Women and Leadership — GLOW

We’ve been speaking to women across our network about their experiences and where they want to go in the future.

In this interview, we hear from Shazia Hussain, Digital Director at Carat MENA and Member of the Growing Leadership of Women (GLOW) Steering Committee.

With increasingly constant scrutiny on gender equality in the workplace, debating how to ensure men and women are able to enjoy the same rewards, resources and opportunities has become a necessity rather than a differentiator for today’s leading companies. As governments and businesses across the globe insist on transparency on salaries, equal training prospects, flexible hours and the same maternity and paternity leave, it would seem we’re heading in the right direction to reach gender equality in the workplace.

In the Middle East, women are generally perceived to be more disadvantaged economically, politically and socially. Not least because of the personal status code that confers upon women the status of dependent in respect to marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. Strides are being made though and the UAE, the head office for Dentsu Aegis in the region, is leading the way with a series of public and private sector initiatives that have seen women play an increasingly stronger role in business, military and government.

In January 2018, Denstu Aegis Dubai did an internal survey asking our people how they perceived gender equality in the workplace. While most (73%) agreed that DAN is a gender equal employer and only 3% believed they had experienced difficulty progressing in their careers due to their gender, it was very clear that there was a gap in the number or male vs female leaders and management. We all knew we wanted to do something to change this. The gap in male/female leadership remains baffling to me, considering women naturally embody compassion, empathy, & problem solving as core attributes — the essentials for exceptional leadership!

So, in March 2018, GLOW was born. The initiative, an acronym for Growing Leadership of Women, is designed to empower female employees at all levels with a vision to embrace a greater diversity of leadership styles. Most men and women seek top executive positions but only 25% of women believe it is likely they will become one. We wanted GLOW to be more than a diversity measure, and introduce a real change program with management commitment that enables the evolution of the business to have a more inclusive performance and leadership environment.

The platform is built on 3 pillars:

· Mentoring: Providing knowledge and personal support from senior female leaders to other staff, sharing experiences, providing tips on how to handle challenging situations

· Career Acceleration Program: to enable female staff to gain the confidence and courage to take the next step in their careers

· Events: Regular speaker sessions to share insights and experiences

So far the initiative has seen two fantastic guest speakers, firstly with Helen McGuire, Co-Founder and CEO of Hopscotch — an entrepreneur who launched a network for skilled women looking for that perfect work/life balance. The second, Andrew Hirsch, CEO of John Brown Media, who astounded the audience with his statistics on female leadership in his business with 63% of line managers being women.

The initiative has also already led to greater transparency from HR and Management with employee statistics on gender split, salary and female leadership. Today, women make up 30% of the leadership population. When it comes to salary, on average, males currently earn 22% more than females with an overall gender split of 40% female and 60% male in the business. These figures have helped the GLOW steering committee set their objectives for the year to ensure we are closing the gap on all of them.

For the next half of the year, we have a series of workshops designed to help participants realise the importance of self-promotion, celebrate their achievements and remove the unconscious bias that is preventing them from taking the next step in their careers. GLOW has already provided female employees who are aiming for leadership positions the recognition they need by acknowledging and discussing the issue, next, we want to make sure they are provided with the tools, opportunities and support to grow into the leaders of tomorrow.

Ultimately our overarching objective is to see a shift in leadership that is goes beyond female/male discussions and evolves into the delivery of best practice leadership styles that leverage emotional intelligence, perspective taking and dynamic communication — skills necessary for effective leadership no matter what gender someone might be.