In commemoration of International Women’s Day, Barbados TODAY highlighted women working in various fields – from health to telecoms, from development to politics – as they share their sources of success and triumph over challenges they have encountered. Below is an interview with Natalie Abrahams, Digicel Barbados CEO, about her journey.
It is not OK to come into a space see inequities, seeing behaviors or habits that are contributing to a gender divide and then staying silent about them.
What is the responsibility of a leader?
Being in a leadership role there’s a certain responsibility that comes with it. You now have access to more information than the average employee and certainly you’re part of the decision making process. You very much need to take that to heart and ask the right questions and challenge the status quo. It is not OK to come into a space see inequities, seeing behaviors or habits that are contributing to a gender divide and then staying silent about them. You are now in a position where you can ask the right questions: Why is this this way? Should it be this way? Can we change it? How can we change it? You’re in that space you have that power you should use it.
How do you as a leader accelerate action?
One of the things that’s really important to me in any space that I’m in is having an impact so accelerate action for me is – because I have the platform, because I have the authority – I make sure that I can put measures in place [or] make change that means something to the young women coming up in my wake; making sure that I am including them in conversations, pointing them in the direction of opportunities, asking questions when I see that they are not being represented or they feel as though they don’t have the voice to advocate for themselves – either showing them how to or advocating on their behalf. That’s what it means to me.
This article appeared in the March 8 International Women’s Day Magazine by Barbados Today. View the magazine here.
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