DENVER—The role of financial support in helping more women around the world achieve career success is addressed in a new white paper from The Members Group.
Authored by TMG CEO Shazia Manus, and Calyn Ostrowski, Worldwide Foundation executive director, World Council of Credit Unions, the report—Financial Support Critical To Greater Female Leadership—describes situations in life and in business that unfairly challenge women to become leaders and addresses the importance of financial support in helping more women advance.
The introduction addresses how women not only can face barriers in the workplace but also in their own lives, in their upbringing, that can get in the way of success. Ostrowski points out that “in many areas of the world, girls with ambition are seen as insolent, audacious children in need of censure. Rather than nurturing this determination, parents are encouraged to stifle their daughters’ drive, steering them down more traditional roads. To the bright girls and women caught in this pervasive snare, their dreams for more can seem hopeless. Yet there are inspiring stories of tough young women who have spoken out, broken the mold and made professional and personal achievement possible.”
Manus, a leader within the World Council of Credit Unions’ Global Women’s Leadership Network, is one. She talked about growing up in Bangladesh, in a society where customs and beliefs relegated females to “second-class status.” She shared her story as proof that the dreams of repressed young women can be realized.
During a Global Women’s Leadership Network event at the joint America’s CU Conference/World CU Conference here, Manus talked about how when she was 14 her father did not encourage her to take an exam for a scholarship.
“My father told me that my brother, who was first in his class, tried for the scholarship and did not get it so there was no reason for me to try,” she said.
But Manus’ grandfather encouraged her to take the exam. “And you know, I got it,” said Manus, pointing to that event in her life that helped propel her to greater things.
Manus encouraged women in attendance to continue to strive to reach their goals, never doubt their abilities, and to explore ways to develop or support scholarship programs for up-and-coming female leaders.
For the white paper, go to: http://www.themembersgroup.com/femaleLeadership/