Why is diversity and the active support and sponsorship of women important and what does this look like to you? 

Women can’t be expected to remove unconscious gender bias in the workplace on their own. Organisations and leaders need to establish programmes and create platforms for women to share their views.

I’m proud to say that Singtel has always viewed diversity, in all its forms, as integral to our long-term growth and success. A diverse workforce brings about greater innovation and a better understanding of the various needs of our customers and communities. By excluding women, we’re losing out on swathes of talent. There’s clear evidence that having women and women leaders in any organisation only results in positive business outcomes.

That’s why we run a number of initiatives to support our female employees from mentorship programmes to special interest groups. In the telecommunications sector, though the gender distribution is rather even, some fields continue to be underrepresented by women, such as technology or engineering. So, we’ve been running programmes to support female employees and undergraduates in STEM, by connecting participants with experienced mentors who provide guidance, support and insights into their respective career fields to help them grow personally and professionally.

We’ve also been commemorating International Women’s Day across the Singtel Group for a number of years to drum up support for women, female voices and male allyship. One highly subscribed activity is a webinar featuring female leaders sharing insights about building resilience, overcoming challenges and striving for personal growth to hundreds of female employees. This is especially meaningful because Singtel has a history of female leadership, from Group level C-suites to Board members. We currently have over 31 percent women leaders in our senior management team and are working towards increasing this proportion.

But this isn’t an exercise in numbers for us. We know women want to advance based on merit and not because of their gender. However, many women have to balance their personal obligations, exacerbated by societal pressures and traditional expectations, with their professional responsibilities. If organisations don’t implement flexible work arrangements that factor in these demands on women, many of them will not be able to perform optimally or worse, leave the workforce entirely.

What would you say to other men to encourage them to actively support women’s career advancement?  

To other male leaders I’d say: Developing women is not a task to be managed by women. For a start, men shouldn’t feel that women’s networks are only meant for women. By joining these networks and supporting their initiatives, men can become allies and help uplift women.

At work, we need to be supportive and pull women into conversations; give them opportunities to weigh in and share their views—only then can we remove the unseen barriers and create a more inclusive environment where they can thrive.

We must also acknowledge talent and capabilities, give due credit and place women in roles based on merit.