Main Forum: Girls to Leaders – The Journey

There are many challenges that women face when getting into the working environment and when returning to it. A good number of these challenges are often unspoken or unheard of. As part of AMCHAM’s Women’s Week, a virtual discussion forum was held on the topic of the journey from girls to leaders.

This forum featured two panel discussion sessions. The first panel featured Dr Asma Abdullah, InterCultural Specialist at Culture Matters, Shantini Vanniasingham, Clinical Psychologist at Gleneagles Hospital, Abdul Rahman Abu Haniffa, Government Affairs & Policy at General Electric and Chye Neo Chong, Independent Director moderated by Siobhan Das, CEO, AMCHAM. This session’s primary focus was on raising girls, the traditional approaches and the contemporary counterpart as they are groomed for the working environment. Panellists shared their experiences and findings on the socio-cultural impact on girls, the shifting times brought about by the pandemic, what are often causes for girls and women to avoid advancing further into their careers and leadership roles and what could help to rectify that, without coming off as upsetting the harmony of a society.

The second panel discussion was centred around women entering the job market and rising in the ranks. Panellists for this session included Ang Weina, Partner (Global Employer Services) at Deloitte, Dave Mitchell, Vice President, Operations at Boston Scientific Medical Device (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Tara Latini, Country Head, Wealth & Personal Banking at HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad and Leah Samson-David, Senior Counsel at Philip Morris (M) Sdn. Bhd. moderated by Johnny Liew, HR Director of In-Tech Electronics Sdn Bhd. Panellists here talked about how their organizations found ways to bridge the gender gap and offered insightful and practical tips on what changes, even seemingly minor changes that can be made to enable more women in the workforce to excel further.

The third entry in AMCHAM’s Women’s Week was yet another successful with over 100 attendees and an in-depth discussion that addressed angles normally unknown. Special thanks to all our panellists and attendees for a great virtual event.