Women in leadership positions must assume the responsibility of taking on the gender agenda to promote closing the gender gap in all areas, said Claudia Ruiz Massieu, Mexican senator and former foreign minister, on Friday, April 28th.
“So if we have a gender gap in everything, representation, decision-making states, wage gap, access to justice, access to rights and it is up to those of us who are in those positions to assume that agenda in a very conscious way,” he commented in her participation in the Hemispheric Women’s Network initiative of the Americas Society and the Council of the Americas (AS/COA) in Mexico City.
Ruiz Massieu also maintained that no organization, much less a country, can reach its potential if it does not include more than half of its population, adding that closing gender gaps in all areas allows for better levels of justice, better distribution of rights, and opportunities, as well as wealth.
There is no recipe (to reach leadership positions) or if there is, the most important ingredient, all of us here are clear, is to work harder”, she stated.
The former Mexican foreign minister urged women to raise their hands, criticizing the fact that there is a culture in Mexico in which women are trained not to raise their hands or voices, while when they do, “we are disqualified with pejorative adjectives.”
In the same vein, Rocío Cárdenas, senior commercial director of the energy company Sempra Infraestructura, also pointed out that she never noticed whether the superior or the one in front was a man since she always had clear goals, for which she urged women to be firm in their objectives and set goals.
Cárdenas considered it especially important to weave networks, not only of women, where the support and impulse that is required is found, as well as not losing personal motivation.
“A lot of work. That famous glass ceiling that we hear every day is not really a ceiling that someone puts on you, you put it on yourself if you say: ‘It doesn’t exist, I want to get there’, that is motivation and if you don’t get there, don’t get frustrated. There will be another opportunity,” he said.
For her part, Ana López Mestre, general director of Newmont Mexico, stressed that there is a point of opportunity for more women to work in sectors not previously thought of.
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She mentioned that, currently, women are overrepresented in administrative areas, while only three of each study careers related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, known as “STEM” and which are considered careers of the future.
However, he also recognized that “there is no recipe” to reach decision-making in a company, as well as the importance of working hard and raising your hand, although he acknowledged that in his experience he never had obstacles to reach a position of leadership.
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