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sino_chino
Raver
Joined: Nov 03, 2003
Posts: 395
Status: Offline
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 Posted:
May 17, 2005 - 02:08 AM |
 
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| Post subject: Asian women find success in the boardroom |
I find this article interesting. Asian women doing it their own way as opposed to their western counterparts' emulating men's style in the West.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050505/lf_afp/afplifestyleasiawomen business_050505142531
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TV executive Michelle Guthrie is adamant she wouldn't have got the high-flying promotions she's had in Asia if she were living in her native Australia.
"It's a different world here -- the opportunities for women are so much better than in the West," Guthrie tells AFP. "There is extraordinary disregard for gender here."
The chief executive of STAR satellite TV, one of the region's largest television companies, Guthrie commands a station watched by 100 million people every day in 35 countries.
She is one of a growing number of female executives from Islamic Bangladesh to Confucian China to majority Hindu India who have managed to rise above cultural obstacles that carve strict roles for women to get ahead in business.
"I really feel like I am suppressed when I go to Europe, there is much more chauvenism there," adds Guthrie.
According to research by Hong Kong Baptist University professor of management, Anne Marie Francesco, Asia's female executives are not only beating the men, more importantly they are doing so on their own terms.
"In the West there is a tendency for businesswomen to emulate their male counterparts, co-opting their management styles," Francesco says. "But in Asia women are running corporations in their own feminine way."
Cecile Bonnefond, president of venerable French champagne house Veuve Clicquot, the sponsor of worldwide businesswomen's awards for 33 years, agrees, saying she has been especially impressed by the attitudes of Chinese businesswomen.
"We know there are a lot of Chinese entrepreneurs who are women -- who are young and tough," says Bonnefond. "They are not afraid of anything. They are fearless. They just go, run and get on with it."
The reasons for such differences are manifold but mostly cultural, says Francesco, an American academic.
"Much of it comes down to views of women's roles," she says. "Asia has more traditional views of a woman's role; she should provide and be a good mother to the family. But it's in the way it is applied that the difference is found."
She points, for example, to survey research that show Asians welcome women working long hours because it implies they are trying hard to provide for the family.
"Whereas in the West women who work long hours are viewed as being indulgent and pursuing their own selfish goals; that they are not providing," says Francesco.
It is difficult to compare the situation of developing economies in Asia with the more entrenched economies of the West, but academic research and anecdotal evidence from executives around the region suggest women are proportionately more visible in Asian business.
A recent poll by the Asian Wall Street Journal found at least three Chinese women featured in its annual top 50 world businesswomen: Xie Qihua, chairwoman of China's Shanghai Baosteel Group, Wu Xiaoling, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China and Yang Mianmian, president of China's Haier Group.
In Islamic Bangladesh the number of women entrepreneurs has risen from a few dozen in the 1980s to more than 5,000 in 2004, according to a survey by the Women Entrepreneurship Development Project of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"Most of these women run handicrafts and other businesses. Some of them have become so successful that they even command respect in this male dominated society," says Molla Sahidul Haque, a consultant on the project.
Zaha Rina Zahari, chief executive of Malaysian brokerage RHB Securities, says the story is the same in her native country.
"I don't take the ladder, I take the lift," she says of her progress through corporate life.
Although gender equality is new to Malaysia -- it only outlawed discrimination in 2001 -- women occupy top posts in a number of high-profile companies, such as Bank Negara (Central Bank) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Yvonne Chia, the Hong Leong Bank group chief executive and Mohaiyani Shamsudin.
While in the West careers and families are often viewed as incompatible, Zahari says that in Malaysia, like many Asian countries, no such attitudes prevail.
"(There's) no problem," she says. "In fact I was just voted Avon Mother of the Year. My family comes first. My work is what I do for fun."
The picture in developed -- and more Western -- economies is gloomier.
While laws banning sex discrimination were passed in Australia more than two decades ago, many women executives there complain they still have to contend with a "macho" business culture that blocks their progress.
Women's salaries remain about 16 percent lower that men's and 47.3 percent of companies have no women directors.
And in Japan, despite a 1986 law ensuring gender equality at the workplace, the latest data shows only 1.8 percent of businesswomen hold the title of head of a department or division. In 2003, women earned 66.8 yen for every 100 yen men earned.
Francesco believes part of the reason women are getting better treatment in developing countries is because their economies entered the global system further along the socio-economic development curve.
"They have entered the world economy at a time when many social privileges have already been established for women worldwide," she says.
Veuve's Bonnefond agrees. "With economic development it was thought you had to go from A-Z, but now it is known you can jump over B-Y," she said.
Guthrie, winner of this year's Veuve award in Hong Kong puts the difference down to the need to get things done.
"There is a culture here that is more rewarding of talent," she says. "They don't want to know who you are, just whether or not you can do the job." |
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Henry_Chinaski
Board Lord
Joined: Aug 16, 2003
Posts: 5025
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May 17, 2005 - 10:10 AM |
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Wow. That's a great article sino. Change however happens at different levels.
In many of the countries you mention women cannot even VOTE i.e. they can work as hard as they can, but their scope is extremelly narrow.
For women to effectivelly change society they must be BOTH perceived differently without chauvinsm but ALSO be supported by a democratic process to allow them to go as high as they can. It's not an either/or thing. BOTH values must be present. Being all mighty little chayedan street seller might be very beautiful, but how high can she go with her determination? Nowhere.
Indeed ASIA has a lot of examples of women not only leading but rising to power and changing their own nations (Indira Gandhi, Megawatti in Indonesia, ...)
In China we even had our "brilliant" Dowager Cixi.
She was very very smart, specially her military ideas such as her mighty navy in the Summer Palace. All the useful marble sitting there defending nothing. Pretty good.
Now, answer this post without mentioning City of God once (in case you don't know, and you probably don't, Brazil is not in Asia). |
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izanami
PopStar
Joined: Jan 27, 2004
Posts: 1037
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May 17, 2005 - 11:40 PM |
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I think another factor that women entrepreneurs can emerge in Asian cultures is also partly because women have realised that men can't provide well for the family. I'm not saying that the successful female entrepreneurs we see today are necessary a result of useless men in their families, but I think the problems of male patriachy have made women realise that maybe they are better off being the breadwinner. Also, in certain cultures where the men of the family end up as gamblers, womanisers, and irresponsible husbands/fathers, females have to end up stepping out to support the family. Female entrepreneurship emerges as a result. This is a phenomenon that is especially striking in microeconomies.
Although the article is on female entrepreneurship in Asia, I think the fact that female politicians in Asia tend to come from very strong political family backgrounds is an interesting phenomenon.
Megawati = daughter of Sukarno, founding father of Indonesia and its first president, Indira Gandhi = daughter of Nehru, Tanata Makiko, first female Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan = daughter of former PM Tanaka Kakuei, Aung San Suu Kyi = daughter of Burmese nationalist leader General Aung San, founder of modern Burma, Benazir Bhutto, former disgraced PM of Pakistan= daughter of former PM of Pakistan Zulfikar Bhutto, Gloria Arroyo, President of Philippines = daughter of former president of Philippine, Diosdado Macapagal...and the list goes on.
Francesco believes part of the reason women are getting better treatment in developing countries is because their economies entered the global system further along the socio-economic development curve.
"They have entered the world economy at a time when many social privileges have already been established for women worldwide," she says.
Veuve's Bonnefond agrees. "With economic development it was thought you had to go from A-Z, but now it is known you can jump over B-Y," she said.
I suppose the truth in that statement is that there's a less entrenched old boys' club in developing economies. |
_________________
Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.-- Brillat-Savarin |
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Henry_Chinaski
Board Lord
Joined: Aug 16, 2003
Posts: 5025
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May 19, 2005 - 02:01 PM |
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Well looks like the mods deleted sino's racial posts.
I've deleted my entry as it became meaningless then. |
Last edited by Henry_Chinaski on May 20, 2005 - 12:24 AM; edited 1 time in total |
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Rio
Post Boaster
Joined: Dec 04, 2004
Posts: 4724
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May 19, 2005 - 04:24 PM |
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Shits....I thought I read 'Asian women find success in the bedroom". |
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izanami
PopStar
Joined: Jan 27, 2004
Posts: 1037
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May 19, 2005 - 11:13 PM |
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Oh. I'm sure we do. |
_________________
Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.-- Brillat-Savarin |
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Rio
Post Boaster
Joined: Dec 04, 2004
Posts: 4724
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May 19, 2005 - 11:42 PM |
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No doubt about that.
But I once did a case study on Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP. She was the one who decided to merge with Compaq. Although she has left HP (sacked but debatable), she is being seen as one of the most successful female top level managers of recent times. Many Fortune 500 companies have female CEO's. Sara Lee has a female Chief for example.
But the thing about Asian women or women in Asian business is that the perception of Asians towards women is totally different from the Western perception. I'm doing research on expatriate success in China and I read an interesting article on female vs. male expatriate success in China. The majority of expatriates interviewed were men. To keep it short, the women who did get the overseas assignment we're perceived to be highly skilled expatriates by the locals of their host nation. 'It is a female but her organization did send her to us and gave her the responsibility to manage us, she must be very talented otherwise they could might as well have send a male manager'. So this different view, and I'll put it simply, is one of the factors influencing the success of (Asian) women in boardrooms. 'She's here, she must be good in what she does, we might as well give her a chance to do what she's for'. Less scepticism, seriously less prejudice and a more open perspective towards women in business compared to the Western world, where many women in business keep looking at that glass ceiling. Interesting conclusion. |
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sino_chino
Raver
Joined: Nov 03, 2003
Posts: 395
Status: Offline
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May 24, 2005 - 02:15 AM |
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I am particularly interested in Asian female executives' doing it their own way compared to their western counterparts' emulating the males' manangement style. I would like to know what exactly the differences are. |
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bleucheese
Veejay
Joined: Aug 01, 2003
Posts: 1994
Location: this side of the tracks
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May 25, 2005 - 03:11 PM |
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Ill tag this along your article. Interesting read.
What Women Want
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: May 24, 2005
Suppose you could eliminate the factors often blamed for the shortage of women in high-paying jobs. Suppose that promotions and raises did not depend on pleasing sexist male bosses or putting in long nights and weekends away from home. Would women make as much as men?
Economists recently tried to find out in an experiment in Pittsburgh by paying men and women to add up five numbers in their heads. At first they worked individually, doing as many sums as they could in five minutes and receiving 50 cents for each correct answer. Then they competed in four-person tournaments, with the winner getting $2 per correct answer and the losers getting nothing.
On average, the women made as much as the men under either system. But when they were offered a choice for the next round - take the piece rate or compete in a tournament - most women declined to compete, even the ones who had done the best in the earlier rounds. Most men chose the tournament, even the ones who had done the worst.
The men's eagerness partly stemmed from overconfidence, because on average men rated their ability more highly than the women rated theirs. But interviews and further experiments convinced the researchers, Muriel Niederle of Stanford and Lise Vesterlund of the University of Pittsburgh, that the gender gap wasn't due mainly to women's insecurities about their abilities. It was due to different appetites for competition.
"Even in tasks where they do well, women seem to shy away from competition, whereas men seem to enjoy it too much," Professor Niederle said. "The men who weren't good at this task lost a little money by choosing to compete, and the really good women passed up a lot of money by not entering tournaments they would have won."
You can argue that this difference is due to social influences, although I suspect it's largely innate, a byproduct of evolution and testosterone. Whatever the cause, it helps explain why men set up the traditional corporate ladder as one continual winner-take-all competition - and why that structure no longer makes sense.
Now that so many employees (and more than half of young college graduates) are women, running a business like a tournament alienates some of the most talented workers and potential executives. It also induces competition in situations where cooperation makes more sense.
The result is not good for the bottom line, as demonstrated by a study from the Catalyst research organization showing that large companies yield better returns to stockholders if they have more women in senior management. A friend of mine, a businessman who buys companies, told me one of the first things he looks at is the gender of the boss.
"The companies run by women are much more likely to survive," he said. "The typical guy who starts a company is a competitive, charismatic leader - he's always the firm's top salesman - but if he leaves he takes his loyal followers with him and the company goes downhill. Women C.E.O.'s know how to hire good salespeople and create a healthy culture within the company. Plus they don't spend 20 percent of their time in strip clubs."
Still, for all the executive talents that women have, for all the changes that are happening in the corporate world, there will always be some jobs that women, on average, will not want as badly as men do. Some of the best-paying jobs require crazed competition and the willingness to risk big losses - going broke, never seeing your family and friends, dying young.
The women in the experiment who didn't want to bother with a five-minute tournament are not likely to relish spending 16 hours a day on a Wall Street trading floor. It's not fair to deny women a chance at those jobs, but it's not realistic to expect that they'll seek them in the same numbers that men will.
For two decades, academics crusading for equality in the workplace have been puzzled by surveys showing that women are at least as satisfied with their jobs and their pay as men are. This is known as "the paradox of the contented female worker."
But maybe it's not such a paradox after all. Maybe women, like the ones who shunned the experimental tournament, know they could make more money in some jobs but also know they wouldn't enjoy competing for it as much as their male rivals. They realize, better than men, that in life there's a lot more at stake than money.
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Op-Ed from nytimes.com |
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fukuman
Wonder Wit
Joined: Sep 18, 2003
Posts: 3699
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
May 25, 2005 - 06:27 PM |
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i think i posted sth b4 but it goit deleted so
i would suggest that asian women r more illing and talented at blowing men in the boardroom, but experience ( exceot the boardroom ) says otherise.............. |
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