On August 3rd, WEC hosted a workshop titled“Embracing Equity” in collaboration with ConocoPhillips China (COPC). The event, conducted in English, welcomed 30 in-person attendees in COPC Beijing office along with 20 online participants joining from COPC Tanggu office and ConocoPhillips offices in Malaysia and Singapore.
The workshop began with an introduction by Lydia Zhou, VP of HR & Communications at COPC. Lydia has long been a proponent of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. She emphasized that the DEI journey is a challenging endeavor that necessitates collective efforts. In pursuit of this, COPC aligned with the Women Empowerment Council in 2021 to collaborate with like-minded companies and drive gender equality within their workplaces. Following Lydia’s sharing, WEC provided a presentation aimed at distinguishing equity from equality and highlighting effective approaches for embracing equity.
During the workshop, WEC also conducted a poll to gain insights into the challenges that must be addressed to foster a more equitable workplace for women. The poll results indicated that a majority of participants perceived a struggle among women to balance work and life responsibilities, a phenomenon known as the Double Burden.
The participants also had the great opportunity to interact with our esteemed guest speaker, Poh-Yian Koh, who serves as the China Vice President at FedEx Express. Poh-Yian shared her invaluable insights and experiences, responding to audience questions and providing a profound understanding of the subject matter. Koh recounted personal stories highlighting the issue of women hesitating to assert their worth. This issue is reflected in data showing that 76% of men receive promotions compared to 57% of women. Poh-Yian outlined three primary factors contributing to this discrepancy:
- Women undervalue their worth, often fixating on performance challenges rather than celebrating their achievements.
- Women possess a heightened desire for acceptance, which sometimes leads to overthinking and indecision to avoid appearing domineering.
- Women require more access to mentorship and sponsorship opportunities.
Yian encouraged women to cast aside doubts, exude confidence, and actively seek candid feedback from mentors to address challenges and errors.
ConocoPhillips employees subsequently engaged in both online and in-person group discussions to define equity and explore methods for fostering equitable workplaces on both individual and organizational levels. Noteworthy insights from ConocoPhillips participants encompassed the importance of embracing diverse perspectives, steering clear of hasty judgments, cultivating open-mindedness, and being mindful of unconscious biases. Additional key takeaways revolved around creating a safe environment conducive to sharing, adopting active listening practices, and acknowledging the value of learning from mistakes.
The workshop concluded with the facilitator inviting Lydia Zhou to provide closing remarks. Being the sole woman in the senior leadership team at COPC, Lydia shared the challenges she encounters and encouraged fellow women to join her in the journey. Her counsel to all participants encompassed two core principles: firstly, recognizing and communicating one’s individual needs to supervisors and managers; secondly, emphasizing self-care as a prerequisite for extending empathy to others. Drawing an analogy to airplane safety, Lydia underlined the importance of prioritizing one’s well-being before assisting others. She pledged her commitment to ensuring there are programs and policies in place to support employees’ individual needs.
