Women in Management at a panel discussion unanimously criticized the proposal to mandate a quota on female participation at board management. The panel was held at the Shangri- La recently and was funded by Australian Aid and International Financial Corporation.
Corporate Governance Officer International Finance Corporation, Lopa Rahaman said “There was a survey from IFC and we asked the question do you support quotas for women on boards. The majority of the women said no they don’t like quotas. What is merit is very much subjective.”
Managing Director Lion Brewery Suresh Sha said “If there is genuine discrimination then yes. In the Sri Lankan environment, there are more important things that need to be corrected, infrastructure which would allow women to come into the workforce. I would prefer corporate mandated to provide childcare. Look at the transport system, would a lady like to get into a bus during rush hour. There are constraints of that nature that prevent women from coming into the workforce. There would have been the boy’s club story many years ago but that is evaporating with time.”
Chairman BOI, Mangala Yapa said, “If you look at whether it is the Board of Investment or Export Development Board or any other public sector boards you can see more and more participation of women.”
The panel was of the view that leadership positions are based on succession and that there were historically not enough females at lower rungs in the hierarchy. The panel agreed that the issue is now being rectified but there are issues with females leaving the workforce following marriage or childbirth. Shah said “We have not looked at age, race and nationality. We just hire the best people. Our head of new product development is now a female.”
Shah added “In the 170+ years we still have not seen a women chairperson. I am sure in the short term we will have one. Not in the next five years possibly, because the succession is in place but very soon after I see it happening.”
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