Obstacles for women to achieve board-room level excellence

In business – in the corporate world - the highest achievement a person could make is to be in the board-room and become its leader there. 
However, according to the Chairperson, Women’s Chamber of Industries and Commerce (WCIC), Ms. Chathuri Ranasinghe, for women to climb up there are obstacles and some level of discrimination in the Sri Lankan context.
She was speaking to the Business Times (BT) on the sidelines of the launch of the ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 Awards Ceremony held on Tuesday at the Galadari Hotel.
She stressed that according to the Sri Lankan Constitution males and females are equal before the law and thus women cannot be discriminated. They too, as a Women’s Chamber, work and encourage equality for women but then one critical area is the remuneration where women are in some instances paid less than the men doing the same work as in the case of estate workers, she pointed out.   
Another barrier for women in Sri Lanka, she said, is that when women are married and have children, it becomes a problem where the women’s time is tied up with child caring. The government in its last budget proposed to have more crèches and child care centres which would help women entrepreneurs the opportunity to leave their children in proper care while they work.
The chamber also mooted and lobbied to have more women representation in the last local government elections, she said.
At the launch she said that the chamber is promoting and developing urban and rural women in entrepreneur skills through monitoring, imparting knowledge and information to better their living standards, incorporating them into the mainstream activity in the country. She said that they act as a powerful voice for change and create a platform for improving the business environment of the women entrepreneurs. 
They are devoted to enable, aspire women entrepreneurs in their professions to overcome obstacles in the path of their progress and development. 
She said that ‘The Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ is the biennial flagship event of WCIC, which recognises outstanding women entrepreneurs who change the world.  The event is scheduled to take place on August 4. (QP)