"ONE OF THE THINGS I'VE LEARNT IS
THAT IF YOU DON'T INTENTIONALLY INCLUDE WOMEN,
YOU UNINTENTIONALLY EXCLUDE WOMEN."
Elizabeth Broderick AO,
Founder of the Champions of Change Coalition, Australia.
The Panel Pledge: Gender balance in every forum
An Achievable Step to Enhance Gender Equality
Lightpath Leadership has the honor to house the Vietnam Panel Pledge Secretariat -
seed funded by the.
The Panel Pledge is:
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a simple and practical action that company leaders and senior executives can take to support and promote gender equity in thought leadership at every forum and influence system-wide change.
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a commitment made by any speaker requested to participate in a panel or forum, to ask the organizer about the gender balance of the program and highlight their commitment to diversity.
It involves actively encouraging women's voices and persevering to achieve change. As a result, the Panel Pledge improves gender equality and advances women in leadership.
The Panel Pledge is s an Australian initiative of the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia, Male Champions of Change, and Chief Executive Women.
The Selection Process:
Selection Criteria for Signatories:
1. Individuals who are frequently asked to speak on panels.
2. Organizations who are frequently organizing events.
3. Share belief in the value of diversity, equity and inclusion.
The Selection Process:
- Existing signatories recommend new signatories who provide bios and short statements of intent.
- Selection by the HCMC Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Network consisting of the 5 Executive Directors of AmCham, BritCham, AusCham, CanCham, and EuroCham.
- Annual subscription fee for New Vietnam Panel Pledge signatories is 2,500,000VND (VAT not included).
These 11 signatories committed to actively challenge the absence of female speakers at events, roundtable discussions, and public conferences or forums, by discussing panel composition with event organisers, recommending female (or when appropriate, male) speakers, and creating a positive mind-set for the inclusion of women in all discussions.
The Panel Pledge: An Achievable Step to Enhance Gender Equality
Many high-profile conferences, events, and taskforces lack gender balance, despite there often being no shortage of qualified women to contribute. The Australian ‘2019 Women for Media Report’ estimated that only 30 per cent of event speakers are women - Vietnam faces similar challenges. The impact of these imbalances has consequences on the opportunities for women in leadership.
The Vietnam Panel Pledge seeks to redress this imbalance. By signing up to the Panel Pledge, champions commit to challenge the absence of female speakers at events, roundtable discussions, and public conferences or forums, by discussing panel composition with event organisers, recommending female (or when appropriate, male) speakers, and creating a positive mind-set for the inclusion of women in all discussions.
The collective actions of leading men and women in Vietnam can have a positive impact on work culture and on the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the country.
The Vietnam Panel Pledge Story
In 2019, the Australian Consulate-General organized the first Gender Conference in Ho Chi Minh City. As part of this conference a group of 11 leading CEOs of businesses in Vietnam were the first to sign on to the Vietnam Panel Pledge.
These 11 signatories committed to actively challenging the absence of female speakers at events, roundtable discussions, and public conferences or forums, by discussing panel composition with event organizers, recommending female (or when appropriate, male) speakers, and creating a positive mindset for the inclusion of women in all discussions.
The 11 signatories of the Panel Pledge in 2019:
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Warrick Cleine - KPMG Vietnam & Cambodia (in the picture on the right signing with former Consul General, Ms. Julianne Cowley, and Shaun Fitzgerald, former Consul)
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Brian Pham – Norfolk
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Huynh Cong Thang – Innolab Asia
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Nhut Vo – Bluescope
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Huynh Buu Quang – formerly MSB Bank, now Deutsche Bank (signing in the picture below)
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Simon Fraser - AusCham
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Nguyen Minh Nhat – Alphanam
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Scott Croll – Linfox
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Gabe Carter – Aurecon
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John Pemberton - Heart of Darkness
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Daniel Tedesco – DEK Technologies
These collective actions of leading men and women in Vietnam will have a positive impact on work culture and on the advancement of gender equality and women’s empowerment in the country.
This is our Pledge
We pledge to increase the visibility and contribution of women* experts in public and professional forums.
I/We pledge to increase the visibility and representation of women experts in public and professional forums.
By signing the Vietnam Gender Equality Panel Pledge, I/we commit to take on the following principles:
We will make our commitment known
We will honour the Panel Pledge when invited to speak
We will encourage others to take-up the Panel Pledge
We will raise the issue of gender balance when the opportunity arises
We will actively encourage women’s voices, in all their diversity
We will not accept the excuses
The Panel Pledge is a simple, practical example of actions CEOs can take to influence system-wide change on gender equality and advancing more and diverse women in leadership
When invited to speak at panels/forums, I will ask of the event organisers:
What are you doing towards gender balance at your event?
(If not), have the organizers reached out to female experts?
Are there any women, or equal numbers of women, speaking on the panel/s?
(If not), can we share our evolving list of dynamic experts in the field that happen to be women?
* We define women to include all cisgender, transgender, non-binary and intersex persons who identify as women.
Bản Cam Kết
Tôi/ chúng tôi cam kết tăng cường sự hiện diện và đại diện của các chuyên gia nữ trước công chúng cũng như trong các diễn đàn chuyên nghiệp.
Bằng việc ký kết vào Bản Cam Kết Bình đẳng Giới Việt Nam, tôi/chúng tôi cam kết thực hiện những nguyên tắc sau:
Chúng tôi sẽ cho mọi người biết những cam kết của mình
Chúng tôi sẽ vinh danh Bản Cam Kết khi được mời phát biểu
Chúng tôi sẽ khuyến khích người khác tham gia vào Bản Cam Kết
Chúng tôi sẽ nêu lên những vấn đề về bình đẳng giới khi có cơ hội
Chúng tôi sẽ tích cực khuyến khích tiếng nói của phụ nữ
Chúng tôi không chấp nhận bất kì lời biện hộ nào
Khi được mời phát biểu trước các nhóm/diễn đàn, tôi sẽ hỏi những nhà tổ chức sự kiện:
Anh/chị sẽ làm gì để có sự cân bằng về giới tại sự kiện?
(Nếu không), nhà tổ chức đã liên lạc với các chuyên gia nữ hay chưa?
Có sự tham gia của phụ nữ, hoặc có số lượng cân bằng về nữ giới, phát biểu trong (các) bạn diễn giả hay không?
(Nếu không), liệu chúng ta có thể giới thiệu danh sách những chuyên gia năng động trong lĩnh vực phù hợp với nữ giới?
* Định nghĩa phụ nữ bao gồm người hợp giới, chuyển giới, phi nhị nguyên giới và người liên giới tính xác định họ là phụ nữ.