Gender Equality: challenges and opportunities
The British Embassy organised an all-female panel of leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by women in the workplace.
The event follows on from the Embassy’s Business and Human Rights agenda, and the guest-speakers were all female leaders in senor decision-making positions in key businesses in Guatemala and members of Britcham.
Participants included Ruby Asturias, partner at EY, Natalia Callejas, partner at Aguilar Castillo Love and Lucia Valenzuela, founder of Advocacy for Business and Human Rights. The dialogue was moderated by Marielos Chang, Chevening Alumni.
The panel discussion was an opportunity for them to share their own experiences on how to break the work-family narrative that fits with broader cultural norms. The group discussed the impact of the current political and legal systems on a woman’s life, and which improvements could be made by Guatemala to positively influence the situation for women around the country.
In addition, the importance for businesses to include a gender perspective in their operations, that for example, improve representation of women in senior decision-making positions, as well as policies that tackle harassment and how to effectively approach the gender pay-gap.
To highlight the Embassy’s commitment to focussing on women and girls around the country, the event featured a video of a project in Sololá on girls’ education, which addresses child pregnancies and the rights to a choice over their bodies and their future.
Nick Whittingham, British Ambassador to Guatemala said:
Gender equality is a topic we must address; it’s the right thing to do and it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that women and girls have the same opportunities and resources available to them as men and boys.