AIA and SheWorks member Chathuri recognised for efforts to bridge gender gap in insurance

Monday, 6 July 2020 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Chathuri Munaweera

AIA Insurance announced that Director and Chief Officer – Legal, Governance and Operations Chathuri Munaweera has been recognised as one of the 16 trailblazers who are driving gender equality across Sri Lanka.

This recognition was made at the launch of the #TogetherWeCan campaign by the IFC-DFAT SheWorks Sri Lanka Partnership. This campaign amplifies the 16 company business cases for more diverse and equal workplaces and paves the way forward for the rest of the private sector to enhance employment opportunities for women.

The awards ceremony was hosted at the Australia house by David Holly, Australian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Maldives. It was noted that over 170,000 employees are advancing gender equality within the workplace and reaping business benefits, thanks to 16 SheWorks members, who have made over 100 commitments to recruit, promote and retain women in the workforce.

Chathuri was recognised for AIA’s efforts in creating a gender smart workplace at AIA while also working towards gender parity and increased female participation at AIA.

“Gender parity is central in having a dynamic balanced workforce. Female employees and Wealth Planners play an integral part in our business success. AIA recognised early, the narrowing trends of female participation at work and took many sustainable steps over the years to ensure that our female colleagues have a work environment that provides leverage and flexibility to arrange work within family circumstances, at times of life where such support is needed most. It is not just about fixing the basics and having the best of support during key stages of motherhood, but also ensuring that there is room to grow in careers whether in sales or in support functions,” Chathuri said.

Offering her congratulation, AIA Director HR Thushari Perera said: “Chathuri has pioneered AIA Sri Lanka’s journey towards creating a great place to work for women.” Notably, AIA Lanka won the title of ‘Best workplace for Women in Sri Lanka’ at the 2018 Great Place to Work (GPW) and was thereafter recognised as one of the ‘Best Workplaces for Women’ in Sri Lanka, in the inaugural awards presented by GPW in 2019.

AIA Sri Lanka has enhanced women’s participation in leadership positions via mentoring and building succession pipelines. ‘Propelling Ideas’, a leadership learning program at AIA helped nurture six women leaders for future succession, while increasing the number of women’s representation to 29% in the top management tier. Introducing 100-day maternity leave amongst other family-friendly benefits has encouraged three out of four mothers to return to work.