivity, talk about it, and practice it so more people and eventually, everyone will know about it. We include the topic in our social media content, in our events, media engagements, and everywhere else applicable. We’ve discussed this at our Breakfast-to-Business podcast hosted by my daughter and TeamAsia’s Managing Director Bea Lim. 

Early this year at the 2022 UN WEPs Awards, TeamAsia was awarded the SME Champion for a Gender-Inclusive Workplace award for its outstanding efforts in fostering an office setting free from harassment and violence. We were thrilled! And this I account to Bea’s leadership. 

Developing women leaders in the organization is beneficial to all, as they bring a woman’s perspective into decisions. After all, women make up half of the population, and make most of the buying decisions in the marketplace. Studies show that women leaders can help companies develop a deeper connection with their customers, inject fairness, encourage collaboration and teamwork, inspire other women employees, and increase employee engagement.

While I was chairwoman of the Women’s Business Council Philippines, we came out with a book entitled, I am Woman: A Gender Responsive for Business and Corporate Leaders. This book is designed as a resource for organizations that want to become more gender inclusive and reap the benefits this brings. 

When asked what else we could do to ensure gender equality, I recommend we begin at home by teaching our children about equality, respect for each other, and equal opportunity. Instead of automatically giving daughters dolls and sons toy cars to play with, let’s introduce them to problem solving and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), especially our daughters.  

The segment before me featured a father who discussed how he shares parenting duties at home, including home schooling his daughters. Listening to him, I thought here’s someone who helps in the unpaid care work at home. However, I was a bit disturbed when he said he taught Science and Math subjects while his wife taught English and Bible. There go our social norms again!  

So, here’s a shoutout to all the parents out there. Let’s start at home and remind our children that they can be anything they want to be. Let’s instill in them the value of respect for each other, in our conversations, in our storytelling, and in our actions. And that’s one sure step towards a future where everyone, regardless of gender, can enjoy healthy, peaceful, and equal relationships.

Read also

• EmpowHER: Celebrating Women of Greatness
• On Headwinds and Prospects for the Philippines and Having More Women at the Table
• The Return of Conferences Post-Pandemic: APacCHRIE