SCAN Business interviews Adley LeeJing Chan, the President of the ‘Women in Business’ Society at Lancaster University, to discuss her motivations behind the society and the importance for women to be incorporated into businesses.
Could you please tell us what the Women in Business Society (LUWIB) are about?
It is a relatively new society that aims to provide female students with strong networks, skills and experiences needed to be outstanding in their careers. The society want to inspire more women participation in business and leadership positions by providing workshops, networking sessions, debates and talks covering a range of industries such as entrepreneurship, law, technology, banking and marketing.
What were your motivations to start this society?
My motivations stemmed from my role as an Events executive at the Entrepreneurship Society and most of the event turnouts had always been very male dominant, so I thought I should start a society to encourage more female participants to join the society and allow them to engage in business related events and talks. To create this change, I eventually started the ‘Women in Business’ society in April 2016 and I see the society as a very integral part of the University and the development of future women leaders.
Why do you feel it is important for Woman to be in Businesses?
Well, I think because females do 70% of household spending so I believe it is good to recruit a member of this group and the customer base you are targeting so it helps businesses to profit in general from that. Also, females are prone to demonstrate empathy and they are good in conflict management and in building client relationships, which a lot of businesses need.
How do you think we can get rid of stereotypes associated with women in business?
I think the best way to get rid of these stereotypes is to involve them in businesses as much as we can. I got the inspiration to start the Women In Business society from a multinational telecommunication company based in Norway. They had a gender quota policy instilled into them by the government, which involved having a gender balance in their firm. So I think its good idea and the company is doing very well with females because of the diversity in gender. If you look at countries in the East, they do not have such initiatives and so I believe countries and policymakers around the world should adopt this approach.
What is your opinion on the gender pay gap between men and women?
I believe this pay gap occurs because of the mentality in the workplace. There is a mind-set that females have to take care of the family and children but the government and companies need to do something about this to share family workload and responsibilities and should not be solely based on females to take care of the family.
What events have you previously held and likely to hold in the future?
In the past, we have held interviews and assessment centres with EY and had a talk from a female representative to develop women talent in the company. We also had a ‘Weekend Coding Class’ earlier this month to encourage coding within the university. For upcoming events, we have industry talks about the prospects in the financial services field for women and also commercial awareness sessions, which our members will really benefit from.
For more information you can like us on Facebook where you will have details of all our future events.
