During one of the WEF sessions,Mrs. Majd Shweikeh speaks about Women with a Business Impact

During one of the WEF sessions, Mrs. Majd Shweikeh, Orange mobile CEO, spoke about ‘Women with a Business Impact’ in the work environment and the recognition women are now receiving for level of contributions they can make to any business.

This session also included two other discussion leaders from the Middle East; Reem Badran, Chief Executive Officer, Kuwaiti Jordanian Holding, Jordan, and H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade of the United Arab Emirates, in addition to other high profile speakers.

During the discussions, Mrs Shweikeh commented, “Equality in the workplace between women and men is an essential element and behaviour value for Orange Global and one that we are working hard to achieve here in Orange Jordan, as it encourages the development of a dynamic and cohesive society within teams and business units, as well as strengthening our Group’s economic efficiency, potentially the Kingdom’s as well.”

Shweikeh went on to add, “Gender equality is a priority in particular in the many technical areas of our business with women accounting for 37% of France Telecom-Orange employees in France, with some 11% of the network professions being women, 22% in IT and 25% occupying innovation roles.”

Orange Global’s legal obligations and conventional commitments to its entire workforce, with particular references to women, are being extended across the Orange network as best practice following the signing of an agreement with the International Women’s Forum.  Mrs. Shweikeh went on to highlight, “These obligations eliminate wage differences between women and men, undertake to help employees establish a better balance between their work and family lives, and also help in developing an action plan that shows how equality will be delivered in the workplace through pro-active means such as training, career development and promotion in addition to describe the measures they plan to use to encourage equality in the workplace.”

In considering how these best practice activities can be implemented within Jordan and the wider Middle East region with the aim of achieving equality, Mrs. Shweikeh said, “A combined policy and management approach has to be actively introduced by both private and public sectors to enable a positive work culture together with concerted efforts in reducing external forces affecting overall work ethics.”

Mrs. Shweikeh also went onto highlight that Orange Jordan is already ahead of the local norm of 14.2% with regards to women in the workforce with 25% of all positions being held by women; with 16% holding management positions.

As discussions drew to a close, Mrs. Shweikeh offered the forum observations on how businesses can prepare for the post-crisis labor market, through clear recruitment policies based on capabilities and not gender, continuation of investment, retention and protection practices for women employees with focused training and personal development, in addition to encouraging leadership through mentoring programs for women with high potentials.

The session proved to be motivating with high levels of interaction and participation of many participants, as it contributed to consolidating positive views of many of the attendees on the important role women play in the work environment. 

 

26/5/2009