VIVA NOLA January 2019

Celebrating Women in
Business &Promoting
Gender Equality
by Alejandr a Guzm an
@aleguzm an
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Even though there is an increased
awareness of the hardships that female
professionals have dealt with and
overcome, there is a lot more work to be
done. Traditional and cultural ideas of
femininity have deeply influenced how
women are treated and viewed which is
an unfortunate worldwide reality.
Perceptions and expectations, amongst
other factors, make it hard for female
professionals to advance in their careers
and acquire an active participation in
different roles of public life. With a lack of
female representation, it is hard for
younger generations to imagine and
visualize their possibilities.
To overcome these challenges, it is
crucial to propagate success stories of
women in business and to celebrate
these successes, achieved both in
business and society, and to highlight
emerging female role models. It is quite
challenging to imagine something that
you have never seen. Seeing women
achieve amazing life goals serves as
inspiration, motivation, and as a reminder
that you can get there too!
Increased visibility of successful women
in business also helps raise
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awareness of many issues that need to
be solved, paving the way to female
success. I had the honor of participating
in the Stevie Awards for Women in
Business. This event, set in New York,
honored women executives,
entrepreneurs, employees, and the
companies they run worldwide. The
awards were presented to winners during
a dinner event with more than 550
people in attendance.
This year marked the 15th Anniversary of
the Stevie Awards and the inauguration
of the Women Future Conference
preceding the award ceremony. It was an
entire day of celebrating the
achievements of
working women
around the world.
I was inspired to
meet successful
women from
Jordan, Malaysia,
Canada, Mexico
and many other
countries.
Events like the
Stevie Awards
are important to
promote women
empowerment and introduce female role
models to our community. We need to do
more. We must develop innovative and
inclusive approaches to attain gender
equality in all aspects of society.
We must tackle common barriers
collectively to progress in business and
society: We must endeavor to achieve
equal pay, equality, diversity in senior
representation, safety for students and
faculty on campus, advocating for,
defending, demanding, and succeeding
in STEM Education, and sensitizing
organizations guilty of unconscious bias.
Until next time!