Status of Women in Society Depends on Economic Power

Irene Natividad: Although some people are skeptical about this sort of large-scale conference due to terrorism, women should assemble to understand and help each other. Female participation in the political world is still at a very low level in many countries around the world.

We’ve already discussed this at the “Minister’s level round-table conference” in earnest. We will inform the result of this conference to the world as a type of documentation.

Antoinette Ruegg: At the World Female Leader’s Conference (WFLC), only organizations can have memberships, not individuals. I participate in the activities of the international coordination committee of this conference as the chairwoman of the world federation of Business and Professional Woman (BPW). This conference is a good opportunity to cooperate with other women in my viewpoint.

Natividad: WFLC has more than fifty organizations from all around the world, including BPW as its partners, due to its advantage of being capable of organizing global networks in one place. Not only organizations, but also governments and companies can be included. It is also possible to sink in how people exert their leadership with each other.

A Philippine-American, Natividad has worked herself up through the chief of U.S. Female Politician Federation and Working Women’s National Commission, and led the founding of this conference in 1990. Though this conference has commenced centering on female politicians in its first stage, it was converted into an economic women’s conference starting from 1998’s London conference in accordance with the conclusion that “Raising the economic role of women is the key solution of women’s problems.”

Born in Switzerland, Chairwoman Ruegg had worked as a university professor and job consultant until she joined BPW back in 1989. She was elected as the chairwoman of world federation of BPW in 2002, whose tenure of office is three years. This organization has formed networks of 400,000 people from all over the world and, in the United Nations’ Economy and Society Council, consults on the problems about solving discrimination against professional-class women.

Ruegg: I’m pretty much impressed by the earnest and enthusiastic activities carried out by the Korea Federation of BPW. I’ve heard that they would hold a seminar about the “Image of future leaders,” that is targeting female college students from twenty universities.

Natividad: No matter what country it is, the essence of women’s problems is similar with each other. Regardless of the level of country, the low economic status and burden of raising children are the major issues of the problems.

Ruegg: Having a doctor’s degree in biology, I prefer to explain the characteristics of man and woman in terms of instincts. Men instinctively secure their own domains and become very competitive in order to disseminate their own seed. On the other hand, women have become pessimistic to take care of their seed. Biologically, rather than wasting time by fighting against other men and women, men and women should reincarnate into appropriate humans for organized society by being equipped with those two instincts at the same time.

Natividad: In some cases, global companies’ budgets cross over that of a whole country. Economic women should share their information in these companies and organize global networks.

Asia, where two thirds of the whole human population lives, is a very important region. What kind of consumption women bring out and what kinds of work they do are very important in terms of economic activities. In this viewpoint, the “McKinsey report,” should be focused on this, which was a study conducted by McKinsey and Company targeting Asian women. It suggests the means of utilizing womanpower and the statistics of women’s economic activities in the Asian region.

Ruegg: What I will address at this conference is the “Introduction of technology for the sake of companies and professional organizations’ growth.” With the prosperity of technology in private companies and governmental organizations, the chief of each organization and his or her employees can share their information and recognize the activities of each other. The members can add their own brand-new information on it, and assess each other’s defects and faults. Even successors can grasp the business in about an hour.

Natividad: I fully agree with you. When I firstly started this conference 14 years before, I had to forward more than 1,000 pamphlets. But now, with a simple click of a computer mouse, people can exchange information conveniently. I receive on average 34 million e-mails per year. The era of information technology that connects people has rolled around. But, real solidarity can only be accomplished by directly facing each other like this.

Natividad’s visit to Korea has been her sixth since her first visit in 1990, which was to participate in the seminar in relation to the topic of women’s advances into the political worlds. Though a lot of Korean women have made inroads into the private company and governmental sectors, she regards it as still not reaching the level of the advanced countries.

“The organization of employment infrastructure and diverse incentives that allows women to manage their business and house work harmoniously should be needed as soon as possible,” she pointed out.

Ruegg, who visited Korea for the first time, pointed out that “I was very surprised when I visited Ewha Women’s University. Their academic level is very high, but the government and society do nothing for them to continue their free economic activities.”

kjk9@donga.com