EHL Hospitality Business School Campus (Singapore) has been working to improve gender parity in the workplace within the hospitality industry, through its Women in Leadership (WIL) initiative since 2018.
WIL promotes social changes at the group level as well as in the broader hospitality sector by addressing topics such as leadership, inclusion and belonging, entrepreneurship for women, networking and mentoring opportunities as well as family and work management.
In 2019, WIL launched the Sexual Harassment Prevention Initiative to educate and empower women on this sensitive topic.
Managing director Jenny Ang told TTG Asia: “This programme has educated more than 2,000 first-year students to date on preventing sexual harassment, one of the most damaging barriers to the career success and satisfaction for women.”
On campus, Ang attends WIL programmes to meet with students to discuss candidly about the importance of women in leadership and gender diversity. These events are often joined by industry experts and members from EHL’s alumni network.
She said: “While the glass ceiling is cracked, it has not been broken and more can be done to improve gender parity in the workplace.”
She believes it is important for organisations to have women leaders as it helps influence and create more empathetic workplaces in ways that homogeneous environments seldom do.
“It ensures more transparency and openness, allowing companies to build an inclusive foundation that is able to hire and retain the most qualified and skilled people. It also encourages people to share their thoughts and ideas, fuelling change and innovation that improves organisational performance,” she elaborated.
Almost 50 per cent of management positions at EHL are women, and EHL is set on increasing the percentage of women in positions and responsibilities.
“Gender parity is a huge issue. The work we started four years ago has barely skimmed the surface. While we are proud of what we have achieved so far, there is always more that needs to be done and so we look forward to continuing our WIL programme and expanding the initiative,” she concluded.
This story is part of an International Women’s Day series published by TTG Asia and TTGmice, where we highlight organisations in our industry that are committed to supporting gender parity in the workplace and beyond as well as uplifting the quality of life for womenfolk in the communities they interact with through their operations.
