Empowering women can look like female CEOs breaking the glass ceiling and achieving a coveted spot among the Fortune 500’s Top 50 CEOs. It can also mean encouraging young girls to pursue studies and careers in previously male-dominated industries such as technology and engineering. To me, on Sep 13, it meant taking a day off of parental and household duties to participate in the Women Empowerment Council (WEC)’s 2023 Women Empowerment Conference and Awards.
It was a small but bold step for me to tell myself that my interest in the cause was worth breaking our usual weekday routine and asking my ayi and husband to step up to cover for me. Not to say I’m not usually empowered, but for many of us who juggle work and family lives, we often let something that falls under neither of those things slide, claiming that it’s not important enough.
But for a community of over 300 women supporters, the cause of “Leveling the Playing Field To Win Equality For All” was important enough. So we came together for one afternoon to examine the findings of Merck Healthcare and WEC’s joint “Healthy Women, Healthy Economies” white paper. We deliberated “Proven Solutions: How Employers Are Taking Action to Support Women to Succeed in Work and Life!” in a panel discussion with key players from Hewlett-Packard (HPE) and United Family Healthcare (BJU). We were introduced to the growing need for FemTech – female-focused technology-driven solutions such as Flora Liao’s entrepreneurial CareMs app. It was an afternoon of learning and sharing insights to better empower ourselves.
In the evening, the 2023 WE Awards gathered nominees across six categories: Community Woman Advocate of the Year, Best Civic Organization for the Advancement of Women, Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, Best SME for the Advancement of Women, Corporate Woman Leader of the Year and Best MNC for the Advancement of Women. While all the nominees were equally celebrated for their contributions, perhaps the sweetest display of camaraderie was the entire table of faculty and students from Canadian International School of Beijing (CISB) who showed up to support their teacher, Dr. Sajid Khrushed, who took home the Male Ally of the Year award.
We asked Dr. Sajid what winning the award meant to him and he responded: “It’s a great achievement for me and CISB. I always motivate the young girls at school to participate more in STEMM as well as other activities like TED talks, sports, etc.” He added: “I’ve also empowered women outside of my CISB community to encourage them to show their skills as part of my TED talk series, and provide training to help suport them. I hope to continue to empower more women from different walks of life.”
“He really deserves the award,” said Grade 11 students Tyler S.P, Karen L, Winnie T, and Zonaira A, adding that they had all participated in the WEC Girls in STEM initiative to visit companies such as Merck Healthcare China and HPE to see firsthand how women-friendly the workplace was. Two of them shared their interest in sciences and engineering without any hesitation about gender stereotypes, and with their parents’ full support. It was enlightening to see their unabashed, bright futures shining in their young eyes.
Other award winners of the night: Roberta Lipson for Community Woman Advocate of the Year, EGRC for Best Civic Organization for the Advancement of Women, Liang Schweizer (HiFiBiO Therapeutics) for Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, BBDO for Best SME for the Advancement of Women, Shirley Zhao for Corporate Woman Leader of the Year, and ECOLAB for Best MNC for the Advancement of Women, congratulating everyone on their efforts and reminding us to continue to drive effective change for gender equity. From sharing knowledge that boys should get HPV vaccines just as much as girls should, to championing for more comprehensive fertility checks in workplace-provided healthcare, we must all pick up the mantle to champion for equality, for all.
Images: Courtesy of WEC
