United States Ambassador, Her Excellency Pamela Bridgewater has underscored the need for workplace transformation and self transformation in order to break away from practices that prevent women from ascending to the highest positions on the corporate ladder.
 
Ambassador Bridgewater was the keynote speaker at a public lecture entitled: ‘Women's Leadership: Transforming Self, Community and Country’. The public lecture was jointly staged last week by the Mona School of Business and Management (MSBM), the Mona unit of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies (IGDS) and the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) at the new Faculty of Law building, University of the West Indies, Mona campus.
 
She proposed that a decisive and steady break from the past would be contingent on everyone within the company, firm, corporation or organization sharing complementary core values, and contingent on balancing the quest for profit and growth with concern for the environment, human welfare and fulfillment and health and well being of all stakeholders. 
 
The US Ambassador urged women to ensure they are at the decision making table when national, economic and political issues are being discussed, and advised women to be armed with facts about their petitions and positions and to be ready to lobby to get them accepted. 
 
She said transformation required flexibility, and rapid change required continuous innovation and creativity – an acknowledgement that there is no one right way of doing a thing.
 
“Don’t let statistics, organizational theory or someone’s doubts about you weigh you down or diminish your aspirations”, she said. “Many women have come before us, and we have and will continue to make strides.”
 
Ambassador Bridgewater dismissed the stereotypical view that women are not as suitable as men for positions at the pinnacle of leadership. She noted as an example that while only three per cent of hedge fund assets are managed by women, a recent Harvard University study found that those hedge funds headed by female executives outperformed funds run by men. The Ambassador also noted that women were academically qualified.  She quoted the Graduate Management Admission Council which reported that in 2012, 43 percent who took the business school admissions test were women. Last year more than 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees in the United States were awarded to women. In 2010, the number of PhDs awarded to women in the United States was greater than the number of PhDs awarded to men for the first time in the history of the United States. 
 
"But for those who had any lingering doubts about women’s ability to lead corporations and organizations and produce stellar results, those results are in and the survey says:  there is nothing wrong with women’s innate abilities to lead,” Ambassador Bridgewater added.  
 
She said despite academic preparation and excellent performance, glaring gender inequalities persisted at the corporate level, pointing to a recently published article which revealed that women make up only 16 per cent of directors at Fortune 500 companies, 4 per cent of chief executives at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies, and fewer than 10 per cent of chief financial officers at S&P 500 companies. Greater respect and appreciation for the role of women in creating a just society is needed, she suggested, so that nations can maximize their true development potential. 
 
Principal at the UWI Mona campus, Professor Gordon Shirley, in his address, emphasized the importance of appreciating the role of the woman in shaping a better society.
 
He emphasized that women continue to elevate to levels of prominence globally in spite of the challenges they face - namely, balancing duties in the home and in the workplace, as well as gender discrimination.
 
He stated that women continue to excel in areas that are male dominated, even where there are stereotypical views that they are not capable of functioning at the highest standard. He added that women have become an undeniable force in the nation through their excellent performance in the corporate world coupled with the pivotal role they play in shaping a nation through domestic leadership.
 
He lauded US Ambassador, Pamela Bridgewater for her excellent work in Jamaica and for her valuable contribution towards realizing post-apartheid South Africa.
 
The forum, chaired by Minna Israel, Mona School of Business and Management Distinguished Business Fellow, was attended by many of Jamaica's most influential women, including the Director of Public Prosecution, Paula Lewellyn, Senators Sandrea Falconer and Marlene Malahoo Forte and a host of female corporate giants and civil society leaders.