US Open tennis champ Naomi Osaka is the kind of female success story that knocks down gender stereotypes crucial to opening more doors for women in the workplace, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said Tuesday.
Women’s tennis lived in the shadow of the men’s game in Japan before Osaka’s shock victory over Serena Williams last month, the head of the International Monetary Fund said.
“Then suddenly (women’s) tennis became a really powerful sport,” Lagarde added.
“We need to encourage and celebrate women who win.”
Her comments about Japan’s first Grand Slam singles champion came as the IMF and World Bank kick off a week of meetings in the Indonesian holiday island of Bali with some 32,000 attendees, including finance ministers and top central bankers.
Sri Mulyani Indrawati, host Indonesia’s female finance minister, said that stereotypes about women’s abilities leach into all sectors, including high-level politics.
“Finance minister has always been seen as man’s job,” she told the Empowering Women in the Workplace seminar.
“Battling this perception that this is a male job and for a woman you have to be an extra, extraordinary to do this male job… That creates a real huge burden.”
Helping women with child care – from breastfeeding rooms in offices to convincing men to pick up more household chores – can also help boost work opportunities, while female role models are also crucial, the seminar heard.
“Woman are more likely to choose a major if they know another woman who did the same course,” Carolyn Wilkins, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada told the panel.
But millions of poor women will never labour over what university major to choose or whether to enter the male-dominated high tech field, said Priyanthi Fernando, executive director of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch.
Many successful women can afford to hire domestic help to look after their children, she added.
“For us to get into very important decision-making positions, we have to delegate our child care to someone else,”she said.
