Leila Khaïat: "More educated women are able to create their own businesses"
29 April 2008
Read by 34861 persons
Cofounder of the Arab Women Business Council in 1998, this former Tunisian professor of French literature, who converted to the business world, has had a brilliant career that has propelled her to the head of a textile SME.
Jeune Afrique: What role do women currently occupy in the Tunisian labor market?
Leila Khaïat: They are playing an increasingly important role. There are currently 1,000 women business leaders in the country. A figure unimaginable just a few years ago. We have a woman at the head of a bank, more and more senior executives and managers of large groups.
I myself am CEO of the SME Plastiss, specializing in industrial textiles. This rise in power is explained by the increased confidence women have in themselves, further encouraged by greater education, which gives them real skills to effectively manage and create businesses. Certainly, there is progress to be made, but the increase in the proportion of women in senior positions is promising.
What is the typical profile of a Tunisian female business leader?
A new generation of female leaders is emerging today. In general, they are personalities who know their files well and are able to make the right decisions. They come from prestigious schools such as HEC, the Higher Institute of Management... This is a different population from the previous female generation, which simply inherited family businesses and had a less high intellectual background. Today's businesswomen are therefore better able to create their own businesses.
Is creating their own company a powerful way for women to assert themselves?
Obviously! The welfare state no longer exists. Women now have financial tools available to them that make entrepreneurship easier. Statistics show, for example, that young women are the ones who have benefited most from the loans of the Tunisian Solidarity Bank (BTS) to finance small business creation projects.
For equal skills, are the chances of being hired the same as those of men?
There is no reason why, for equal value, a woman should have less chance of being hired. In Tunisia, there is a real political will to promote women. The authorities have implemented positive discrimination aimed at raising the proportion of women in elected positions to 30%. I am not necessarily a supporter of positive discrimination, but I think it is a necessary step to increase the proportion of women in decision-making positions. Thus, their presence in certain senior positions, particularly in the professional world, should become more habitual. It is then up to them to assert themselves through their own qualities.
Are there sectors in which women succeed better?
There is no longer a sector that is the preserve of men. Women succeed as well, if not better, than men in all areas of activity. Whether in the public or private sector, in finance, services, commerce, industry, hospitality or manual trades... they have largely proven themselves.
Jeune Afrique
Published October 27, 2009
Posted online October 27, 2009
jeuneafrique.com
Jeune Afrique: What role do women currently occupy in the Tunisian labor market?
Leila Khaïat: They are playing an increasingly important role. There are currently 1,000 women business leaders in the country. A figure unimaginable just a few years ago. We have a woman at the head of a bank, more and more senior executives and managers of large groups.
I myself am CEO of the SME Plastiss, specializing in industrial textiles. This rise in power is explained by the increased confidence women have in themselves, further encouraged by greater education, which gives them real skills to effectively manage and create businesses. Certainly, there is progress to be made, but the increase in the proportion of women in senior positions is promising.
What is the typical profile of a Tunisian female business leader?
A new generation of female leaders is emerging today. In general, they are personalities who know their files well and are able to make the right decisions. They come from prestigious schools such as HEC, the Higher Institute of Management... This is a different population from the previous female generation, which simply inherited family businesses and had a less high intellectual background. Today's businesswomen are therefore better able to create their own businesses.
Is creating their own company a powerful way for women to assert themselves?
Obviously! The welfare state no longer exists. Women now have financial tools available to them that make entrepreneurship easier. Statistics show, for example, that young women are the ones who have benefited most from the loans of the Tunisian Solidarity Bank (BTS) to finance small business creation projects.
For equal skills, are the chances of being hired the same as those of men?
There is no reason why, for equal value, a woman should have less chance of being hired. In Tunisia, there is a real political will to promote women. The authorities have implemented positive discrimination aimed at raising the proportion of women in elected positions to 30%. I am not necessarily a supporter of positive discrimination, but I think it is a necessary step to increase the proportion of women in decision-making positions. Thus, their presence in certain senior positions, particularly in the professional world, should become more habitual. It is then up to them to assert themselves through their own qualities.
Are there sectors in which women succeed better?
There is no longer a sector that is the preserve of men. Women succeed as well, if not better, than men in all areas of activity. Whether in the public or private sector, in finance, services, commerce, industry, hospitality or manual trades... they have largely proven themselves.
Jeune Afrique
Published October 27, 2009
Posted online October 27, 2009
jeuneafrique.com
