WISTA – SL Women’s Day Forum discusses future of Sri Lanka’s logistics and female participation

Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) Sri Lanka concluded yet another successful event held at Cinnamon Grand Hotel to celebrate Women’s Day 2021 with two panel discussions and members’ fellowship.

WISTA Sri Lanka President/ SALOTA International Director Nilu Mediwaka Wickremasinghe addressing the gathering, highlighted the importance of achieving gender equality and minimising the gender gap. She also emphasised the positive impact gender equality will bring in to the national economy. She further elaborated on objectives of WISTA Sri Lanka and the activities carried out to empower women in shipping and logistics, which include promoting shipping and logistics as a preferred industry from a job entry point, strengthening skills and competencies with various initiatives, providing networking and mentoring opportunities.

The first panel discussion themed ‘Future of Sri Lanka’s logistics and female participation’ with a challenging and thought-provoking session was moderated by Maersk Lanka Country Sales Head Randima Krishnaratne with two reputed industry leaders, Hayleys Advantis Managing Director Ruwan Waidyaratne and Expo Lanka Holding Group CEO Hanif Yusoof. They shared views on an industry with only 3% female participation and what needs to be done to encourage and empower more women to join this industry. 

Waidyaratne in his address said: “I have two wishes for the industry, one is there will be policy consistency and better integration of all authorities concerned. The second being that the industry would swiftly embrace technology to create better stakeholder value.” 

Yusoof said: “I am an impatient man and I make things happen; if Sri Lanka is to truly become a hub the ease of doing business has to improve.”

The second panel discussion on ‘Inclusivity – achieving an equal world’ was moderated by GAC group CEO Ravi Edirisinghe with an eminent panel comprising of Indira Trust Chairperson Dr. Lanka Dissanayake, Maersk Pakistan Managing Director Aruna Hussain, Mrs. World 2020 Caroline Jurie, SAGT Chief Commercial Officer Ted Muttiah, Psychologist, Public Speaking and Personality Development Coach Rasini Bandara, and Mclarens Group Managing Director Shehara Jayawardena.

Dissanayake sharing her views said: “Women must look after themselves; TLC campaign is all about this and all women over the age of 20 years must do a self-breast examination every month.” 

Bandara said: “Women empowerment is something we all have within us and it’s a matter of understanding that, you need to believe in yourself first to build that empowerment in you, then only you will have the power of empowering another human being. Caroline Jurie shared her story of why women should stand up for themselves irrespective of their appearance as beauty is more about women feeling confident about themselves to stand up against any challenges they face. 

Hussain who joined the session virtually said: “Being a part of Maersk has enabled me in my career as it opened doors which otherwise will not and Maersk has embedded inclusivity all the way in to their culture.” 

Muttiah emphasised: “Equality and equity both promote fairness. Although equality treats equally regardless of need, whereas equity distributes based on need.” Muttiah also added that gender equality requires a shift in social consciousness and community norms to further strengthen sustainable progress in this regard. 

Jayawardena in her address spoke about unconscious biases affecting gender equality at organisations. She also said: “Many companies have shown their commitment to gender equality by establishing family friendly policies and facilitating women’s careers and professional networks. Nevertheless, unconscious gender bias continues to impact women in the workplace, and more must be done to enable highly skilled women to advance into leadership positions.”

The event was well-supported by SAGT as the Corporate Partner, Mclarens Maritime Academy and CL Synergy as the Gold Sponsors, Ceyline Shipping, Colombo Logistics, Maersk Lanka and SALOTA International as the Silver Sponsors. D’las International – Gift Sponsor for the event supported with their exclusive herbal range of cosmetics as gifts.

WISTA firmly believes and advocates inclusivity in the workplace, giving equal opportunities for women to rise up in their respective careers. WISTA has carried out many such initiatives in the past empowering and coaching women to become a powerful force in the industry.