Fireside Debate: Old ‘Boys’ Network: Time for Change? Do We Have What It Takes?

I must put a disclaimer now the positions of this team members do not necessarily reflect their real life positions it's called the old boys network time for change do we have what it takes two groups of speakers will discuss whether this phenomenon is a myth or reality in the energy sector specifically it will look at the impact of traditional male dominated networks on gender inclusivity in the sector the old boys network is not necessarily purposeful or malicious but it entails establishing business relationships at these out of office events in these circles critical business resource and Association decisions are made behind closed doors there's a double bind in this whole thing sponsorship seems to be the key to closing the leadership gender gap as we just discussed unfortunately the board and SE of most organizations are predominantly filled by men the second D part of the double bind is typically women gain sponsors most effectively by promoting their own accomplishments so there's nobody that typically is going to be pushing A Woman's accomplishments for so many traditional reasons unfortunately self-promotion is often considered unladylike and women who negotiate on their own behalf are sometimes penalized unfortunately you know for us in a country as it is today our country is highly petral all right if you look at it in all terms I mean for a very long time even for women to be giving properties in their places in their families we are considered I'm sorry second class and these men have helped themselves and this network has helped them over time so today we're just here to talk about it the truth is times have changed you can't talk about energy Security today without wanting to address security that must take care of women who make up for a great percentage of the population despite age long held evidence that we all experience they are still inherently incorrect the belief that the woman or the female male gender has any inferiority to the man I do not believe that the male gender has superiority in that place I must tell you that women are better in terms of multitasking connecting dots leveraging whatever is put in their hands and whatever seed is placed in our hands as having the nature and nurture advantage over men we multiply it and we Harvest bountifully whatever is placed in the hands our male folk can do that as effectively as we can now I can tell you that I have had people people discuss promotions and successions of our people outside the office for male candidates that the female equivalent is better than so the old boys network exists it's not like thunder and lightning where there's any this thing we know we we we know the old boy Network exists and we have to dismantle it because with that old boys network we are enfranchising 50 51% of the population that is as good if not better than the men in the workforce and there are clear statistics that that show the business strategic imperative of having as much women in the workforce as men I can I can show the statistics there are wood maren reports showing executive gender diversity by quartile and how it impacts business executive ethnic diversity as well so you know African women have two problems ethnic and gender as well there is one that shows improved business performance by about 47% by representing women more equally in um the workplace and then there another one finally that shows that there is $12 trillion which could be added to the global GDP by 2025 by closing that gender cap the old boy network does not close the gender cap it perpetuates that gender C and will destroyed what are we getting additionally to truly help us in the workspaces women know for a real fact that we are challenged in the offices whether you like it or not the men sometimes just think the women are there to fill in the figures or call you to ask you for soft things I don't want that the women need to be encouraged and I would not blame any old Network for being an issue because I honestly think women can actually penetrate old boys networks I'm a beneficiary of old boys networks as a woman yeah because yes I am a beneficiary of the old boys network and when I was training to become a chartered engineer in England about 35 years ago I realized that going out for drinks on a Friday afternoon with the boys is very important even though I was the only lady and uh the resident engineer it just bother me I think a woman has to be very thick skinned must set her own targets and her own goals and must be strategic about how she goes about achieving those goals I also think emotional intelligence is very important there's no point competing with a man because you're never going to be a man I believe in gender equity and not equality I'll always give a man his respect for what he does better than me and I will let him give me respect for what I do better than him I think females need to learn how to leverage old boys networks apart from having the right support system in their own women's Network while women support other women one of the key things we need to remember is that we're trying to break into culture and what I've found is that we need the women to understand that breaking culture is significantly more difficult there's a lot of strategy and you know the corporate saying is culture eat strategy for breakfast there's a lot of strategy about breaking into the network but we do understand that what we're dealing with is a culture and the other thing is the c culture is rooted somewhere in religion which is something else we need to vehemently uh change the whole idea when women talk about men especially when you're talking about husbands in that in this regard we use the verb allow it's a very dangerous verb it's a verb that the women themselves need to learn to disabuse my husband will not allow it I'm not sure you ask a man and the man says I don't know if I allow my my wife do that it permanently puts the woman beneath the man from a cultural psychological and upbringing perspective which makes it impossible that when the time comes a woman is not going to be comfortable to step into a role that a man has left a gaping and we need to understand that as women we need to be comfortable stepping into those roles two we also need to get rid of positive discrimination um my opponent here spoke about signing contra tracks over coac in the middle of the night that is culture now I don't know how many women or rather let me put this way in positive discrimination a man lands at the airport at 1:00 a.m. he has four members of his team he can call two are men two are women who's he going to call he's not going to want to call the woman at 1:00 a.m. to come and pick him from the airport and we call it positive discrimination but it is discrimination nonetheless that is part of our culture and it is for the women to stand up and say equality is not similarity like my co-panelist just said equality is about having the freedom to have the same exposure the same opportunities and the same experiences and that freedom is a freedom of choice give me the freedom to choose whether or not I want to go to a rig I don't have to go to a rig to prove I'm similar to a man men and women are not similar but men and women are equal and women are the ones that have not yet broken into this belief system that we are not similar but we should be equal in terms of all the opportunities available and I think that's where the Gap is that thing that will destroy everything that you build is the old boys network which needs to be dismantled put yourself forward volunteer and Build Your Capacity always and I honestly think this is a way to go through the issue is the networking should not be toxic against anybody else now the old boys network is toxic against women so what do we do about it dismantle it it's culture it's not that easy to dismantle should we create a parallel and create a women's Zone to counter toxicity with toxicity it w't work the issue is to create a system where that network has no value for those outside [Music] it