ALB’s 2nd Women in Business and Law Forum, held in Singapore on Oct. 31, touched on some issues closest to the hearts of female professionals.

The impressive speaker line-up included Sushma Jobanputra, partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Singapore office; Stefanie Yuen Thio, joint managing director of TSMP Law Corporation; Fang Fang, vice-president of tax at SingTel; and Sok-Theng Cheng, head of legal, Southeast Asia, at Morgan Stanley.

The dozens of legal professionals from both in-house and private practice enjoyed a candid session of insights, as well as some hilarious anecdotes from the speakers – all of whom are successful professionals juggling multiple responsibilities at their workplaces, with additional voluntary responsibilities and keeping hectic private lives on track.

Opening the discussion up to the floor also resulted in valuable contributions from many of the female attendees at various stages of their careers. What most agreed on was that there was certainly a great deal of benefit to be had from holistically managing their lives – professionally and personally – and by that, committing to the team, work, and the family. Women candidly talked about their own experiences related to arrangements they had with family to ensure they could lead equally fulfilling work and private lives.

The attendees, including the panelists, also talked about what makes women different in the workplace. The general opinion was that when it comes to decisions involving a certain degree of risk, women often tend to be hesitant to take the next step unless they are certain of a favourable outcome, whereas men tend to be more willing to take the risk. As Jobanputra put it: “We need to understand our conditioned responses, and overcome self imposed reluctance to embrace challenges.”

The most important message, though, was that organisations would benefit from a framework to help women progress. These could include creating flexible work arrangements that allow for the advancement of women re-entering the workforce after motherhood, having senior female leaders as role models, and making sure more women are in the C-suite in order to help organisations become more sympathetic to the unique situations of women. Additionally, when there are male champions who embrace the advancement of women throughout the organisation, and when there is an acknowledgement that there is a positive impact on the profitability of the business by having gender diversity at senior levels, benefits can clearly be seen.

Follow us on Twitter: @ALB_Magazine.