Women Role Models in the Development Sector & How We can Show Up at Workplaces

I grew up in a privileged household in India. I was an only child; I went to an all-girls school; then got a scholarship to an all women’s college in the United States and all through my childhood and adolescence, there was no one who ever told me that there was anything I couldn’t do.

But that bubble burst once I stepped into the outside world. 

I started my career with a prominent multinational bank. The job was considered very prestigious and much coveted. In my first year, however, I faced sexual harassment from my boss who was then a senior member of the HR department. When I chose to highlight this, it was initially not taken very seriously. After I persisted, it turned out that mine was not a sole incident, and no one had dared to speak up because of the fear of not being believed or having consequences to bear.

Too often, we as women are told to take back our complaints or concerns because it will adversely affect men who are viewed as the principle breadwinners. We are told to look the other way, and this was the case in 1995 much more so than today.

Unfortunately, this is not limited to the private sector where we have seen more publicity and corporates starting to put in place mechanisms to address these sensitive and important issues. In the development sector, the same issues DO exist, and unfortunately are covered up even more as the perpetrator hides behind the cloak of all the good work they have done and will continue to do. It makes speaking up even harder for women and other marginalized gender groups who then are made to feel that they are bringing a “good person” down.  

Even in the social sector, gender discrimination is not unseen. According to the Center for Global Development, 75% of the work force in non profits are women. However, only about 18% of the largest Non Profit CEOs are women, and they earn up to 8% less than their male peers. If we look across the largest foundations today, we find that they are almost all led by men.

I recount these stories of discrimination - not because they will be new to you. No, I recount these stories, because they are so common that we can all relate to them. So, at what point do we say, enough is enough? At what point can we take a stand and rebalance the scales? 

There’s no one way to start chipping away at the walls of patriarchy, but there are role models in the development sector who are making headway.

Safeena Husain

The first woman I want to talk about today is not unfamiliar to many of us in the development world. Safeena Husain is the founder of Educate Girls, a non-profit organization that is finding villages in India that have the highest number of out-of-school girls, and bringing these girls into schools. Some of us may know about the very successful three-year project that she was working with in partnership with some of the biggest funders, including UBS Optimus Foundation and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation. The results after three years of implementation were impressive, surpassing the two target outcomes measured: (i) learning levels for the students grew 79% more than their peers in other schools – almost the difference of an entire additional year of instruction; (ii) final enrollment exceeded by 116%, including 92% of eligible out-of-school girls in Rajasthan were enrolled into the school.

But, there is a lesser known story from Safeena that I find all the more admirable. After the DIB was completed, and the results broadcasted, many more funders came to her with intentions to do more DIBs. After all, what’s better for a non-profit organisation than getting grant funding right at your doorstep? Yet, Safeena said no to them. Because, despite the remarkable results of the DIB, she felt that she had strayed away from Educate Girls’ original intentions. It’s not easy to turn away money, and there’s always a fear that if you turn money away, it will never come back to you. But, Safeena has had the courage to take a stand, say no to people and invitations that may compromise her principles, and continue doing what she deems right. 

I think women leaders in the nonprofit sector have a lot to learn from her. We must be brave. We must be unfettered by funders who traditionally hold more power and keep our integrity, because funders who know our worth will check themselves and come back with a proposal that aligns with our terms. And funders, particularly philanthropic funders, must also give these organisations power to be brave - that’s the transformative power of philanthropy.  

Shinta Dhanuwardoyo

Shinta is a tech industry veteran who has been working tirelessly to advance technology in Indonesia and across Asia for 25 years now. She is a woman of many firsts: she was one of the firsts to bring the internet to Indonesia through her first company called Bubu.com in 1996; she also became one of the first venture capitalists in Indonesia; and she was the first to spearhead a successful esports tournament that gives Indonesian women a platform to compete with equal prize pool and treatment as the men, which is unheard of in the region. No wonder she has been recognized by Globe Asia as one of the “99 Most Powerful Women,” and also named as the “Inspiring Women Honor Roll” by Forbes Indonesia Magazine. Women like Shinta proves that there is truly so much you can do if you leverage your resources to do so. And, that’s why she is also a founding member of the Asia Gender Network. 

One thing that I really appreciate about Shinta is that she embraces failure. When she started her first company, she did not have any background in IT. So getting to where she is today has not been easy. Likewise, we can only see progress in the development sector by recognising failure as a natural process to finding what works.

The way I see it, the key ingredient to creating space for failures and experimentation is trust between the funder and nonprofit. Building a partnership where all stakeholders have a seat at the table, encouraging grantees to talk about their short-term failures, and providing multi-year unrestricted funding for organisations to innovate, are just a few ways to build and demonstrate trust. 

Ifrah Butt

Now, it’s meaningless to talk about role models, if there is no one to impact or inspire. This makes community leadership so catalytic. In building and equipping our youth, there is an opportunity to unleash generations after generations of young changemakers who can serve the people. So, I am very proud to introduce you to Ifrah Butt who benefited from the Kashmir Fellowship, also called the 1000 Leaders Programme, and now leads the same programme after graduating. 

The Kashmir Fellowship was borne out of the desire to break Jammu and Kashmir out of the vicious cycle of violence that has been happening in the last 40 years. Ifrah was in the first cohort of the Kashmir Fellowship way back in 2013, and has experienced insurgence for the last 30 years of her life. She has experienced the longest e-curfew (which is an internet blackout), and has had no voice to express her feelings and ambitions without facing repercussions from speaking out. 

Many of us do not know what it feels like to not be able to talk about issues that are important to us. But, the Fellowship has inspired youths like Ifrah to be more ambitious and channel their energy to solving social issues, including gender inequality by providing mentors and leadership models to them. 

Gender lens investing pioneers in Asia

I'd like to switch gears now and move to the impact investing world. One key emerging area of impact investing is gender lens investing, which is being driven by impact investors who are actively integrating a gender lens strategy into their investment portfolios. Capital is desperately needed; the economic cost of gender inequality globally amounts to USD 160.2 trillion. This crisis allows a real opportunity for impact investors to reimagine how they can contribute to address existing gender and power disparities. 

At AVPN, we have numerous impact investors including Virginia Tan and Shuyin Tang who have founded Asia-based, women-focused investment firms that are crucial in providing women entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia the support they need to scale. Women entrepreneurs in urban and even rural parts of Southeast Asia have a huge potential to drive the economy and uplift entire communities, if they are given the resources and opportunity to do so. I have stood witness to some of these testimonies in Indonesia and the Philippines, and I could not be more proud of how these entrepreneurs have worked so hard to lift villages out of poverty. These stories would not be told without pioneering firms like Teja Ventures and the Beacon Fund in the field that recognise the untapped potential in women and are paving the way for them to rise up. 

A leader in her own right that I’ll like to highlight is Kaylene Alvarez. She is the founder and CEO of Athena Global Alliance, which focuses on providing access to finance for SMEs in emerging markets. Most recently, Athena is supporting debt financing for women entrepreneurs in Indonesia. And here, I want to point out the racial intricacies and problematic dynamics that enter the social investment world when Western foreign funds, despite their best intentions, assert their influence on Asian markets. Power asymmetries, from market power to social power to political power, are often at play. But I want to recognise Kaylene for her awareness and sensitivity to these nuances. Gender inequality is not a dichotomous fight against our male counterparts. There are social, cultural, and racial complexities that make gender inequality so difficult to articulate and tackle. And that is why Kaylene is cautious of speaking on behalf of Asian women who are using Athena’s services. In fact, she ensures that the women-led organisations in Indonesia she supports are empowered and have the platform to voice and demonstrate their concerns and needs. We need women - not just Asian women in question but also women of different backgrounds - to recognise their role in balancing these gender scales.  

The world today needs to redefine leadership to meet these ever-changing and complex times. Effective leadership is no longer hierarchical, individualistic, and hyper-masculine; well-recognised leaders are emerging as champions of inclusiveness, collaboration, and womanhood.

Where does this leave us? How can we as women show up in our workplaces and make the change we want to see? 

First, let’s show up authentically.

For anyone who knows me, you know that I am someone who is loud and is not afraid to speak up and call out on things that I think are wrong. But, there are times when people - men and women - who have tried to make me a more ‘agreeable’ person, who have said that I’m too loud, too aggressive, too disruptive. I could not disagree more.

We must create the change we want to see. If we want to create systems change, we need people with clear vision. If we want to see impact, let’s be action-oriented. If we want to change the status quote, we must be innovative. And if others dampen our spirit so that we fit a particular mold, then we are doing ourselves and the world a disservice. 

But, let’s also not be too carried away with the need to assert our individuality. Playing our part as a community member and builder have their strengths. In fact, relationships are everything. Deep and meaningful relationships are what makes us human, and what makes us changemakers. 

To the women who are just venturing into the social investment sector -

The workplace experience impacts so much of who we are. In particular, a relationship with a mentor can make all the difference for us in our professional lives, but also out of it. I would like to share here how I personally have benefited from having strong women directors on my board, who have made it a point to support my decisions as CEO and have acknowledged the challenges that come with being a woman leader who is usually balancing several balls in the air. My daughter was suffering from mental health issues whilst the company was going through its busiest period, and I felt uniquely supported by strong women, who gave me the courage to share my struggles, and provided me with resources and a safe space to help overcome these challenges.

To the women who are already in positions of power and authority in the social investment world -

You have to give your teams permission to know that they can bring their full self to work. You can potentially be the first person to show the younger ones how to use their voice - regardless of how loud or soft it can be - but more importantly, how to use their voice deftly to control conversations and agendas in the boardroom. This is an important education for working women all around, and it is an important culture to create. Unless and until we leverage our position to advocate for ourselves and set our demands, we will not only lose the chance of demonstrating the value of who we are, but also lose the chance for the people working for us to be the best versions of themselves. This speaks to the importance of using our voices. Nobody can read our minds; and if we do not speak up to say, “this is what I need”, then we are not empowering ourselves and the fellow women who are always watching what we do.  

Relationships are important.

And they are all the more so between funders and fundees. Oftentimes, grantmaking may seem no more than a means to an end to achieving a foundation or non profit’s goals. The very nature of the philanthropic relationship also tends toward donor dominance, which undermines the space for genuine and effective partnerships. 

The key would be to enable equitable relationships between essentially unequal actors by replacing practices that create dependency. This means that philanthropy needs to be able to lend its power to those who need them. One way is to listen to the voices of communities on the ground, and review its programmes, operations, and services to ensure equality of opportunity and diversity. 2 of AVPN’s members - Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and Expedia Group - piloted the Listen 4 Good programme in Asia that is designed to implement rigorous feedback loops and give clients a seat at the table. The programme has helped our members to not only revise their programme offerings and communication approaches, but also change the attitudes and organisational culture amongst the beneficiaries and grantmaking staff.

Lastly, let’s talk money.

Social sector pay and career trajectory are not discussed often and openly enough. The social sector struggles with a dearth of talent - in attracting and retaining talent. Yet, we are neither paying our people properly enough nor providing them with attractive growth opportunities. There is a tendency to glamourise burn-out (although that does not work any longer), and there is little effort in upskilling team members, just like they do in the corporate sector. Funders are also wary of supporting the long-term operations of charity institutions, and would prefer to provide project-driven grants. 

But, if we expect the social investment workforce to be passionate individuals with the right to lead a good life, while working for the betterment of society, then let’s request for better pay parity and engaging employee experience. This effort requires setting new cultural standards. There should no longer be rigid cultural boundaries between for profit and non-profit organisations; people, whether they are in the social or private sector, deserve dignity, wellbeing, and opportunities for growth. So, even as we look to advocate for social change in the world we live in, let’s start practicing these values from within - taking the time to evolve and build forward-thinking organisations in the social investment world.

I want to end my article today with hope.

I believe that the next decade will be the decade for gender equity in Asia. Gender equity does not simply stop at treating women as recipients of philanthropy, but also providing women with decision-making roles. 

The time is now. If we wait to take action only after Covid-19 subsides, we will lose trillions of dollars worth of opportunity. But, if we take action immediately to push for gender parity, we can kickstart our recovery and deliver much-needed economic growth in all countries across Asia. Let’s rise. We, women, are all social investors now.