- Thilanka Abeywardena on women empowerment, her career journey, and more
With her impressive career growth, her “Career Role Model of the Year” award at the “Top50” Professional and Career Women Awards 2021 came as no surprise. Impressively, she is also the first female Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) President; she told us that for 51 years there were no women in leadership positions at SLIM and added that there is no better time than today to discuss women empowerment.
Brunch had a chat with her on how her journey has been so far and how she overcame all obstacles that stood in her way.
Over the years, she has faced many challenges. She commented that personally, she thinks the biggest challenge that women need to fight is the challenge within themselves: “If we try to fix society or change societal norms, first of all, we need to take the challenge into our own hands.”
She said in her year of working, she has seen women shy away from opportunities because they lack role models and sometimes, when a woman is very ambitious, people tend to have excuses as to why the women succeeded. “The challenge is within ourselves – whether we give in to society or not. I don’t think we should hand the remote control over to anyone else. Man or woman, society will throw many obstacles your way and it’s your perspective that changes the game,” she shared.
There are choices a woman can make in order to climb the ladder of success, she expressed, adding: “Will you set your bar so low? Will you stoop to demeaning comments and give in? It’s a battle within your mind. You must challenge yourself to be the bigger person and keep challenging yourself each day.”
We also touched on the current economic state in the country, and Abeywardena strongly asserted that women can change the current economic crisis. “The moment that a woman comes forward and says we need to fight gender bias, inequality, and inclusivity, men and society try to pin it down as a women’s issue.”
She highlighted that speaking about these topics is not just an issue that women must deal with alone.
Using an example, she said that at Women’s Day events, the audience should not just be women because most of the time, men need to hear what is being said.
She informed us that in a recent report, it was said that only 34% of women are contributing to the economy, but over 60% of our population is women. Therefore, she explained that by addressing that and getting women more involved as entrepreneurs or in the workplace, the report stated that this alone can contribute $ 20 billion more to our gross domestic product (GDP).
“We speak about the importance of bringing tourists, currency building, and foreign direct investment (FDIs) – all of which are important, but there isn’t enough dialogue around bringing more women to work,” she commented, adding that if this were to happen, workplace policies and government policies will have to change. She told us that SLIM too is trying to champion this cause, adding that in order to bring more women into the workforce, we need to bend and change certain policies.
Sharing an example, she questioned whether we have reputed and quality child care which is affordable. “We do have child care but only the cream of society can afford it. If women were to come to work, while having children, then the child care system needs to develop,” she stated.
She also put forward that if a man earned, for example, Rs. 20,000, and a woman earns nothing, if that woman was to work, the household income would increase and they would be able to provide for their children and contribute to the economy. “It may sound simple, but that is exactly what this country needs,” she noted.
On the topic of her recent award for “Career Role Model of the Year”, we asked her how that opportunity arose. “I’ve known Women in Management (WIM) for a long time. I’ve always appreciated the work that (WIN Founder/Chairperson) Dr. Sulochana (Segera) and her team are doing since it’s much needed in today’s society,” she said, adding that their work lines up with her beliefs and they are working towards ending gender biases.
She also added that she had been nominated for the award and expressed the importance of other women having a role model to look up to and follow in their footsteps.
“I strongly believe that you can have a career and a life. This is a misinterpretation that society has, that if you’re a career-conscious and ambitious woman, you can’t have a family,” she said, informing us that this isn’t true. “I got married to my best friend and we have a toddler. I try to have a support system around my family and not let go of my career. Society should never pressure a woman to pick one or the other; it is possible to have both.”
Sharing her plans for the year, she said that this year is an important year for all of us as citizens since the last two years have been difficult. “We are not out of the woods with Covid-19, but we’ve settled into the new normal and we’re not running away from it anymore. 2022 is a year that we will continue with the resilience we have shown,” she said.