Chinese women now a global force

The Women's Forum Asia has helped connect women internationally and served to bridge ideas between the east and the west, Yan Lan, vice-chairperson of Women's Forum Asia and partner of the French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel, said.

As the first woman partner at the renowned law firm which offers legal advice and assistance to both private and public sector institutions, Yan Lan says Chinese women's rising role is rapidly changing the world's perceptions of both the country and its people.

Hosting the women's forum in Asia, therefore, represents a significant step toward building connections and dialogues between the east and the west, she said.

"As they become increasingly economically independent and confident, they have higher goals to achieve," she said of Chinese women.

"It is therefore highly significant to let the world learn about contemporary Chinese women and their ambitions."

Women in China now make up 25 to 30 percent of top leadership positions in the private sector.

Since her acquaintance with Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and president of the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society, Yan has been intent on bringing the forum to China.

The amiable and energetic woman entrepreneur said she was impressed by the dynamism, passion and solidarity among participants at the Women's Forum Global Meeting held in Deauville, France, during the past three years.

"By addressing major issues facing the world today, Women's Forum Asia aims not only to serve as an exchange venue for the world's opinion-leaders, but also to initiate concrete actions that will help make a difference to the world," Yan said.

She added that one of the programs within the forum seeks to promote rural tourism in areas that are home to minority groups.

Greater political engagement by women is something Yan hopes to see in the near future.

"I'd be glad to see in the future that women would be able to make up half of the positions in the government," she said.

"Women entrepreneurs in China are already showing stronger determination to integrate into the world, and the forum has provided them an ideal networking mechanism."

Women have 'key role' in business

Zhang Xin, CEO of real estate developer SOHO China Ltd, believes that cooperation is the key to success in business. "And women are natural unifiers," she said.

"Today by yourself, you can't do anything. It is all about bringing talents together to work on the same platform," she said. "Being mothers and always being a member of the family, women are very natural talented in this regard."

At the property company, which Zhang co-owns with her husband Pan Shiyi, women account for 40 per cent of senior management.

"Our president is a woman, our CFO is woman, and we have many women in the management team," she added. "We are very happy with the balance."

Zhang, whose company is one of the country's top property developers, said that Chinese women are increasingly active in business. There are lots of husband and wife teams such as Zhang and her husband, she added.

"In the beginning, 10 years ago, wives remained in the background," she said.

"Now you see more and more are co-CEOs, co-owners and co-founders."

She also sees more men and women making joint decisions when buying property.

"We don't see men coming alone to visit and make a decision," she said.

But challenges remain ahead.

"The biggest is to build a balance between family and work," she said.

Today families are still very much dependant on women. "The woman's role in the family is crucial and their role in business is also crucial," she said.

"Trying to balance the two is always a challenge."

And when women advance in society, tradition and old values remain, added Zhang.

"But I really believe that Asia is far more dynamic and far more acceptable of women having an increasing role than the rest of the world," she said.

"I am so luckier than my parents, and younger women will be even luckier."

Business needs more women voices

Pierre E. Cohade sees there is a mounting business need for further integrating and engaging women employees and consumers for Goodyear, the world's largest tyre company.

As president of the Asia Pacific Region of the company, M. Cohade said embracing the women force represents a growth focus for the company. Attracting and retaining women employees would help build up the company's talent pool, he said.

"At Goodyear, women now make up 20 percent of the executive team," Cohade said. "Three years ago, that was zero. And I can see it's still not enough."

At Goodyear Tyre Management Company (Shanghai) Ltd., the number of female staff has gone as high as 70 percent.

"In order for the organization to grow faster, we must find more competitive labor force and resources," Cohade said, adding that as women become increasingly confident that they can make a difference to the world, they are well-positioned now to make that happen.

Apart from engaging more women employees, the company also sees a growing market potential represented by female consumers.

According to Cohade, 50 percent of the car-drivers in Australia are women, while that in China is only 15 percent.

"It therefore makes business sense for the company to attract more women consumers in China."

As part of the efforts to engage more women consumers, the company is intensively working around Asia to make specific initiatives so that Goodyear progressively has a women-friendly environment in its stores, in which the women don't have to wait for 20 minutes to go to the bathroom, and they would have a place to sit and take a rest.

"When you have a carefully lighted surrounding, professional staff who speak up to you instead of looking down on you, and a clean, comfortable environment, I'm sure it will attract more women consumers." Cohade said.

Expressing his congratulations to the forum, Cohade said he was deeply impressed by the passion and compassion of the women leaders present at the forum, who are making strenuous efforts to help the victims in China's quake-stricken Sichuan province's Wenchuan County.

"What strikes me is not just the passion of all these very successful women who want to share with us their vision to build a better society, but also their compassion and sensitivity which leads them to call on the aids from all sides to help those in need."

Kan brings touch of beauty to forum

Yue-Sai Kan always attracts attention wherever she goes, and, dressed in a "Yue-Sai-style" bright red top, her presence at the first edition of the Women's Forum Asia was certainly no exception.

Dubbed the "Queen of the Middle Kingdom" by Time magazine, Kan's is a household name in China thanks to the popular cosmetics brand she established in 1989.

"When I first saw this country, it was with no color, then I decided that it would be a wonderful thing to introduce so-called 'modern tools' to give Chinese women more confidence," said Kan, recalling why she decided to set up the beauty business that she sold to L'Oreal in 2004.

Kan knew that she has established a role model for hundreds of thousands of young women, encouraging them to use just a few tools to "create a new life".

Speaking exclusively to China Daily, Kan said: "Young women in China today are very unique," particularly those living in Shanghai, who see the city growing every day.

In young women's eyes, "yesterday was not as good as today, and today is not as good as tomorrow. It's such an extraordinary situation for young people."

Chinese women have better opportunities and a fairer environment in which to do business and succeed than their peers in many other parts of the world, she claimed.

"There's no social stigma about women being successful in this country, that's good news," Kan noted.

Kan is currently dedicated to running her newly launched House of Yue-Sai, an East-meets-West lifestyle retail concept aiming to bring style, inspiration and elegance to Chinese homes.

She added that in her new business, she has "extraordinary women employees," who account for 70 percent of her company's total workforce.

(China Daily 05/16/2008 page10)