2024.03.08
AMCHAM celebrates International Women's Day with panel on female leadership
BY LEE JAE-LIM,
Korea JoongAng Daily - Female leaders active in the corporate scene emphasized
the importance of bolstering the pipeline for female leadership at an event to
celebrate International Women’s Day on Wednesday that was co-hosted by the
American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) and the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
International
Women’s Day falls on March 8 as designated by the United Nations.
Over 100 attendees
participated in the panel discussion on boosting the economic empowerment of
women. Citibank Korea CEO Yoo Myung-soon and Lee Chee-young, Senior Vice
President of Procter & Gamble Korea, were invited as panelists to speak the
event.
“Promoting women’s
economic empowerment is a key priority for Amcham,” said the group's chair,
James Kim, at the event held at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in central Seoul.
“Now is the time to help establish Korea as a regional headquarters in Asia,
and to turn this ambition into reality, it is crucial for Korea to maintain
sustainable and inclusive economic growth, which requires a significant
investment in advancing women’s economic empowerment.”
Yoo encouraged
female leaders to form their own networks so that opportunities could be given
to their juniors.
“In many cases the
pipelines are weak and when you want to promote or when you want to give
opportunities to a female, well, there’s no pipeline,” Yoo said. “So I think we
really have to focus on building the pipeline in every level, every area, so
that female leadership could be ready when we really want to come to them.”
Lee also emphasized
the establishment of a stable corporate system to provide a balanced family and
work life for employed women.
“I have worked and
moved around different countries [at this company] but my husband did not join
me throughout all of that, so there were periods that we chose to do a split
family,” Lee said. “However, one of the things that really helped me was my
manager or the company recognizing the life stage changes that I was going
through, especially with the kids from very young babies or when having to put
them through new schools.
“I think it wasn’t
just about gender that they were recognizing, but it was recognizing that
everybody can go through lifestyle changes and the changes come with different
set of difficulties. So managers and the system that supports that, I think,
was a great enabler for me.”