Along with the rapid progress of the economy, women are playing a more important role in society. However, in the political and business spheres, women are rarely seen at the corporate level. The ongoing Global Summit of Women in Beijing is pressing for a change. Shuang Feng has more.
According to a recent study conducted in 45 countries, women all over the world still have little access to corporate boardrooms, and in some Asia-Pacific countries and regions, most companies have no female directors.
In China, women occupy around 45% of the urban employment. But there are still some issues that are notable, says Yang Lan, Co-Founder and CEO of Sun Media China.
"We have been doing national surveys in the past three years about career development in China. We had more than 2,000 interviewees. We found out more than 70% of our interviewees' motivation to be successful in career is very strong. But we do have issues, such as we don't have a large enough proportion of women in the decision making level either in corporate or in the government, and secondly, at the entry level, many companies or sometimes even public sectors do show certain outspoken or underlying discrimination against girls. I think we want to change that."
In the business area, the summit is encouraging women to see more opportunity in entrepreneurship. Through the development of their own businesses, women can have greater achievements and be more successful.
However, there are still many obstacles for women to start a business. Irene Natividad, President of the summit, talks about how the government can support female entrepreneurs.
"Most women don't have the collateral that will enable them to get a regular bank loan. They also create businesses that are unusual according to traditional definitions of what a business is. And they start small. Banks are not interested in small. So I think governments need to provide access to credit the way All China Women's Federation (does). Not only they have a micro-entrepreneurship program, they have this program where the government pays the interest on the loans that women take in order to grow their businesses."
Delegates and the research team of the summit have also given other advice. For example, regulatory agencies, stock exchanges and governance commissions should include board diversity as a necessary component of good corporate governance, and women's organizations to exert pressure for change.
