Zonta launches mentorship programme

By Devoushi Cooray

In a bid to create more successful women entrepreneurs in the country Zonta Sri Lanka on Wednesday launched its mentorship programme for 2012.

Titled Zonta Women of Tomorrow (ZWOT), the initiative began in 2008 and has helped 63 successful business women.

Zonta is a well-established international organisation aimed at advancing the status of women globally.

ZWOT was first launched in 2008 with a mere 14 members with the intent of better equipping them for the corporate world.

Following the orientation early January by Chairperson, Zontian Chiranthi Cooray, for the mentees, the program was officially launched this week for it’s fifth consecutive year. The program consists of the careful selection of women from around the country who are then placed under the guidance of their mentors, successful corporate figures, who educate them in business etiquette, team building, and workplace communication, allowing them to network, thus increasing chances of success in the workforce.  

In societies such as Sri Lanka, individuals work for economic, social and physiological reasons, allowing them to form a sense of individualism. As one of the committee members, Maryam Marikkar, stressed the importance of “creating a difference from being different,” to all the women present at the launch.

The meaning of work is socially constructed, with status and power being directly related to income, thus when women are marginalized within the workforce it means they automatically have unequal life chances, which the ZWOT project of 2012 aims to prevent by means of its 4 goals of mentorship, leadership, volunteerism and networking.

These are carried out through the program’s monthly mentoring sessions for the organisation’s further 15 mentees for 2012, as well as workshops which cover communications and professional grooming. 

With less women being in positions of power they have less access to socially valued resources that will empower women and enable them to overcome the constraints society places upon them, as a result this year, ZWOT aims to present Sri Lanka with ‘women of tomorrow,’ transferring vital business skills onto women of the next generation. Entrenched in our society is the perception that males are seen as more capable and more competent leaders than women, and this is reflected in the political system which is dominated by men.

Hence Zonta’s programme ZWOT 2012 aims to bequeath leadership skills which will empower women and allow them a chance to complete equally, not just with the opposing gender but those living in rural areas with their urban counterparts as reinstated by Deputy Solicitor General, Farzana Jameel.

While the stereotypical image of the man as the ‘breadwinner’ and the woman as the ‘home-maker’ is ingrained in the psyche of societies worldwide, the trends in the workforce for Sri Lankans have undergone significant social change since the 1940s.

The gradual break down of gender stereotypes has become evident with women entering the workforce in large numbers leading to an increase in the labour force participation rate among young women.

Thus Zonta works towards the “humanisation of both roles” said Jameel. Job stability and skill level are linked to the ability to afford higher education and income due to a growing secular society.

This has increased the opportunity for better jobs, and delayed the entry of young Sri Lankans into the labour market, leading to greater vertical occupational and socio-economic mobility, a concept promoted by this program.

Mentees of Managing Director of Corporate Druids, Mihirini de Zoysa shared her experience with the guests present reinstating how successful ZWOT had previously been as a mentoring program claiming it transformed her from “ordinary me,” to a “confident and energetic,” young woman ready to face the corporate world.

Zonta aims to aid women around the world particularly in areas of political, social, economic and educational empowerment.

Founded in New York in 1919, Zonta has is now established in 70 different countries, including a total of four clubs in Sri Lanka., with the ZWOT project of 2012 being just one example of the initiatives taken by the organisation.