Women With Ambition

Over the last few weeks Hong Kong has played host to a number of events which have discussed the now infamous ‘Lean In’ book by Sheryl Sandberg.  The book has met with a barrage of varied responses from feminists and other commentators and critics across the globe.  Whether you agree or disagree with her ideas and her thinking, there is no doubt that Sandberg has succeeded in reigniting the debate around the lack of women in leadership positions.  Statistics on women in leadership positions reveal that numbers have remained abysmally low for the last two decades, despite the rising number of women graduates.  So what happens along the way?  Sandberg suggests a number of root causes for why this is the case.   At one of these recent events, hosted by the search firm Ambition, I moderated a discussion with senior female executives, which explored perhaps the most controversial cause put forward in the book, namely, the role that women play in holding themselves back in their careers.   In Asia, the desire to have a meaningful home and family life is no less strong than for women elsewhere in the world, and so despite the readily accessible and relatively affordable childcare that exists, women face the same internal conflicts and external pressures as our counterparts across the globe.  Whilst there are no easy answers, and certainly no one answer that fits for all women, it is right that these issues are being aired and that women are asking themselves the hard questions.  For real change to happen, the debate must move beyond being seen solely as a women’s issue.  It is an issue for government, for all employers, for the men in our lives, and for our children to understand as they begin to shape their world.