AmCham conducts event on ‘Empowering the Female Workforce’

Thursday, 4 July 2019 01:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Employers’ Federation of Ceylon Director General/CEO Kanishka Weerasinghe, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Alaina B. Teplitz, Virtusa Senior Director – Human Resources Chandi Dharmaratne, International Finance Corporation, Women in Work Program Employment Lead Aarthy Arunasalam, MAS Kreeda CEO and MD Sarinda Unamboowe, and Hemas Holdings MD – Pharmaceuticals, Logistics and Maritime Kasturi Chellaraja

The American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka yesterday held the second of the 'Modern Workplaces' series for 2019 titled ‘Empowering the Female Workforce’.

Delivering the keynote address, US. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Alaina B. Teplitz stated, “Each of us can do more to empower the women around us, especially by overcoming unconscious biases that keep women from achieving their full potential. Studies show that full participation by women could add $ 28 trillion to global GDP by 2025.”

Industry experts Virtusa Ltd. Senior Director Human Resources Chandi Dharmaratne, Hemas Holdings PLC Managing Director – Pharmaceuticals, Logistics and Maritime Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, International Finance Corporation Women in Work Program Employment Lead Aarthy Arunasalam, The Employers Federation of Ceylon Director General/Chief Executive Officer Kanishka Weerasinghe and MAS Kreeda of MAS Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Sarinda Unamboowe joined in for an interactive panel discussion as well.

The session focused on a number of topics including low female labour force participation globally and in Sri Lanka; the need for organisations to identify gender smart solutions that generate opportunities for women and men; business cases for implementing initiatives on inclusivity, being an equal opportunity employer; relevant legal aspects; how employers can create an ecosystem which encourages women to aspire to and take up senior leadership roles; the importance of employers to consider childcare support as well as eldercare support and the importance of leadership commitment to empower and retain the female workforce. AmCham's Modern Workplaces series explores how dynamic organisational styles and priorities creates the need for new company needs and strategic priorities. This is the second event in this series. The first was titled, 'Wellness at the Workplace' and was held in February.

The main sponsor of the event was Herman Miller by JAT Holdings, while the official newspaper was the Daily FT. Event partners included: American Alumni Association, SLASSCOM, HRP, EFC and Great Place to Work Sri Lanka, while the Employee Engagement Partner was 361 Degrees.

pix by Sameera Wijesinghe