#BreakTheBias is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. As a recruitment company, Lewis Sanders has a very unique window to gender equality issues, so to celebrate this year’s theme, we asked some of our very own team members to share their views. In this first part of three, Ivy Ng, Associate Director at Lewis Sanders, shared her thoughts with us.
Ivy has been with Lewis Sanders since 2017 and focuses on placing business support professionals for law firms and in-house legal teams. She works with paralegals, legal managers, legal secretaries, business development and marketing specialists, human resources, IT, office managers and directors of administration, and company secretaries. After graduating from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, she spent two years in financial services before returning to Hong Kong.
Lewis Sanders has traditionally been a place where the majority of its staff are women. How has it been working in a team like this?
It’s been a great journey working with a team of female leaders as we are able to empathise, connect, and support each other in ways that a male colleague may not be able to do so (sorry Chris and Roshan, you guys are still great though!). Our ladies also happen to have quite diverse backgrounds (UK, Canada, Hong Kong, China), so I’ve been able to gain great insights about different cultures and also a range of perspectives. Embracing this has allowed us to adopt a more collaborative working style.
Equality is achieved when everyone works together, but how do you think women, in particular, can work together to eliminate bias?
In line with what I said above, women should support and encourage each other to go for it. We’re often prone to stereotyping ourselves even before others do, so it’s important that we remind each other to stay open-minded about what we are capable of. Therefore, not only should we, as recruiters, stay open-minded when sourcing candidates, but we should also encourage female candidates to overcome gender-related self-doubts and go for roles they are well qualified for.
What progress have you seen in women’s equality since you have started working?
Although there is still room for progress, we have seen more and more female lawyers take on senior leadership roles at law firms. Also, according to a survey done by S&P Global with researchers from the University of Paris in 2021, female leaders tend to show greater empathy, adaptability, and accepting of diversity than their male peers. These adjectives have traditionally been viewed as feminine and “soft” but are now considered key qualities for leadership roles. This is a great step forward.
International Women’s Day 2022: Ivy Ng #BreakTheBias
#BreakTheBias is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. As a recruitment company, Lewis Sanders has a very unique window to gender equality issues, so to celebrate this year’s theme, we asked some of our very own team members to share their views. In this first part of three, Ivy Ng, Associate Director at Lewis Sanders, shared her thoughts with us.
Ivy has been with Lewis Sanders since 2017 and focuses on placing business support professionals for law firms and in-house legal teams. She works with paralegals, legal managers, legal secretaries, business development and marketing specialists, human resources, IT, office managers and directors of administration, and company secretaries. After graduating from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, she spent two years in financial services before returning to Hong Kong.
Lewis Sanders has traditionally been a place where the majority of its staff are women. How has it been working in a team like this?
It’s been a great journey working with a team of female leaders as we are able to empathise, connect, and support each other in ways that a male colleague may not be able to do so (sorry Chris and Roshan, you guys are still great though!). Our ladies also happen to have quite diverse backgrounds (UK, Canada, Hong Kong, China), so I’ve been able to gain great insights about different cultures and also a range of perspectives. Embracing this has allowed us to adopt a more collaborative working style.
Equality is achieved when everyone works together, but how do you think women, in particular, can work together to eliminate bias?
In line with what I said above, women should support and encourage each other to go for it. We’re often prone to stereotyping ourselves even before others do, so it’s important that we remind each other to stay open-minded about what we are capable of. Therefore, not only should we, as recruiters, stay open-minded when sourcing candidates, but we should also encourage female candidates to overcome gender-related self-doubts and go for roles they are well qualified for.
What progress have you seen in women’s equality since you have started working?
Although there is still room for progress, we have seen more and more female lawyers take on senior leadership roles at law firms. Also, according to a survey done by S&P Global with researchers from the University of Paris in 2021, female leaders tend to show greater empathy, adaptability, and accepting of diversity than their male peers. These adjectives have traditionally been viewed as feminine and “soft” but are now considered key qualities for leadership roles. This is a great step forward.