FBNBank has reaffirmed its commitment to support gender parity both at the workplace and outside it by ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion with the objective of eliminating the biases which undermine the progress of women.
This was at the bank’s celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD 2022) under the sub-theme “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.”
It was organised by the FBNBank Women Network (FWN) to mark the 2022
IWD on the global theme “Break the Bias.”
In her welcome address, Grace Isaac-Aryee, the Chairperson of the FWN said, “for us at FBNBank, the celebration of International Women’s Day is the acknowledgement of the challenges that women face at the workplace and the society in general and our commitment to contribute in a very significant way to break down the barriers that so undermine us.”
She said “Today’s event is key for our agenda and is a core part of our objectives and we are taking this opportunity to reflect, pause and renew our efforts in driving the agenda.”
Mrs Isaac-Aryee, who is also Treasurer of the FBNBank, said over the years through the FWN platform, the bank had driven the agenda of promoting access to equal opportunities for women at the workplace.
Speaking on the topic, “How women can leverage the changing organisational culture and overcome what holds us back,” Isabel Boaten, Managing Partner at AB & David, advised the female employees of the bank to take advantage of the growing empowerment culture for women in corporate organisations by responding positively to opportunities that came their way.
She stressed the need for competence, and women to have good knowledge of their industry and to have an entrepreneurial mind-set.
The Managing Director of Ogilvy Africa, Akua Owusu-Nartey who spoke on the topic, “Breaking the bias, changing the narrative,” shared her experiences with the audience, and emphasised the need for the ladies to do away with biases which she explained were mostly founded on the personal experiences of other people.
She explained that cultural and media stereotypes had played a key role in mounting barriers to the advancement of women and urged the ladies to focus on developing themselves in order to take advantage of opportunities available.
The Managing Director of FBNBank, Victor Yaw Asante said “What we need to focus on is doing away with discrimination against women anywhere it exists and embracing diversity, equity and inclusion.”
He said as a bank “We want to work together with our women to forge a clear path to break the bias against them. We would create more opportunities in leadership roles. The truth of the matter is that this would not be handed on a silver platter but would be a response to effort made in the right direction.
Mr Asante said “Support and mentorship are key here. We can only try as much, so our ladies must also want it. You must do your part of the bargain and we would give you the necessary support. That is the commitment I make together with the whole executive management team.”
The FWN offers female employees capacity building and personal development through its six pillars; Career Management, Network Programmes/Projects and Events, Counselling-Support-Welfare, Financial Planning and Empowerment, Mentoring-Coaching-Sponsoring and Personal Branding.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
