To celebrate International Women's Day (IWD), Telum spoke to a selection of prominent PR professionals across the Asia-Pacific region about the importance of celebrating and championing female leaders in their industry.

For the second in our two-part series, PRs from the ANZ, SEA and EA regions share the initiatives they hope will enhance female visibility in their industry in 2023. 

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AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Chloe Fast, GM – Corporate Affairs, Employer Brand and Sustainability, carsales.com.au

As a digital business, we’re passionate about encouraging more young people, particularly females, to pursue a career in tech. We know that far too many young people aren’t studying tech-related subjects at school or university.  

At carsales, we support a number of community-based organisations that are focused on promoting digital careers to school aged children and young adults, including CS in Schools and Go Girl Go For IT. We’ve also partnered with various internship programmes such as the Victorian Government’s Digital Jobs Program that supports mid-career individuals to transition into digital careers.

In 2023, I’m looking forward to doing what we can as a business to support these organisations on their journey to enhance female visibility in our industry. 

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Sally Branson, Director, Sally Branson Consulting 

In the absence of formal initiatives, my priority is highlighting the excellent, impactful and authentic work in crisis management undertaken by women. The “fixer” term has always been such a masculine one. My focus for this year is sharing the benefits of diverse opinions and new voices in crisis management, and what women bring to our industry.  

I can Google Meet with a client in the US, before packing the school lunches and doing drop-off. I can access any information I need, use databases like Telum’s, conduct background searches, and analyse reputation and trust perceptions - all from my home office or phone.  

Technology means that people undertaking traditional gender-based roles, like being a mum or a caregiver, can do their good work (even in areas that have not traditionally been for women) with all the access they need, in a way that works for them. 

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SOUTHEAST ASIA

Melinda Tan, Head of Strategic Relations and Communications & Senior Vice President, ST Telemedia

There are enough suggestions out there for now to further enhance female visibility, and it’s time to see these suggestions and public statements progress to real actions through:
 

• Bold disruption to status quo decision-making structures in organisations and institutions which are still largely male-dominated at senior levels. Instead, organise decision-making structures with relevant subject matter expertise and attributes, and direct stakeholders based on issues or problems.
• Publicly educate and accept different types of leadership qualities and definitions. This is what 21^st century leadership should look and sound like.

 

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Joey Gan, Market Lead, PRecious Communications Malaysia
The PR industry in Malaysia has seen a significant increase in the involvement of women in leadership roles over the years, particularly amongst highly educated women. However, there is still a need to promote women's visibility and representation in the industry in 2023. 
 
One way to achieve this is through mentorship programmes in the workplace. Experienced and qualified women should be encouraged to actively mentor younger women and provide them with guidance, training, and support. This can also help to identify potential female leaders and strengthen the representation of women in industry. 
 
Furthermore, it is essential for women to mentor young men as well, to provide a different perspective and promote inclusivity in future management practices. By working together, men and women can create a more diverse and supportive workplace culture for all. 

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Marion Ang, Chief People Officer and ESG & Government Lead, TriOn & Co 
It is heartening to see increased involvement by the community and private sectors to achieve greater balance and fairness for women in the workforce. In Singapore last year, a white paper on Singapore Women’s Development was launched, reflecting the shared vision of Singaporeans to create a fairer and more inclusive society and equal opportunities for women. While this is great progress, I hope to see society build on this momentum, as collective work is required to achieve real change. 

I hope to see a continued push for initiatives that protect and empower women and promote zero tolerance to any form of discrimination. Every woman deserves to be given full and equal opportunities to fulfil their aspirations. We need more women to have a seat at the table, to be heard and appreciated. 

Organisations can encourage more conversations on topics like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, female leadership and the gender pay gap to raise awareness and create a safer workplace for women. 

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Melany Ang, Head of Communications, Lendor 
The startup scene has long been dominated by men. While there are more women entrepreneurs than ever before, the industry still faces a significant gender gap. 
 
This year, I’m looking forward to seeing more dedicated mentorship opportunities for women entrepreneurs, especially for those from marginalised communities that may not have the access to resources or networks to bring an idea to fruition. I would also like to see more women in leadership positions and initiatives from industry leaders that will hold organisations accountable.
 
I also look forward to seeing initiatives for men, such as workplace training and education, to create a safe and welcoming day-to-day environment for women at work. Startup culture is often seen as fluid and constantly evolving; for example, hiring turnovers, new funding injections, and diversified business objectives, but one thing we need to be firm on is the protection of women in these spaces, so they can build on their ambitions with confidence. 

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Yanina Blaclard, Director of Marketing and Communications, Horizon Quantum Computing
In the context of gender diversity, some great work has been done in recent decades to put more women under the spotlight. Regular articles about women in tech are a positive direction to provide role models for girls and young women. Unfortunately, it creates a trend where women are invited to speak solely about their quality as women in science rather than sharing their core scientific or technological expertise. This might create a form of fatigue for the speakers, and the audience.

While the initiatives to promote women in industries where they are underrepresented are necessary and valuable to bring more balance and equality, we need to see more women sharing their expertise. We need the shift to a place where women in new technologies are on stage, on covers, and in interviews distilling their core knowledge. It might require extra effort from journalists, PR professionals and/or event organisers to source and provide female speakers on relevant topics. This conscious effort will pay off as it will generate a wave of awareness on the strong pool of talented women that the industry has to offer. 

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EAST ASIA 
 

Diane Quilindo, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Li & Fung 
In 2023, I look forward to more in-person networking events for women to attend. We can share how our organisations are breaking biases and driving forward inclusion and equality so that others can learn from various best practices and pool our ideas together. 

I would like to see more niche communities and networks formed where women from all industries and lifestyles can lean in for support. I’m currently a protégé of The Women’s Foundation mentoring programme, and am in awe as to how powerful and impactful it is to be part of a network of women supporting other women.

Women are the driving force of PR and comms. We need to build a stronger community in Hong Kong to empower women in comms and provide the tools to navigate our careers and share ideas on how to enforce gender equality through effective comms strategies. 

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Jeff Chan, Chief Consultant and Founder, Chance Communications 

Throughout my career as a cultural and lifestyle PR, I have seen the constant growth of women in the PR and comms workforce. However, numerous surveys suggest the gender pay gap still exists across APAC, with the broadest salary discrepancies in Hong Kong.

Companies need to promote women as PR and comms leaders and create respectful and fair workplace cultures.

Offering women a voice on key issues and leadership development opportunities will help break down gender barriers and contribute not only to ESG commitments but also to helping us gain a broader share of voice in the industry.