Women urged to include men as part of their cheering squad

DIRECTOR of the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, Christelle Harris, believes that while women in business continue to face gender-related discrimination, they still need men as part of their “cheering squad”.

Additionally, Harris said women need to take up at least 50 per cent occupancy in the corporate field for there to be adequate representation.

“Men should be a part of our cheerleading squad. They need to be shown the benefit of having women in leadership roles and having women [take up] 50 per cent occupancy at the table. There [should] be a little bit more emotional consideration when making important corporate decisions,” she told All Woman.

Harris, who is also the director of both Hampden Estate Rum and Liguanea Lane Pharmacy, said historically there has been a false presumption that men are the stronger of the genders and this had led to women being treated negatively by men in the corporate world.

“We can see it in pay inequality and we can see it in opportunities granted…But for me as a woman, even in my own family where women have historically been in leadership positions, as the companies become more diversified we’ve had to take on people from outside of the family. I can see where there is a tendency to not want my directive as the final directive. There is this tendency to want to go to the male counterpart of my family for authorisation or for final decision,” Harris said.

Explaining that both men and women have different strengths that they bring to table, Harris stated that if women do not have the support of men, then their struggle for equality will continue to be that much more difficult.

“So really what is the sense of putting men down to say that we are stronger than you? If I were a man that would make me quite insecure. I think that it’s quite beneficial to garner support [by] trying to foster a sense of community, rather than fighting against [each other],” she added.

Harris continued: “Now that does not mean that if a man is acting in a reasonably superior way because of his gender he should not be put in his place. I believe that he should be called out and it should be transparent. It needs to be dealt with in a responsible manner.”

Also the 2006 Miss Jamaica World first runner-up, Harris recalled how the tenacity of her grandparents built her family’s empire. She noted that her grandparents were always supportive of each other, and this kind support is how both men and women should work together when building a business.

“My grandmother and my grandfather were really a unit and in building their business; they did nothing apart. Their business sense was really innate and what gave them strength was the ability to work together,” she said.

Harris confirmed that even without formal training, her grandparents were able to operate multiple successful businesses.

“I must say they never had any formal training; nobody went to university. My grandmother didn’t finish high school because she wasn’t able to pay the school fee. My family wasn’t a wealthy family, before the dry cleaning business my grandfather was a farmer and my grandmother was a self-taught seamstress. So they really built what they knew from scratch and I suppose from looking at what people needed and supplying that,” she said.

With this in mind, Harris went on to say that in order to build a solid future there is no point in trying to convince someone of your worth if you’re unsure about your worth.

“[You] should never succumb to nay-sayers. You have to know your worth and bring it to the table and when you’re given a seat at the table ensure that you use your voice. Too many times I’ve been in a room where I feel like it’s not my time to speak, or maybe I can’t follow the person that spoke before me because I’m going to seem silly. Or maybe I doubt that I do have an opinion that’s valid because I don’t share certain struggles that people have, so I shut up. I’ve missed a lot of opportunities by feeling inferior,” Harris said.