THREE senior female executives have emphasised the importance of allyship and supporting disadvantaged colleagues in the workplace.
On racism at workplace, Maryse Gordon said it is important to record instances where people face such challenges – even taking the lead, if your colleague does not feel comfortable reporting it.
“If you are an ally, that is something that’s very, very important to help neutralize working environments and help create a better culture,” she said.
Sky’s Denise Peart said her company has emphasised on building a culture of “ally ship” to help equip people with tools and enable them to speak up.
Sathya Bala also supported the idea of backing each other through the concept of community. “If there aren’t many of us, you don’t have the luxury of just looking across the floor and finding that community or the shared experience where you can actually bounce off these situations, or even to have conversations if there has been a microaggression,” Bala said. “We need to connect the dots.”
On the challenges women face at work, Peart said, “I’ve just been really quite clear in my mind that I can only control my behaviour and I own that and therefore, I’m going to progress in the way that I see fit.”
Peart spoke about a lesson she learned while working for supermarket brand Tesco, where she started her career. “You quickly had to figure out what to do when you don’t know what to do and that lesson has served me so well,” she said.
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