More women in senior roles in private sector

Business

WOMEN occupying senior roles in middle management in the private sector have improved to 23 per cent today, compared to 10 years ago.
Lesieli Taviri, the chief executive officer of Origin Energy PNG, said 10 years ago, there were 0.3 per cent of women in middle management senior executive roles in the company.
“I progressed on to the chief executive officer role about four years ago and since then we have seen a 23 percent increase in women holding middle management senior roles,” she said.
Taviri spoke of the gender roles of women in the society and how it affected educated women leaders trying to excel in their work environment.
“I think the challenge in women leadership roles in PNG are the cultural and political aspects, and other dynamics in terms of overall leadership in goals and ambitions,” she said.
“Somebody who is educated and has got gender diversity from within and that would definitely a start.
“It won’t be that easy. In line with my experience in running a business as a women CEO, I have actually grown profit for the company by about 170 percent.
“And a lot more of that was driven by innovation, sustainability and a lot more on women holding those 23 per cent senior roles.”
She was taking part in a panel discussion hosted by the International Finance Corporation and the PNG Business Coalition for Women on women business leadership in the private sector in Papua New Guinea.