I have always been asked in my life’s journey from a teacher to running my business, if I have even been discriminated against because I am a woman. My answer always was discriminated on account of my race and religion yes, but never because I was a woman, and never at the work place, or in business.
I could not apply for many scholarships because I was not Malay, even though my grades were good and I was from a poor family. I could not apply for some jobs because I was not Malay or Chinese – I did not fit into a majority race that was preferred whether by a government agency or a Chinese corporation. But that was fine, I learnt to fight really hard to find my place in the sun by working harder and grabbing every opportunity I could find.
When I was a teacher in Sunway college, my salary was lower than some of the guys because they were from a foreign university and I was from University Malaya. They did not look at whether I was a better teacher or produced better results – we were judged on certificates. Even after I performed better and had better feedback from the students and had the largest Physics class in the history of the university.
I tried very hard to move up the ladder for four years before I realised I should try using all this energy on a business of my own. I think if they had just promoted me even a little bit or given me a higher salary than the last drawn salary I had as a teacher of RM1,800, I would probably have stayed.
But as the universe would have willed it, I started a media house.
In business, nobody cares about the genitals of the people they are working with –seriously. It is all about performance. It is only in the real corporate and business world that sex is neutralised in favour of actual substance, performance, profits, service and products that are value for money, perfect execution of what needs to be done.
If you can bring the most revenue for the company and you happen to be a woman , why would you not be paid the highest? It does not make sense that the company would pay that woman less than a man who brings half of that revenue and then lose her to a competitor. It is just not logical.
The premise that women are paid lower than men for the same performance does not hold water. As an employer I can tell you this straight from the horse’s mouth – I favour performance, attitude, the ability to get a job done. It does not matter if that person is male, female, transgender or an alien. So pitting employees against employers and men vs women in a baseless propaganda is both divisive and pointless.
I am all for levelling the playing field and giving equal opportunity for men and women but not at the expense of setting quotas to achieve this, because quotas don’t give you the best people for the job. Quotas are optics, and are never the solution.
Quotas don’t work in universities where the best are not allowed a chance to give the best to the nation. Quotas don’t work in the workplace because the best are not allowed to give the best to the company. If we were to thrive economically and socially, quotas that are detrimental to the best performance we can get, should go.
So back to my experience, I lost or gained business due to either my ineptitude or my brilliance. I either gave the best cost, best idea or I was too expensive or did not meet the expectations.
Nobody decided that Beatrice is a woman and thereby I should give this job to a man. They may give the job to a crony, or to someone they needed to do a favour for, they may steal my ideas and do it internally but never did I lose an opportunity because I was a woman.
The only time I have been discriminated as a woman is at home, by my parents, my relatives and by my community.
“Don’t expect to be successful on your own, you cannot do what a man can do, you are not good enough because you don’t cook, you are not a good enough mother because you don’t spend enough time with your children, you should aways listen to men and never argue,” is what I was fed growing up.
The workplace was actually where I could spread my wings and be free to be who I could be. And define my future the way I want. It is the great equaliser for women, if a woman chooses to free her mind, and go get what she wants.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune. Feedback can reach the writer at beatrice@ibrasiagroup.com
