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This International Women's Day, I interviewed Marie Long, Cyber Threat Intelligence Manager at Pay Pal, and she shared her thoughts on how we can #InspireInclusion.
When we inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. The IWD 2024 campaign theme seeks to inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion. Organisations, groups, and individuals worldwide can all play a part, and to truly include women means to openly embrace their diversity of race, age, ability, faith, body image, and how they identify.
International Women’s Day belongs to everyone, everywhere. Collectively, we can all help create a diverse, equitable and inclusive world.
1. What does inclusion mean to you, and why?
Inclusion means deliberately including people from different backgrounds and welcoming them into your circle.
2. What are some actions you have seen organisations take to commit to inclusion in the workplace?
Campaigns within the organizations and engaging committed sponsors to increase awareness and to advocate for these campaigns.
Deliberate actions taken by employees to bring in diverse employees in their hiring practices.
3. What kind of initiatives or strategies can be implemented to increase the representation of women in leadership positions, in your industry?
Mentorship programs with the goal of raising women leaders, promotion candidates being advocated, external placement of women leaders if necessary and engaged talent acquisition teams to be active in sourcing for female candidates.
4. Why is International Women’s Day important to you?
It's a reminder of the need to advocate for women's leadership
5. What advice would you give aspiring women in the industry you work in?
Do not hesitate to accept challenges even when you feel inadequate. When we go forth, we lead by example for others to aspire and follow. Connect with other women and support each other, it’s a form of encouragement to other women.
6. What are some commitments individuals can make to help inspire inclusion for women, for example, calling out discrimination when you see it?
Speaking up for aspiring women who want to take on new projects or initiatives and managers who coach and encourage women to step up, to offer them a means to demonstrate their ability.
7. International Women’s Day is also about celebrating women and their achievements, what woman/women inspire you?
In my tech career, I only ever had one female manager who was a strong advocate for women at the same time. She has the ability and drive to push women beyond their comfort zone, which was the reason I discovered what I could do, and not what I thought I could do. Women being there for each other and encouraging each other, is one of the best ways I’ve seen that help women gain confidence in themselves.
8. Can you share a personal or professional experience that has inspired you to advocate for women’s inclusion?
During the pandemic, where all things were done remotely, I was given the opportunity to build a security operations team remotely. With partners from the talent acquisition team to the operations team I had in Singapore, and subsequently our first batch of team members and guidance from my manager, we onboarded 21 engineers and managers for this new function. Our new team was the only team there with the most women at that time, and all of them were outstanding engineers and leaders. Without collective support from all our internal partners at that time, this would not have been possible. They remain to this day, people who pursue excellence in all they do for the organization. It is witnessing their attitude and the work they deliver for the organization that continues to inspire me.
