I’ve been getting lots of reminders that today is International Women’s Day – lots of press releases from companies talking about women and how important the feminine sex is to them.
TripAdvisor releasing a study that Asian women take the lead in travel decision making; Accor Hotels issuing a release showcasing two elderly women employees in Singapore, underscoring their commitment to diversity and hiring elderly women; Expedia holding a private screening of CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, a documentary about the lack of female engineers, tomorrow evening, followed by a panel discussion about diversity or inclusion, the terms being used these days in corporate speak.
To be honest, I am torn about how to feel about International Women’s Day. Should I feel good that the world remembers us on this one day, like, “let’s be kind to the handicapped” day? Or should I feel sad that we need a day to celebrate womanhood when it should be celebrated day in, day out? Why don’t we have an International Man’s Day?
I know, I probably shouldn’t think too much about it but you see, that’s what we women do – we second guess everything, especially ourselves.
What I should probably do is just take it for what it is – a convenient, symbolic day in which brands can do their PR thing.
When I brought up this subject – the lack of women leadership in travel and how some companies are initiating programmes to increase women representation on management teams and boards – with travel and hospitality icon Jennie Chua, she cocked her head and asked, “Is it still such a big topic these days?”
It was a big issue in her days when she was general manager of Raffles Hotel and she was always lauded as the first woman general manager, and later the first woman chief executive, and then when Asia became fashionable, she ticked another box, and so was always interviewed for her comments about women, hospitality and Asia.
I told her it still is a big issue especially now with technology becoming so pervasive in travel, but even with hospitality and airline companies which have been around for ages, women at the top in major corporations are still as rare as the Asian tiger is becoming.
Jennie, who was the keynote speaker at our first WITX-Women In Travel conference a few years ago, maintains that gender should not be an issue in getting ahead or in management. You go for what you want, if that’s what you want, and you will get what you want, regardless of gender.
In principle, she is right but of course, we know it’s never as easy as that. There are systemic issues within sectors of our industry that do make it difficult for women to rise through the ranks – that being one contributing factor among many.
I also believe that confidence is at the heart of it.
I was speaking to a late 20-something the other day. She had been offered a manager’s role but she kept telling the employer she felt she wasn’t qualified for it, and asked for an assistant manager’s position.
I asked her why she felt she wasn’t qualified. “There were nine things they wanted me to do and I felt I couldn’t do two of them,” she said.
Dare I say a male the same age would have looked at the seven things he could do, not the two he couldn’t?
When I started in travel reporting, I was in the minority – I was a woman and I was Asian. This was a field dominated by Western males who had cut their teeth in travel trade journalism in the West – the field was still very new in Asia. It was intimidating on two fronts – but eventually, my confidence grew as I realised the value and difference I could make to the field.
I find that it helps not to know what you don’t know and just do it. I think this applies to both sexes.
So on today, International Woman’s Day, I wish everyone more confidence, to conquer our fears and to take on our dreams and remember, confidence is not built in one day but everyday, one mistake at a time.
