The Lebanese Business Leaders Association (RDCL) organized a roundtable on Women’s Economic Empowerment and Inclusive Workplaces, in partnership with the Trade and Investment Facilitation (TIF) project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The roundtable took place on Tuesday, July 04, at RDCL premises, in the presence of representatives from Lebanese League for Women in Business (LLWB), ESA Business School, as well as many RDCL members. Mr. Nicolas Boukather, President of RDCL, began his opening remarks by emphasizing the significance of women’s inclusion and gender parity. He highlighted RDCL’s efforts over the years to increase female participation, resulting in a balanced board with six women and six men. He then introduced the ASPIRE project, a collaboration between RDCL and the private sector, which addresses various sectors, including healthcare, tourism, access to finance, monetary policy, agriculture, energy, and more. He expressed his belief that gender equality is as important as all above mentioned sectors, and RDCL should join hands with other actors from the private sector, to pave the way for women’s inclusion and continue leading by example. The roundtable tackled three main topics, namely ‘Women on Boards’, ‘Women in Family Business’, and ‘Women in Hostile Work Environment’. Ms. Asmahan Zein, Advisor to the Board of the LLWB, considered that LLWB and RDCL should not limit their collaboration to the ASPIRE project, and should instead join forces and set an example for all institutions, private or public, on how strong collaborations between key players can create an impact and contribute to inclusive workplaces, namely in a national context where women are deprived from their basic rights. Furthermore, attendees discussed ways to speed up the process to effectively reach gender equality in workplaces and within family businesses. First, LLWB members talked about the challenges faced by women on boards, and the difficulty to access board positions and gain legitimacy. It was suggested that efforts should focus on improving the pipeline of women to increase the pool of competent women ready to access board positions, as well as creating a platform listing all the women who are ready to access such positions. At the same time, awareness campaigns need to target male leaders to create demand for more women on boards. It was suggested that joint networking events, bringing in male and female leaders can help build bridges, build networks and create further opportunities for women on boards. In addition, Maître Leila Awada from Kafa NGO stressed on the importance of improving laws in Lebanon, especially the personal status laws which deprive Lebanese women from having control over their personal lives, and renders them second class citizens, which leads to spill over effects on how they are perceived in organizations. Maître Awada also mentioned the importance of working bottom up through the private sector and NGOs and CSOs to push for legal reforms, and gave the example of the collaborative efforts that led to the passing of the inheritance law and the anti-sexual harassment law. It was also discussed that despite the passing of the law protecting women from sexual harassment at the national level, there are no mechanisms for the implementation of such protection and reporting mechanisms in organizations. In this regard, they mentioned that studies show a high prevalence of sexual harassment in Lebanon, urging to address unconscious bias and the culture of blaming the victim. It was suggested to encourage employers to adopt policies offering protection from sexual harassment, and LLWB has a toolkit ready to help organizations in that regard. Therefore, and despite being a difficult task, the private sector should raise awareness on these critical matters and shed light on women’s situation in Lebanon, in aims of improving it. In the same line, ESA Business School representatives, Mrs. CSline Daher and Dr. Sally Shamieh, stressed the significant role of education in boosting women’s skillsets, confidence, and abilities to operate in male-dominated fields. They also emphasized the importance of raising awareness among male executives and managers on gender equality and women inclusion and promotion in the workplace. Ms. Mona Makkawi, RDCL member, stressed that Lebanon is not lacking in competent women seeking to hold board seats; the difficulty is in the ability of companies to accommodate them, and preparing women to these positions. In order, you need to highlight the gap first, create the demand, and then provide the supply. From her end, Ms. Valerie Zakka, RDCL member, presented her project to establish a center that provides consulting to women in family businesses, stating that ‘RDCL and LLWB can create a ‘reference point’ for women in family businesses to come and learn more about their rights in the company.’ This initiative aims at offering women guidance, when most in need, instead of just having them consult a lawyer. Such an initiative is very important in a country where so many companies are family businesses and the rights are not very clear nor communicated. Finally, all attendees agreed that change begins within the private sector. If each institution, company or association changes its regulations and policies, the society will end up slowly changing its present mindset on women’s inclusion. Only then would it be possible and easier for the government to start changing the laws and give women their rights. This roundtable is part of RDCL’s work with USAID’s TIF project with the aim of producing policy papers and recommendations to improve Lebanon’s business and investment enabling environment.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon