What Gender Balance means to the Sparkline Superheroes
By Sarah Ann Rebello, HR & Education Director @Sparkline
To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day we decided to ask some of our Sparks what the idea of Gender Balance meant for/to them… As a female-led business in an industry where we are still having to work tirelessly to promote our field to women, we often work with community partners to support and develop initiatives which engage with women and enable them to consider opportunities to build a career in the wonderful world of STEM.
To align with these, we gathered an array of insights from our Awesome Data Insights experts (see what we did there?) I am sure you will also find these enlightening!
I think the main takeaway for me when I spoke with our team, is the fact that there exists a shared consensus that we still have some way to go before we are able to reach the Utopia of true and genuine gender equality, but let’s have a look and see what sentiments our sparks have shared…
Aleetza Senn, CEO and Founder of Sparkline and mum of 3 (wow!)
“Balance is always a fluctuating challenge between one or another. It can be tough to maintain equilibrium in anything but in our workplace, and in fact our communities, to change the balance towards bias in any way calls into question our integrity, our motives and our abilities to grow through common connections. For me, balance is in everything we do, and although it can be tough, we should feel empowered to strive for a community and workforce that allows opportunities for those brave enough to put themselves forward for challenges, whether male or female, and look to understand the huge advantages we have when we work as equals to leverage each other’s skills, experience and perspective to reach collective new heights”
Khairul, Our Senior Data Analyst Team Lead and resident Training Superhero
“Everyone should be judged based on their merits and the impact they bring to their work, or non-work, settings. For me, gender balance refers to being in a situation where everyone has an equal right to be heard and to be represented and where not one opinion matters more than the other. My hope is one day we no longer label ourselves with what we identify ourselves by, but by the action and impact of what we bring to our environment”
Sarah, HR and Education Director and Mum of 2 boys
“Gender balance to me, that is simple: ensuring that everybody has the same opportunities given to them for learning, growth and development not just in the workplace but in society in general. As a working Mum, I also feel this is hugely important to have the chance to balance work and family!”
Rachel, Marketing and Account Executive, recent returnee to Singapore and our creative gem
“When women’s choices are no longer held accountable to the judgment of men.”
Madhu, A rare breed of awesome Women Tech Leaders
“Gender balance to me would mean fairness in treatment and equal ease of access to opportunities for everyone irrespective of gender! “
Ginny, Our Data Analysis guru and recent career transitioner- yay for us!
“Being in Singapore, we are privileged to have equal access to good education, job and skills improvements — so much so that I’ve never thought of myself as a ‘woman’ or ‘female’ data analyst, I am a Data Analyst! To me, that is gender balance: when gender prefix no longer define who or what everyone is.”
Usha, our powerhouse Financial Controller and avid Masterchef
“It is no surprise that one’s beliefs and perspective roots from his/her early childhood. Gender equality starts from home at a very young age. For instance, household chores should not be divided based on gender. Children, be it boys or girls should be taught to share any task. Washing of the dishes is not just a girl’s job, it is a joined responsibility of every family member. These boys will then grow up to be a Man who respects women. Gender equality is when we consider people as human, treat them fairly as human, relate with them as human and give them their right to live as human and not based on their sexual preference. Everyone has a part to play in developing a future generation where such talks for RIGHTS and BALANCES are not necessary anymore!”
Chris — Our Senior Integration Consultant, Father of one and resident fashion guru
Gender balance means my 10-year old daughter can pick up any hobby and choose any career path in the future. If she wants to, she can totally be a “boss”, just like our CEO Aleetza, and my team leader Madhu. That means a lot to me.
Pat — Our Account Manager, Guardian to her team and our clients
Serve tea/coffee for guests. Hold the door when there’s someone behind you. Settle the necessary administrative tasks you are responsible for. Provide for your family. Offer a smile. Speak and listen with respect, whoever you are in discussion with. Become an engineer. Study psychology. Wash dishes and do laundry. Gender balance for me is when all things above are no longer associated with one particular gender. Let’s just be a better human beings — always, all ways
Wow some great thoughts there and how enriching to help fuel these types of conversations in the workplace as well! In the true spirit of diversity we of course spoke to women and men on this subject. At Sparkline we have a genuine desire to embrace diversity and ensure we offer all our Sparks an equal opportunity to grow, learn, develop and progress and as Khairul has mentioned here, this should be based on merit and what impact we bring to our environment!
Way to go Sparks, happy International Women’s Day to everyone, regardless of Gender!
If you are interested in getting to know our awesome, kick ass team further and learn more about how we work to fuel an industry through our ability to provide Actionable Insights, Training and Education and Solutions Design as well as Consulting Services contact us today, what are you waiting for?
To view more about our culture, background and job opportunities you can also visit our ‘Wantedly’ platform client page https://www.wantedly.com/companies/sparkline
Sarah Ann Rebello, HR and Education Director
Sparkline aims to provide data accuracy, comprehension and consolidation, and most importantly, tangible insights for businesses. Get in touch if you’d like to learn more.
