Empowered Women 2024

EMPOWERED WOMEN SPECIAL EDITION 2024

Contents 10 BILJANA

BRAITHWAITE

CEO and Founding Partner of Sustineri Partners; President of the Women on Boards Adria (WOBA) association

Advocating a Gender Balance Yields Improved Results

04 C OMMENT

Global Ranking Concerns and Political Biases

14 MARIJA POPOVIĆ

06 BRANKICA JANKOVIĆ Commissioner for the Protection of Equality

The Future is Unstoppable

OTP Bank Executive Board Member, in charge of the corporate segment

Year of Record-Breaking Results and New Standards

16 SANJA POPOVIĆPANTIĆ

President of the Association of Business Women in Serbia

Female Entrepreneurship as a Chance and Not a Compelled Choice

18 BANCA INTESA

Women Will Have an Ever-Greater Influence

EDITOR IN CHIEF Neda Lukić n.lukic@aim.rs DESIGN Slađan Radosavljević Zoran Perović design@aim.rs PHOTOS Zoran Petrović COPY EDITOR Mark Pullen

PROJECT MANAGERS Biljana Dević b.devic@aim.rs Mihailo Čučković m.cuckovic@aim.rs Nataša Novković n.novkovic@aim.rs OFFICE MANAGER Svetlana Petrović s.petrovic@aim.rs FINANCE Dragana Skrobonja finance@aim.rs

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Maja Vidaković m.vidakovic@aim.rs DIRECTOR Ana Novčić a.novcic@cordmagazine.com PUBLISHER Ivan Novčić i.novcic@aim.rs

20 NESTLÉ

PRINTING Rotografika d.o.o.

Segedinski put 72, Subotica EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024 Published by: alliance international media Prote Mateje 52, 11111 Belgrade 17, PAK 125806, Serbia Phone: +(381 11) 2450 508

Female Strength and Leadership Behind Brands With Purpose

E-mail: office@aim.rs; office@cordmagazine.com www.aim.rs; www.cordmagazine.com ISSN: 2560-4465 All rights reserved alliance international media 2023 The views expressed in this publication are those of the presenter; they do not necessary reflect the view of publications published by alliance international media THIS PUBLICATION IS FREE OF CHARGE

Empowered Women 2024 36 M ILENA AVRAMOVIĆ BJELICA

Executive Director and Co-Founder

T AMARA BEKČIĆ

Managing Director and Co-Founder, Chapter 4

Communication Excellence in Serbia

37 M AJA MARIĆ

CPI Property Group, Country Operations Manager Serbia

Supporting Positive Change

38 G ORDANA GLIŠIĆ MORGANTI

Engineering Software Lab General Manager

Lifelong Learning is Fundamental

40 D ARJA MIHALIČ

Member of the Managing Board at Roto Group

Focused on Growth and Development

41 N IRAS IP CONSULT GMBH

Overcoming Industry Stereotypes

42 D ANIJELA GAŠPARAC

Head of Market Research and CEO Advisor, Telekom Srbija; Marketing and Communication Consultant, Srbijavoz

Teamwork Makes Dreams Come True

22 J OVANA VJEŠTICA Communication Manager, Carlsberg

Women excel in the beer industry

26 DR. OETKER Business Built on Dedication and Expertise

28 B RANKA PUDRLJA DURBABA

Chief Sales and Customer Satisfaction Officer, A1 Serbia

A Personable Approach Makes the Difference

29 A DDIKO BANK

Addiko Bank Values Women

30 S ANDRA

MARINKOVIĆ

External Affairs Lead, Merck Sharp & Dohme

Increasingly Accessible Innovations

31 S VETLANA VUKELIĆ Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs for Serbia and Montenegro at Molson Coors

A Brewery that Empowers Women

32 JELENA RISTIĆ Country Manager, Richter Gedeon

Encouraging Women to Care about Health

33 K RUNA GAVOVIĆ

CEO at The Lean Six Sigma Company CEE and CEO at Balance Company CEE

A smile is the first added value

43 M INA KALEZIĆ

Partner I Sales & Marketing Director, CBS International

Excellence in Real Estate

44 O PINION

The Hidden Gender Wealth Gap

48 C AMPAIGN

16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence

50 O PINION

How a Man’s World Systematically Neglects Women

COMMENT

GLOBAL RANKING CONCERNS AND POLITICAL BIASES Youth engagement is a vital aspect of Serbia’s journey to becoming a more inclusive and equal society, actively shaping anti-violence campaigns and influencing positive social transformation through their involvement in the creating and implementing of meaningful measures

erbia’s trajectory towards achieving gender equality paints a complex picture, characterised by notable progress in terms of education, but underscored by challenges – as evidenced by the country’s recent reduced ranking according to the Global Gender Gap Index.

The EU Strategy for Gender Equality 20202025 serves as a guiding framework by emphasising the imperative of cohesive policies to address existing disparities.

While Serbia’s political participation ranking is holding steady in 21st place, persistent biases and the limited visibility of women in electoral campaigns remain significant concerns. The commendable advancement in education, leading to a ranking of 37th, reflects positive impacts from political will and initiatives geared towards empowering women through educational avenues.

The prevalence of stereotypes and biases against women in political spheres, as highlighted by the UNDP’s findings, necessitates a concerted effort to address not only numerical representation, but also the substantive roles played by women in various societal spheres. It is essential to foster an inclusive political environment, driven by a commitment to the principles outlined in the EU Strategy for Gender Equality. Continued dedication to this strategy, coupled with targeted initiatives, is paramount for Serbia to effectively bridge gender gaps and foster a more equitable society.

A key facet of these targeted initiatives focuses on engaging young people in

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the fight against gender-based violence, as revealed by research entitled “Voices of Youth”. Growing awareness of gender-based violence issues among young individuals in Serbia aligns with the challenges identified in the Global Gender Gap Index. The commitment of the Serbian Ministry of Tourism and Youth to recognising and preventing gender-based violence, encompassing digital violence, underscores a comprehensive approach to tackling this pervasive issue.

Significantly, the active involvement of young influencers in challenging stereotypes signals a positive shift in societal attitudes. This highlights the potential to empower young voices to contribute to changing narratives, particularly in communities where they may be exposed to greater risk.

In conclusion, collaborative efforts involving the government, international organisations and civil society are indispensable. Encouraging a sustained dia-

logue that not only empowers young voices, but also challenges ingrained stereotypes and fosters a culture of zero tolerance for violence, is a vital step towards building a more equitable and safer society in Serbia.

THE ALARMING STATISTIC OF 28 WOMEN MURDERED IN 2023 SERVES AS A STARK REMINDER OF THE URGENT NEED TO ADDRESS AND ERADICATE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

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BRANKICA JANKOVIĆ Commissioner for the Protection of Equality

INTERVIEW

THE FUTURE IS UNSTOPPABLE In 2024 I expect more women to hold positions in the IT sector, women to be at the helm of the ministries of foreign affairs and defence, more female surgeons in operating rooms, many more female coaches in all sports, a women’s football match broadcast on RTS at 8pm and laurel branches on the shoulders of female military uniforms ow far did we advance over the past year when it comes to promoting gender equality in Serbia? “Two steps forward and one step back,” says Brankica Janković, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality. “Establishing gender equality is like constantly walking a tightrope,” she adds.

The patriarchal system of “values” is quite formidable and finds various ways to defy all the changes that are aligned with the times

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in which we live and which disturb the normal life balance of men and women, preserving what remain deep-rooted stereotypes and prejudices regarding gender roles and the place of women in society as indisputable truths, explains our interlocutor.

“Self-proclaimed authorities, in fear of the time of the full equality of women that is certainly coming, give themselves the right to determine the limits of women’s freedom and to regulate their rights.

Some of them have even raised the issue of our bodily autonomy and abortion rights,” says Janković. “In recent times, all the power of that patriarchy has become particularly visible in the digital sphere, where women are often exposed to the harsh, sexist judgement of the public, which has a tendency to marginalise their importance, reducing them to their appearance, looking at/under their skirts, legs, ages, cleavage, wrinkles or grey hair.”

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

In this very real virtual world, women are insulted, undermined, blackmailed, threatened, i.e., they face all the forms of violence that are also present in the analogue world. Despite the more complex conditions for this struggle, which really do have their advantages, because you can’t silence women in the digital sphere just like that, a lot of progress is being achieved.

Women scientists, artists, journalists, entrepreneurs, workers, housewives, doctors, farmers and politicians work with dedication and break down all those barriers and stereotypes, creating better living conditions for all human beings.

How do we rank when it comes to global and European standards of equality?

— I don’t like comparisons, because they are generally incomplete and often lack historical and sociological context, and numbers can show all sorts of things, but can also hide them. And that’s without even mentioning the lack of gender-differentiated data and the fact that the entire world is mostly tailored to suit men. Here are some stats: according to the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, Serbia last year fell four places on the World Economic Forum’s Index, i.e., it fell from 19th place on the Global Gender Gap Index in 2021 to 23rd place. When it comes to the participation of women in political life, we maintained the same ranking as the previous year at 21st. However, in terms of the criterion of women’s involvement in economic life and their economic opportunities, we fell from 54th to 77th place globally. Progress was noted when it comes to the access of women to education, with our country advancing 15 places according to this criterion to achieve a rank of 37th. This fact brings me a particularly sense of joy, and I’m hopeful that we will do everything to continue progressing in terms of education and that we will be even better in all these other pacordmagazine.com

rameters, because we have done a lot thanks to our political will and preparedness in previous years. It is nonetheless obligatory for me to mention a number that causes my throat to tighten, and all the names should also be mentioned – at the end of 2023, we have 28 murdered women. That is something that’s devastating for all of us.

It seems to me that, during the current election campaign, we’ve heard much less about the desired percentage of female participation in parliaments or the government. Is this a sign that we are well-positioned on that front or that this topic still doesn’t mean much to voters?

— Significant progress was achieved during the previous election cycle when it comes to quotas on the

IN RECENT TIMES, THE POWER OF THE PATRIARCHY HAS BECOME PARTICULARLY VISIBLE IN THE DIGITAL SPHERE, WHERE WOMEN ARE OFTEN EXPOSED TO THE HARSH, SEXIST JUDGEMENT OF THE PUBLIC representation of women on election lists and I understand why this isn’t an important issue in this election cycle. However, many political players don’t show sufficient interest and understanding for the importance and essence of equality, and for the fact that a standard must not be taken for granted once it has been achieved, but rather that we must fight constantly to maintain the level of respect for human rights that has been achieved. Quo-

tas have been respected in this election cycle, but the campaigns are almost devoid of women. But percentages are the only thing that’s important, as the essence lies in management positions that these women (don’t) occupy and the extent to which they have the required conditions and support to make a change, together with men, to introduce our much-needed female perspective into all pores of society. An interesting fact published by UNDP is that 49% of people worldwide consider men as being better political leaders than women, while in Serbia 50% of men and almost 41% of women have prejudices regarding the participation of women in politics. In this context, we often hear public expressions of stereotypical views, from “politics isn’t for women”, “women are too emotional to engage in politics” and “women lack the energy required for politics” to “a politician can’t also be a good mother”. In politics, women come under much closer scrutiny than men. Their decisions, moves and achievements are always questioned; there are always high expectations and we always hear the question “what has she achieved?”. And I always wonder what some male politicians have done specifically, some of whom have been present on the scene for decades, and why their results are never evaluated in that way. The responsibility for providing a better life for all citizens isn’t the exclusive responsibility of the women who are in government and hold other positions, but rather is a shared responsibility. As for emotions, it’s tough for us if some people think that we mustn’t have emotions when dealing with politics – how else could we understand people and their real needs and problems?

Not having emotions is a state that requires professional help, and not the avoidance of dealing with politics. Politics (including externally) is really a “woman’s thing” and I hope that we’ll soon deal much more with some other issues that are more important to the lives of citizens (edu-

MARGINALISATION Deeply patriarchal societies perfect the methods of marginalising and even humiliating women – sometimes with subtle methods and sometimes with brutal ones

LADY LEADERS Female leaders are all around us – although not enough of them are seen yet, as there isn’t sufficient readiness to recognise female leaders

RESISTANCE Gender equality is promoted in Serbia and I am particularly committed to that work, both personally and institutionally, and I have many allies. Nobody has succeeded in halting that progress

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cation, health, culture, sport, social support) than those issues that have been the main topics of our political and security paradigms over previous decades.

You consider schools as having great potential to change outdated gender models. However, we still haven’t seen significant changes to textbooks when it comes to the depicting of women.

— Education and personal development – above all! It is vital for our society to change the harmful practices of social tolerance of every

We have

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murdered women by year’s end 2023. That is something that’s devastating for all of us

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kind of discrimination against women, and that requires – much more than textbooks – teachers who are aware of the situation and the need for changes in society. It’s useless to have a thousand pages of the perfect textbook if those pages are being interpreted by a teacher who says that a woman’s place is in the kitchen where she welcomes her husband, because that is what is “dictated by our Serbian tradition”, of course with a capital S and a capital T. To a great extent, the power structure relies on silence, or on the silence of women regarding topics that are simmering beneath the surface of a male paradise, and those include various forms of sexual and other harassment and the exploitation of the female body. We have to foster a culture of dialogue in schools, and the launching of thematic meetings and informing everyone about important social is-

sues, in order for us to work together to change the cultural norms that shape society. We must confront patterns that foster misogyny and sexism in the school system, as well as any other form of discrimination against different members of our society. It is essential for school curricula to integrate content on gender equality, and to do so through textbooks and other teaching materials, lectures, workshops that will promote, in addition to gender-sensitive language, equal opportunities for women and men, the contribution of women to science, culture and art, as well as encouraging girls to further their education in the socalled STEM subjects.

We are today increasingly seeing women in atypically female occupations that are in short supply, such as forklift drivers or crane operators, and well-paid ICT occupations. Is this an indicator of equality or have women only become desirable due to their male counterparts being in short supply?

— There is a saying in the Serbian language that “necessity changes the law”, and so it is that, in this case, workforce requirements are increasingly reducing the division between men’s and women’s jobs. I would like to be able to say that the level of gender equality achieved in this and similar cases had a greater influence than the rules of the market, but I will say that it is nonetheless a sign that business opportunities and chances appear unexpectedly, especially in the current economic and political juncture.

Numerous changes have occurred on the labour market that have had an impact on women increasingly appearing in occupations that are typically male. Education has also had an impact, particularly in fields like IT, where a significantly larger number of educated women have appeared and received training to handle jobs that were reserved mainly for men until recently, despite the fact that

there are still gender stereotypes among students when it comes to choosing a profession. Those stereotypes are also nurtured through the image portrayed in the media, in which women are usually depicted as having to be crazy, or crazily courageous, to choose a “male” profession. But even that’s still good and I’m grateful that it is thanks to them that we found out about many examples of women who quite ordinarily do jobs that were once the exclusive work of men. Many positive media articles encourage girls during tipping points in life. We also shouldn’t overlook data on gender equality from various research works in which two-thirds of our citizens state that women almost always, or mostly, do the housework in their households; almost 80% of them believe that a woman cannot be fulfilled in life if she hasn’t become a mother, while every second citizen is of the opinion that a preschool-age child is likely to suffer if the mother is employed.

What do you wish to happen in 2024 as a symbolic sign of our continued progression on the gender equality path?

— I wish for, or actually expect to see, conferences covering the topics of digital technologies, the internet, artificial intelligence, ICT, conditions for doing business and geopolitics to have four women on their panels, or at least two if they can’t yet represent the majority. Furthermore, I expect women to head the ministries of foreign affairs and defence, female surgeons in operating rooms, many more female coaches in all sports, a women’s football match broadcast on RTS at 8pm…

And finally, as a big fan of symbolism, laurel branches on the shoulders of women’s military uniforms.

As a very pragmatic woman who isn’t prone to daydreaming often, I have the right to New Year’s wishes.

If this doesn’t all happen next year, it will happen in the years to come, because the future isn’t coming, but rather has already arrived.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

THEY ARE RIGHT TO BE IMPATIENT Despite advances in girls’ enrolment in primary education, 15 million girls of primary-school age are not getting the chance to learn to read or write compared to about 10 million boys. Every year, 12 million girls marry before the age of 18. Violence against women and girls remains a global pandemic, with one in three women and girls experiencing physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetimes.

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INTERVIEW

ADVOCATING A GENDER BALANCE YIELDS IMPROVED RESULTS The Adria countries have huge potential, which can be improved markedly with the application of ESG standards in various segments, whether that means attracting new investments, strengthening regional cooperation or advancing the EU accession process

BILJANA BRAITHWAITE CEO and Founding Partner of Sustineri Partners; President of the Women on Boards Adria (WOBA) association

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ustineri Partners actively works to improve companies’ operations and to contribute to shaping corporate policies in the countries of the Adria region through the integration of ESG standards, which encompass environmental protection, social responsibility and good corporate governance.

“Since the inception of our consultancy firm, we have been focused on cooperation with this re-

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gion’s companies, governments, international organisations and civil society in an effort to contribute to achieving sustainable development goals, particularly through the engagement of the real sector,” says Sustineri Partners CEO and Founding Partner Biljana Braithwaite, who also serves as president of the Women on Boards Adria (WOBA) association.

ESG standards, which over the past few years have become particularly developed and important

elements of business operations on the markets of Europe, Asia and America, have also imposed the accelerated transferring of trends in corporate management, sustainability and human rights from more developed countries to our region.

“In this regard, Sustineri Partners emerged out of our desire to contribute to sustainable development, environmental protection and responsible corporate governance in our region, which is why we strive to empower the govern-

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

ments, companies and organisations of the region to place sustainability at the heart of their agenda and work,” explains Braithwaite.

“The expertise of the Sustineri Partners team, their deep familiarity with European and other international frameworks and standards, as well as their practical knowledge and experience in achieving change on the ground, especially in the regional context, contribute a lot to development and education, but also to preparing companies for ESG standards and everything that’s coming in the period ahead and is already relevant in the European Union. That’s why we selected the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as the Adria region, as the focus of our activities and work.”

Sustineri Partners collaborates with governments of the region and international institutions in an effort to raise awareness of

brought together more than 450 participants, distinguished dignitaries: representatives of the governments of the region, heads of financial institutions and leaders of the business sector from more than 150 companies, international institutions and global experts on sustainability, as well as numerous media from around the region. At the second annual Summit, which will take place from 24th to 26th April 2024, we will be dealing with the most current topics of sustainability and focusing on sustainable finance, green transition and other important topics in the areas of human rights protection and corporate governance.

How important is the gender equality issue for different aspects of company operations?

— The issue of gender equality is of exceptional importance for various aspects of companies’ operations today. Women on Boards Adria,

OUR REGION HAS HUGE POTENTIAL TO ATTRACT NEW INVESTMENTS, KNOWHOW, INNOVATION, CREATIVITY, AND ENDLESS SPACE FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION, ALL OF WHICH WILL PROVIDE AN EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECONOMY, PARTICULARLY ON THE ROAD TO JOINING THE EU the importance of sustainability, environmental protection and socially responsible governance, all of which are becoming increasingly crucial to ensuring a better future for all of us. With this in mind, the ESG Adria Summit, as the region’s largest ESG event, also represents one Sustineri Partners’ leading projects.

— Despite only being held for the first time in April 2023, in Porto Montenegro, it has already attracted great interest by having cordmagazine.com

as a regional association that was founded recently, has a significant role to play in this context, given that it was launched with the aim of promoting gender equality, encouraging inclusive company decision-making at all levels, removing obstacles to women joining boards of directors and accelerating the pace of their advancement to the highest positions in companies of the Adria region. In this respect, it is extremely valuable to us that we can call on expertise and

have partnerships with organisations like the International Finance Corporation (IFC, a member of the World Bank Group) and European Women on Boards, particularly from the point of view of the applying of the best global practices in our region.

At the WOBA association we believe strongly that talent and ambition are equally distributed between the sexes, which is why we advocate for appropriate equal opportunities for men and women to advance to senior positions.

Inclusive teams are more successful than homogenous teams. As such, companies that increase the representation of women in leadership positions can expect to see an improved financial performance, as well as improvements in non-financial aspects, such as company reputation, investor perception and the trust of employees and partners.

Numerous analyses have shown that the countries of the Adria region are lagging behind EU standards when it comes to the representation of women on management boards and that women remain underrepresented in corporate executive positions. Through education and training, which we prepare with our partners’ support, materials and standards, followed by the establishment of networks of talented female leaders and cooperation with companies, governments, international institutions and civil society organisations, we want to encourage the greater representation and inclusion of women at all levels, while we also want to alter the region’s statistics through the harmonising of gender policies with EU standards.

Research clearly shows that the greater participation of women on management boards is linked to improved financial success. In other words – companies that advocate for a gender balance and that have a business environment that fosters diversity of opinion

CHANGE We must change the way we talk about the participation of women on management boards, but also in other decision-making positions

STANDARDIS More than 80% of investors take a company’s ESG standards into consideration when deciding on potential investments, precisely because of their impact on operations

EXPERTISE Collaboration with experts, or with consultancy firms that specialise in sustainability standards, is becoming an increasingly important component of the work of successful companies

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achieve better business results in every respect.

It is high time for us to recognise how much times have changed, and that women are increasingly educated and successful in their careers and are no longer asking what they can do for the business market, but rather what the business market can do for them.

COMPANIES THAT ADVOCATE FOR A GENDER BALANCE AND THAT HAVE A BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT THAT FOSTERS DIVERSITY To what extent are the issues of corporate responsibility interOF OPINION ACHIEVE twined when it comes to comBETTER BUSINESS RESULTS IN EVERY RESPECT

At the annual Summit from

24th 26th to

April 2024, we will be dealing with the most current topics of sustainability

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bating corruption, advancing gender equality and protecting the environment?

— It has never been more important for companies to take on a more (pro)active role in addressing the social, environmental and economic challenges confronting us today, considering the crucial role they play in shaping the world in which we live. ESG standards evaluate companies’ sustainability and impact on these issues, while they increasingly have a direct impact on companies’ financial performances. Some of these standards are imposed by laws and regulations in the countries where companies operate, which we are seeing in particular in the increasingly demanding regulations imposed by the region’s key economic partners, such as the countries of the European Union, America and Asia. On the other hand, some

of these standards emerge from customer and employee expectations, or from pressure applied by investors, due to growing concern with respect to issues of business transparency, human rights and environmental protection.

ESG standards are interconnected and form part of the broader sustainability agenda. They encompass a range of issues: when it comes to environmental protection, for example, they evaluate the ways companies contribute to climate change, pollution, waste, natural resource depletion; social standards deal with human rights issues, among other things, particularly workers’ rights, inclusion, equality and community development, with a particular focus on supply chains; when it comes to corporate governance, the focus is on transparent governance standards, information disclosure, preventing corruption, transparent decision-making processes, cybersecurity and privacy etc.

Why do companies require external assistance in order to be able to meet these demands?

— In order to develop successful ESG strategies and set goals, but also to assess risks, it is crucial for companies to have a comprehensive and objective overview of their own business. It is also important

for them to have feedback from key partners, whether that means investors, customers, employees or representatives of the local community and civil society. However, implementing such a process can represent a major challenge for any company, taking into consideration the complexity of first identifying and classifying key factors and issues, and subsequently harmonising them with a general business strategy and legal frameworks related to a company’s operations, conducting risk analysis, and then forming objective, feasible and measurable goals.

That’s why collaboration with experts, or with consultancy firms that specialise in sustainability standards, is becoming an increasingly important component of the work of successful companies. It is important to bear in mind that this is often a multi-month process, and sometimes even a multi-year process, of analysing, creating an ESG strategy and evaluating its implementation and success. External support is crucial for this to be a truly meaningful process, and ultimately a purposeful one. The majority of companies view it as an investment in future improved operations – well prepared and implemented ESG strategies often bring manifold financial benefits, given that they presuppose savings on resources and help in recognising and avoiding risks, as well as in utilising opportunities that emerge. Apart from that, ever-more consumers, particularly consumers of the younger generations, and investors are attracted to companies that are aware of their environmental and social impact and that are thus transparent in their efforts to improve their business in that context. It is for this reason that I am proud of the team that’s been brought together

by Sustineri Partners – our experts have amassed many decades of experience working on these topics in numerous sectors, which is essential for the success of the processes we’ve discussed.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

GENDER EQUALITY BARRIERS We need men and women working side by side to dismantle the barriers to gender equality. One of the biggest problems is the unequal division of household work to care for the home and family members. Women spend on average 18 per cent of their day on this unpaid work, versus 7 per cent for men. In some countries that gap is much wider.

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CORPORATE

YEAR OF RECORD-BREAKING RESULTS AND NEW STANDARDS We help the economy grow and generate profit in accordance with ESG standards

MARIJA POPOVIĆ OTP banka Executive Board Member, in charge of the corporate segment

wo years after the largest integration on the Serbian banking market, but still in an atmosphere of dynamic and frequent changes and major banking sector consolidation, 50 banka Srbija has managed to maintain its leading position and remains the largest creditor of companies and individuals.

As the bank of choice of numerous companies, many wonder what it is that makes OTP stand out from the competition. According to Marija Popović, member of the Bank’s Executive Board assigned to the corporate segment and also Chairman of the Board of directors of OTP Leasing, it is the Bank’s partnership approach.

“Our people are our greatest capital, employees who are ready to push the boundaries; and the agile approach that we cul-

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tivate and our tendency to be partners and advisors to our clients, not just a bank that approves a loan or provides a specific service. We strive to help them upgrade their businesses and achieve better results,” said Marija at the start of this interview.

You’ve been in the banking business for more than 20 years and have acquired huge experience working with clients, though you continue to put efforts into learning new things. Do you still enjoy each new project and challenge?

— Contrary to misconceptions, the industry that I work in is quite stimulating, exciting and, perhaps to the surprise of many, creative. I still welcome each new project with great enthusiasm, as it is an opportunity for growth and development, both for me personally and for my team. The

opportunity for constant learning, creating new contacts and deepening existing ones, cooperating with people and implementing innovative solutions contribute to the undiminished satisfaction with which I arrive at work every day. I am happy that I chose this business path and that I have the opportunity to enjoy my everyday business challenges. Being part of a successful team and collaborating with wonderful people is the nicest part of this job. I take away from each meeting some new experience and knowledge, and that is my greatest source of motivation.

The year 2023 proved to be a successful one, despite numerous challenges.

What are your predictions for next year?

— We expect the gradual stabilisation of inflation to continue with a stable dinar ex-

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

change rate, which – coupled with a highly liquid and profitable banking sector – will enable banks to additionally support clients from the corporate segment. Our goal is to be a pillar of growth and stability for corporate clients.

As a member of the OTP Group and part of a large European banking family, we are committed to the green transition and will strive to expand our activities and educate clients in that area as well. It is important that companies adopt green business models as soon as possible and that they understand the prospects provided on the European market by doing so. ESG investments have reached record levels worldwide, and we, as a bank, are here to support them in achieving sustainable development together.

On the other hand, we strategically support the development of the start-up com-

You mentioned that the offer, services, interests and working models of banks on the local market are more or less the same, but that the people make the difference. Will anything ever replace a good team of committed people, even with the development of AI? — Of course not, because artificial intelligence is already present in banks, but has in no way jeopardised the position of the people. Artificial intelligence will actually “push” people into moving from highly operational and service-oriented tasks to focusing on consultancy, strategic and analytical work. Artificial intelligence is primarily there to combine banking and technology. Its purpose is to collect and process data in a faster a simpler way, to optimise processes and thus save time that we will use to work on creating and implementing new services.

THROUGH OUR PRODUCTS AND FINANCIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMMES, WE ARE ALREADY TRYING TO ADDITIONALLY EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE TO ENTER MATURITY AS SUFFICIENTLY FINANCIALLY EDUCATED PERSONS munity and encourage the advancement of the innovation ecosystem, which is best seen in the fact that we recently launched the unique OTP Connect programme. OTP Connect, as a place that connects innovators and our bank, represents an open platform and training ground for joint growth and development. Through this platform, we combine the bank, as a traditional business organisation, with startups, as generators of new, technologically advanced solutions. I look forward in particular to seeing the solutions that this programme will produce in the corporate banking segment.

I also expect more discussions about the role of banks in keeping the economy liquid, and so factoring and reverse factoring will continue to be areas in which banks will invest their technological and expert resources. Thanks to the complete offer of all types of factoring products, OTP banka will strive to expand its portfolio and strengthen its cooperation with small and large companies. cordmagazine.com

You readily highlight the fact that you had excellent mentors who provided you with opportunities and space to develop. Do you nurture that same kind of approach today in your relations with your younger colleagues? Are there any differences between male and female mentors?

— Yes, I was lucky enough to have different mentors during my career and I learned something new from each of them. The fact that they are different was a big advantage for me, because I managed to adapt and learn a lot about different styles of leading people and solving problems.

I today try to work a lot with my colleagues and for us all to grow together with the organisation for which we work.

The willingness to talk openly, share experiences and receive criticism is something we work on the most.

What inspires me very much is the coming of a new generation on the market, their energy and the way of thinking that they bring. Through our products

and financial education programmes, we are already trying to additionally empower young people to enter maturity as sufficiently financially educated persons, and I really look forward to seeing the changes in culture and way of managing people and projects that they will undoubtedly bring. Change management is a big topic in our company, partly conditioned by the emergence of Generation Z, which has been born and raised in the digital era.

Your bank stands out for its CSR activities, which you implement with a view to improving diverse areas of society.

Could you single out certain donations or actions, including cooperation with publishing company Booka?

— It is precisely these activities that form part of our corporate business strategy – rather than individual, isolated actions – that make us enjoy the work we do. OTP banka views its operations through a much broader lens than just the one that focuses on good financial results, increasing assets and client numbers, and which equally considers CRS-driven positive change in society as its true success.

Yes, in just two years, the contest that we run with publishing house Booka for the best unpublished novel of the year brought some of the most authentic literary signatures to our literary scene.

We are no less proud of the already traditional channels of support that we develop through our partnerships in culture and sports, and through our work with socially marginalised groups. We particularly emphasise our pioneering step into the “Together for stronger social solidarity” initiative. We want to see our business operations recognised and acknowledged not just because of financial figures at the end of the year, but also because of human figures who save and change lives. It is for this reason that recently, together with our partners from the Serbian Philanthropic Forum and the Trag Foundation, we started creating a unified Register of Civil Society Organisations that OTP banka will exempt from commissions when paying humanitarian donations to their dedicated accounts. Business with a purpose and social influence has to become the imperative of the present time.

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INTERVIEW

FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A CHANCE AND NOT A COMPELLED CHOICE One of the most positive changes over the last ten years has been the flourishing of digital entrepreneurship among women.

The opportunity to market their products and services via digital channels has enabled women to assume a better social position and establish themselves in the world of entrepreneurship search on female entrepreneurship conducted in 2021, showing that women no longer enter entrepreneurship out of necessity, due to being unable to find employment, as was the case ten years ago, rather today it is an opportunity and a need for women to try their hand at entrepreneurship, says Sanja Popović-Pantić, President of the Association of Business Women in Serbia. “I believe the credit for that change largely belongs to the greater social acceptance of women in entrepreneurship and business than was the case prior to the flourishing of digital entrepreneurship,” says our interlocutor.

SANJA POPOVIĆPANTIĆ President of the Association of Business Women in Serbia

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he world in which today’s successful female entrepreneurs are maturing has changed a lot compared to the time when the Association of Business Women in Serbia established the ’Cvet uspeha za ženu zmaja’ [Flower of Success for a Courageous Woman] prize 17 years ago. Also testifying to this is data from re-

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How many young female entrepreneurs focused on digital operations and in women’s startups do you have among your members?

— There are ever more of them, so we created a strategy for attracting digital entrepreneurs just in the last months of the year, after having previously conducted a survey among them, and almost 90% of them declared that they were very interested in joining the Association and that, despite having large numbers of social media followers, the lack contacts with entrepreneurs who base their business in an off-line environment.

We believe strongly that connecting these groups to one and anoth-

er is a win-win combination, because just as digital entrepreneurs can help their non-digital counterparts to digitalise their businesses, at least in some aspects, so the experience of offline entrepreneurs is of great importance to them, and the opportunities for mutual cooperation are unlimited.

How well represented are women in STEM occupations at higher education institutions and how does your association help them enter the world of innovation?

— The Association of Business Women has been commemorating the International Girls in ICT Day for more than a decade, and through that project we connect schools and businesses, but also the public sector. We deal with the development of interest in STEM professions among girls from the age of 13 and already have generations that have graduated university and are grateful to us for inspiring and encouraging them, through this project, to choose these professions. The young girls spend a day with female managers and entrepreneurs in STEM disciplines, in various companies, and the girls are free to ask them about their career path. Apart from that, we currently also have a project linked to encouraging girls and women from rural areas to study

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

entrepreneurship through an educational platform that has proven to be very effective, and we are proud of all those who’ve passed through this training course, but also some of the previous students who were taught to make websites, thus providing them with important skills for self-employment and to work for either themselves or others.

Thanks, among other things, to your association’s efforts, women have today conquered positions and professions that were

tured after the Covid-19 pandemic, in a relatively short period of time, and the new era has its own new laws, that don’t have much room for stereotypes on the labour market and in employment.

To what extent is the business world really open to women and what experience did you gain in advocating for women’s companies to enter major supply chains?

— The corporate world has its own legal norms and procedures that do not always favour females. On

WE DEAL WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTEREST IN STEM PROFESSIONS AMONG GIRLS FROM THE AGE OF 13 AND ALREADY HAVE GENERATIONS THAT HAVE GRADUATED UNIVERSITY AND ARE GRATEFUL TO US FOR ENCOURAGING THEM TO CHOOSE THESE PROFESSIONS previously reserved exclusively for men, such as in the construction and IT industries. How much prejudice did you encounter before women sat in the driving seats of forklifts and how did you overcome that?

— Exactly! We trained women in construction and IT through that specific project, and I must admit that stereotypes were very evident, but what helped us the most in quickly overcoming them wasn’t a change in awareness in society, but rather a lack of personnel in all branches, and in these ones the most. So that worked out for us, because both the employers and close family members of these women were fully supportive, which wouldn’t have been the case earlier. I think the time of such stereotypes is in the past and that they won’t return precisely because the world has been restruccordmagazine.com

the one hand, through our award for the most gender-sensitive company, which we’ve been awarding for several years already, we’ve seen that excellent examples of good practice in the application of gender equality exist, mainly in international companies that have certain obligations to apply them and that measure indicators. However, when it comes to improving the position of women in the local community where they do business, few companies showed an

The percentage of entrepreneurs that are female increased by about five percentage points over 10 years and stands at around

32%

affinity for the inclusion of women in the supply chain, starting from strict procedures in the procurement process. However, there are companies that have found a way to do so, through various pilot projects, and that offer them the chance to enter the “back door” as suppliers, in order to try them out and for them to prospectively become regular suppliers. These are generally companies that have developed services for corporate social responsibility, that report on their sustainability operations, which also includes social sustainability based on gender equality. And that is also an unstoppable trend.

Are women in rural and smaller urban areas still in an inferior social position and how much does entering the workforce empower them to fight for their position in society?

— Yes, that is a vulnerable category of female entrepreneurs. The primary problem is a common law, to call it that, according to which exclusively male children inherit property and female children renounce theirs, in their brothers’ favour. This is still very commonplace, as is the managing of farms exclusively by male members of the farmstead, despite women being equal participants in agricultural production. We did specific work with partner organisations in rural areas and only a few of them managed to establish themselves, which is a shame. I think we should all work to help organise and educate as many rural women as possible, and I see prospects in the fact that the younger generation of educated women are deciding to start businesses from villages, or to link their businesses to rural areas and thereby increase the entrepreneurial capacities of rural women, connecting them to the ecosystem of service provision and production, mainly of food products for the local market.

E-ASSOCIATION We are entering 2024 with the concept of the e-Association of Business Women [e-UPŽ], which will add value to our services for both existing and future members

SHIFT The world underwent major changes following the pandemic and there was no more room for stereotypes regarding women’s and men’s jobs on the labour market and in employment

INCENTIVES Risks are higher in less developed societies and economies, which is why we shouldn’t stop incentives and the promoting of gender equality on the labour market and in employment generally

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WOMEN WILL HAVE AN EVER-GREATER INFLUENCE Banca Intesa, as one of the most successful banks on the Serbian market, has always been a place where top experts in various fields have worked and created together, a community that possesses an abundance of talent and potential, and an environment in which the ideal synergy of youth and experience naturally emerges

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ere to discuss what it’s like to be part of a system dedicated to the constant empowerment of women through various programmes and initiatives, but also to improving the leadership skills of all female colleagues, are Dragica Mihajlović, Zorana Branković and Sandra Lazarević, who occupy three of the 52% of managerial positions held by women at Banca Intesa.

READY FOR A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS DRAGICA MIHAJLOVIĆ Chief Financial Officer/Member of the Executive Board very step of my career has had its own purpose and its own challenges, but I’ve always been supported and enriched in that process by valuable mentoring. At the same time, being a witness to and participant in the large and important changes that the banking system and Banca Intesa have gone through, along with essential professional satisfaction, creates motivation to improve further. The banking industry has one of the most dynamic rates of change – new technologies permeate all spheres of operations. Perhaps the best and most exciting aspect of this job is that you are constantly on a quest for new knowledge and new skills.

To be part of the Banca Intesa team is inspiring and extremely motivating. We respect individuality and diversity, but also

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function with dedication as a unified team that jointly overcomes all challenges. It isn’t by accident that we have, with organic growth and facing very strong competition, been at the very top for a long time. You can only maintain the trust of clients and be a company that’s responsible towards the community, and in the meantime achieve the best results year after year, if you are a collective of outstanding individuals who work and create together. I point out with pride that we began creating our future on time and with great enthusiasm. We have a new generation of young leaders who are heavily involved in all important decision making processes of We respect the business. It is hugely satisfying individuality and that we are an environment that diversity, but also provides full support for women function with to develop their careers without dedication as a giving up and that we traditionally unified team that have a high proportion of women jointly overcomes all in management positions. challenges It is precisely for these reasons that I’m aware that the privilege I have in being a member of the Banca Intesa team also carries the responsibility that I now repay the support I received in my own business development and advancement by supporting the new generation of young leaders who will lead our Bank towards even greater success in the future. I am strongly convinced that the influence and voice of women will also be significant then, as has always been the case with us.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

BANK TAILORED TO CLIENTS

ZORANA BRANKOVIĆ

BETTER FOR OURSELVES AND CLIENTS

SANDRA LAZAREVIĆ

Chief Operating Officer

Head of PR and Marketing Communications

s a bank that’s guided by the needs of clients in all aspects of its operations, Banca Intesa works continuously, through the implementation of strategic plans, to create a bank tailored to suit their needs.

Testifying to this are all the transformational projects that we’ve conducted over the past five years, including the replacement of the bank’s core system, the introduction of a new digital mobile and electronic banking platform for retail clients with a multitude of functionalities that enable them to quickly and easily interact with the bank, as well as the advancing of mobile banking for small business clients, for whom we were the first on the market to enable the full realisation of We are dedicated loans and overdraft approvals digto the constant itally. We integrate the most adempowerment of vanced technological trends into women through various our operations in order to respond programmes and to the needs of our clients quicker initiatives that have the and more adequately. end goal of improving I’m primarily referring to the leadership skills emergence of generative artificial intelligence, which will enable both our clients and employees to receive essential information and advice efficiently. The further development of artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics will certainly provide us with even more opportunities to anticipate the needs of clients and offer them the best possible product or service, in accordance with their habits and preferences.

I can confirm with my own personal example that Banca Intesa provides equal opportunities to all employees and that our promotions are based solely on meritocracy and competence, given that I’ve progressed over my 20 years of working at this bank from the position of operational junior to the position I currently hold. We are dedicated to the constant empowerment of women through various programmes and initiatives that have the end goal of improving the leadership skills of our female colleagues. Also testifying to just how successful we are in these efforts is the fact that women occupy more than 52% of managerial positions at Banca Intesa.

n the case of Banca Intesa, brand awareness and recognition have long been achieved, while our goal at any given moment is maintaining an honest and almost personable relationship with the client, which is based on trust and values that we nurture over the long term.

Transparency, equality, respect for every individual, exceptionality, responsibility... these are the values that guide us every day in striving to achieve individual goals and undertake tasks and work obligations, because we believe that clients and the public are capable of recognising the authenticity of a brand, but also of separating mere narrative from reality.

Ultimately, the purpose of the existence of our values, and of placing them high on the bar of our priorities, is our aspiration to create added value for our clients and to approach our own goal, which is to improve the quality of their lives, as well as helping them achieve their personal and profesIn our case, what is sional plans. promoted and seen If we support female entreprereflects what we neurship in our public appearancessentially are: a es and in promoting financial incompany with a large struments, and if we participate majority of female in campaigns that promote gender employees equality, then it is completely natural for us to nurture that same kind of spirit internally. In our case, what is promoted and seen reflects what we essentially are: a company with a large majority of female employees, with numerous internal CSR projects that are not communicated to the general public, and which serve us in being better both for ourselves and our clients. Over the past two years, our parent group also recognised the advantages of the human resources gender structure at our bank and accordingly launched the Women 4 Future project at the level of the group, which aims to increase the number of women working at other banks in the group, particularly in management positions. A platform was developed in such a way that as many female colleagues as possible are encouraged to think beyond the framework of their gender and stage of life, to nurture their ambitions, improve their leadership skills and help one another through exchanges of experience and knowledge.

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CORPORATE

FEMALE STRENGTH AND LEADERSHIP BEHIND BRANDS WITH PURPOSE With more than 2,000 brands and a presence in 191 countries, Nestlé is a world leader in food and beverage production, while it was also among the first companies to start implementing a gender-sensitive policy, both around the world and in our country

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ith its products, campaigns and the messages it sends, Nestlé strives to inspire people to live a healthy lifestyle, while it also uses its employment policies to create a fair and supportive working environment for all employees, regardless of gender. Here three of Nestlé’s leading ladies discuss how that looks in practice.

A GOOD COLLECTIVE VALUES DIVERSITY

MARJANA DAVIDOVIĆ Country Manager for Nestlé Adriatic Hub South (Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia)

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o you view support for the community in which you operate as a responsibility? And this includes both the Nestlé products that you donate and your investments in regenerative agriculture.

— At the core of the Nestlé business philosophy is the conviction that our brands have the power and responsibility to improve the quality of life of current and future generations. It is important for us to con-

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tribute to the community in which we operate in a variety of ways, and for me the most important thing is that which remains forever: the relaying of knowledge.

Our engagement in the regenerative agriculture project is also reflected in the educating of our suppliers and producers, which include ladies to whom we also provide, in addition to financial assistance, something that’s much more important, and that’s knowhow that they will be able to convey to others and apply themselves. They will thus improve their operations, while at the same time contributing to a healthier working environment. We empower one another by learning and thereby create not only a more sustainable industry, but also a more sustainable overall life of the community.

Managing surplus food represents our commitment to long-term sustainability, which is why we try every year to donate food to those most in need. Since the beginning of 2023, we have donated approx-

imately 27 tons of our products, which is only a modest contribution considering the huge need for food. This initiative isn’t only a business strategy, but also a reflection of my personal values of solidarity and care for the community.

On the basis of everything that we know about Nestlé as a company, we could say that it must be pleasant and easy to be a woman in such a collective. Are our impressions mistaken?

— Nestlé often distinguishes itself as a company with its engagement in areas like inclusivity, diversity and corporate social responsibility, which really makes me proud.

My many years at Nestlé – starting from middle management positions and advancing to my current top management position – ensure that I am really competent of confirming that it is easy to work in a collective that respects diversity and values effort and knowledge, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman.

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PARENTS ARE FULLY SUPPORTED JOVANA UZELAC Head of HR for Nestlé South East Market ould you tell us on the basis of your experience whether respect for diversity and inclusiveness additionally motivates employees and leads to improved results?

— Work on inclusivity and diversity are imperatives at our company, because we really believe that nurturing diversity is precisely what creates the best teams, in which every member has an equal chance to succeed, regardless of their gender or origins. Nestlé is a fundamentally multicultural environment, and diversity and inclusion are integral parts of our daily reality. Moreover, gender equality raises a fundamental question about fairness and morality, and we are very proud that 63% of our company’s management positions are held by women, which testifies to us promoting equal opportunities for advancement.

Being part of a compaWhen people are appreciated, ny that supports a diversity that has a significant positive of ideas, regardless of genimpact on their motivation at der, and that provides its work, sense of job satisfaction employees with strong supand overall wellbeing port, is key to achieving success and progress. My experience tells me that when people are appreciated that has a significant positive impact on their motivation at work, sense of job satisfaction and overall wellbeing.

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What’s included in the company’s Gender Balance Acceleration Plan and what are the results and effects of its implementation to date?

— Under the scope of our Gender Balance Acceleration Plan, I would emphasise in particular our support for parents, because we recognised the importance of harmonising work and family life. With the aim of improving this approach, we’ve implemented a global policy of support to parents that was launched in early 2021. This policy brings additional benefits and international standards that exceed local regulations in Serbia.

We devote special attention to supporting fathers and secondary caregivers, who are entitled to four weeks of paid leave in the first year following the birth or adoption of a child. The results of the implementation of our initiatives to date have been very positive, given the pleasant reactions of our employees and the fact that we create an inclusive working environment with this approach. cordmagazine.com

WORKING ON ONESELF IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS RENATA MATUSINOVIĆ Business Executive officer for FOOD, Nestlé South East Market ou work for a company that is a world leader in the food and beverage sector, with more than 2,000 brands and a presence in 191 countries.

You must feel both pride and responsibility over Nestlé’s influence on people’s quality of life and health?

— I’m extremely proud to have received the opportunity to work in such a great team of people who aim, on a daily basis, to provide customers with high-quality products that satisfy their needs. I also see a great responsibility in that, because it is vital that the improvement of our products’ quality through innovation is in alignment with more sustainable trends in nutrition. In these times when information is easily available and consumers are becoming more environmentally aware, we are tasked with offering them convenient solutions that will make it easier for them to make daily dietary choices that direct them towards more appropriate and sustainable nutrition. We are also delighted that we will soon launch production at our factory in Surčin of part of the portfolio of our Garden Gourmet brand, which contains plant-based products that to additionally protect our planet.

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You believe that one shouldn’t rush either in business or life, and that advancement and success come naturally and that authority isn’t imposed, but rather acquired through knowledge and congeniality... Is that what you advise your young female colleagues?

— Advancement and success don’t come over the night, but rather are the result of continuous learning, effort and commitment.

On the other hand, when it comes to building authority, that is not achieved by imposing one’s authority over others, but by acquiring knowledge and demonstrating personability and understanding for people’s needs, and I am fortunate enough to work in such an environment. I base my advice on my belief that working on oneself, in every sense – from maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle to lifelong learning and concern for other people – is a crucial factor for achieving personal and professional success, and when alongside that you also have the right people, success is guaranteed. It is a great pleasure to work in a collective that approaches the most diverse characters and talented individuals in the same way. I am truly privileged to be part of an organisation that stands firmly behind its employees, regardless of their gender.

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WOMEN EXCEL IN THE BEER INDUSTRY As a company, Carlsberg Group is committed to gender equality and have integrated gender equality and women’s empowerment into their business strategy. This is their current strategic orientation

JOVANA VJEŠTICA Communication Manager, Carlsberg

In the local markets of the Carlsberg Serbia Group, the current participation of women in management teams is

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ur interviewees believe that two-way communication and a personalized approach to their staff are the key to achieving maximum performance, to nurturing and developing a motivating and stimulating company culture and to their targeted business results

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You believe that nothing is more valuable to a company than its people?

— People have always been an organization’s most valuable resource, and what we’ve observed in recent years is a significant shift from words to action when it comes to our relationship with employees. I must say that the new generations have greatly helped awaken employers, they are much more conscious about the direction in which they want to develop their careers. Today, the financial package is only one aspect when looking at a potential employer.

Young individuals embarking on their careers now want a clear career path and a development plan on how to get to the desired position in the next few years. Moreover, the overall well-being of employees is a significant concern, about the psychophysical condition of the staff, the company’s relationship with the community, and its impact on the environment also play vital roles.

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Therefore, returning to the question, two-way communication and a personalized approach to employees are key to achieving maximum effectiveness and nurturing a motivating and stimulating corporate culture, which subsequently leads to the desired business results.

Although the brewing industry has always belonged to men, you are empowering women and giving them important roles?

— It is true that the beer industry is perceived as a male industry and that is why we put a lot of effort into empowering women and their development, not only within our organization, but also as potential candidates for open positions.

That is a process, but the most important thing is to have a clear map of where we are today and where we want to be in the future, with a very clear plan of how we will get there. An example of one activity is that we make efforts both internally and externally to break down taboos related to certain positions within the company when hiring people, which are unjustifiably seen as exclusively male.

In March of this year, the Carlsberg Group signed the guiding principles on women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Was there any specific reason or occasion for that?

— This is actually strategic orientation of Carlsberg Group. As a company, we are committed to gender equality and have inte-

grated gender equality and women’s empowerment into our business strategy. As you said, brewing is an historically male-dominated industry, and we feel a strong responsibility to advance our commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment at Carlsberg. We believe that getting the gender balance right will pave the way for more diverse representation. Our company has set time-bound targets for the share of women in senior leadership roles, which are to reach a share of 30% overall by the end of 2024, and a minimum of 40% over time.

If we talk about Carlsberg Serbia Group local markets, (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania), the current participation of women in management teams (managers and directors) stands at 40%.

Besides our Code of Conduct, Human Rights Policy, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy, our company introduced mandatory Preventing Sexual

IT IS TRUE THAT THE BEER INDUSTRY IS PERCEIVED AS A MALE INDUSTRY AND THAT IS WHY WE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO EMPOWERING WOMEN AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT Harassment training in 2023 for all its staff globally. This initiative aims to reinforce the company’s commitment to fostering a safe and inclusive workplace for everyone.

BESIDES OUR CODE OF CONDUCT, HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY, AND DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION POLICY, OUR COMPANY INTRODUCED MANDATORY PREVENTING SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRAINING IN 2023 FOR ALL ITS STAFF GLOBALLY cordmagazine.com

Which beer from your production programme do ladies prefer to consume? Do most ladies still opt for Somersby? Which beer do you like most?

—And this question, in a way, stems from the prevailing notion that beer is a masculine drink. A large number of women like to drink beer on different occasions.

I don’t have a favourite beer, but I choose different brands according to the occasion, from Tuborg at a concert, through Blanc with dinner. Lav is the choice when I’m having lunch with my family, while Somersby is the choice for those rare moments of relaxation.

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2030 AGENDA VISION There are gaps that are holding us back from achieving the 2030 Agenda vision of an end to poverty and a peaceful, sustainable world.

Those gaps are the spaces where women – and girls - are missing.

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BUSINESS BUILT ON DEDICATION AND EXPERTISE TATJANA LUKIĆ Supply Chain Director, Dr. Oetker Srbija work as Supply Chain Director at Dr. Oetker Srbija, where the business is built on dedication and expertise. Throughout my long career, I’ve always been driven by commitment, passion and constant striving for excellence. I’ve been confronted by many challenges that have shaped not only my professional development, but also my personal growth path. Family interests are greatly respected at Dr. Oetker, where we create an atmosphere in which employees feel supported and connected. This family dynamic makes a special work environment, laying the foundations for the success that we achieve together.

Procurement and logistics are areas that demand precision, a strategy and agility, and through my own work I always highlight the importance of cooperation and teamwork.

Emotional intelligence, the ability to multitask and flexibility are characteristics that women bring to the business world, contributing to the efficacy of solving problems and achieving Emotional intelligence, the goals. I believe that ability to multitask and flexibility female leadership are characteristics that women is key, and through bring to the business world, my own leadership I contributing to the efficacy of support and empower solving problems other women to take their rightful place in and achieving goals this dynamic industry, within the scope of a company that truly behaves like a family.

The role of supply chain leader requires a visionary approach, the ability to monitor a changeable market and make quick decisions. Through my work, I endeavour to integrate innovative strategies that not only improve the efficiency of processes, but also support inclusivity and diversity. Dr. Oetker Srbija is a community that aspires to advance and support diversity.

WE DEMONSTRATE THE STRENGTH OF FEMALE LEADERSHIPE

BRANKA RADOJIČIĆ HR Director, Dr. Oetker Srbija

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he first association with Dr. Oetker is the slogan “Quality is the best recipe”, which now has a complementary addition in “Creating a taste of home”. When we talk about quality, that’s something we comprehend in a very all-encompassing way. We put a lot into product quality, in order to provide our consumers with top products, but quality means much more for us. The quality and ratio between work and leisure time are values that we nurture actively.

It is important to us that employees are able to equally devote themselves to other aspects of their lives, because it’s only with a balanced approach that they can also contribute their maximum at work. We pay great attention to the quality of interpersonal relationships and strive to have communication that’s as open as possible, for employees to be informed about strategies and results, for them to participate actively in imThe quality and ratio between plementing the vision and work and leisure time are view the company’s sucvalues that we nurture actively cesses as their own. We try to celebrate successes loudly, to praise excellent projects and special efforts, but also to accept and discuss mistakes in order to learn better from them. We are now striving intensively, through our project to transform the organisational culture, towards an environment in which everyone feels welcome to say what they think and to propose different and more innovative solutions.

I’m particularly proud that the ratio of women to men in our top management structure favours women significantly, and that demonstrates the strength and quality of female leadership. We have no need to discuss equal gender representation goals in management because we are really living that gender balance.

As women, we lead many life processes and have roles that can only contribute to leadership.

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HAPPINESS IS WORKING FOR A BRAND ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO DARE TO TRY THAT CREATES A TASTE OF HOME

DALIBORKA ROSIĆ

SANJA KERANOVIĆ

Marketing Director, Dr. Oetker Srbija

Controlling, Finance and IT Director / CFO, Dr. Oetker Srbija

r. Oetker is a brand that’s synonymous with quality; people trust it and with good reason. As someone who’s spent more than 20 years in marketing, I am happy that I’m working on a brand that creates a taste of home. You know that feeling when you smell a house and it reminds you of childhood, of the cosiness and warmth of home... Working on such a brand is a pleasure, but isn’t without its challenges. Consumer habits, like their expectations, are changing constantly, and we have the task of keeping paces with that, through innovations in products and communication.

When you truly love your job, you’re even more appreciative of the opportunity, at a multinational company like Dr. Oetker, to be able to work locally on product development and to create marketing campaigns independently. A good exSome are of the opinion ample of that practice is that Dr. Oetker is a brand for our “Quick and Easy Powomen, while I would say lenta”, which is an exthat Dr. Oetker is the best tremely successful local friend to every home, and not innovation that was crenecessarily only women ated at our Development Centre in Šimanovci. I am proud of the entire team that worked on the project, from concept to realisation. All departments, without exception, provided their contributions to that project, trying to be the best we can, and that is the beauty of our work.

Our portfolio in Serbia includes more than 100 products, which represent proper help in the kitchen. Some are of the opinion that Dr. Oetker is a brand for women, while I would say that Dr. Oetker is the best friend to every home, and not necessarily only women. Men also cook, and very successfully. Just as many women are very successful in the business world. A good example of that is Dr. Oetker in Serbia, where the majority of top management is comprised of women. It is an honour for me to be one of them.

r. Oetker has been operating in Serbia for more than 20 years, and during that period it has really achieved significant growth on the market and become a leader in many categories where we operate today, while simultaneously remaining a symbol of quality and innovation. We also brought 2023 to a successful conclusion, with excellent results and double-digit growth. We are really proud of the results that we achieve. The crucial success factor are the We are really proud people who work at our compaof the results that we ny; they are the most important achieve.

The crucial resource we have at our dispossuccess factor are al. It is a pleasure for me to say the people who that a large number of our comwork at our company; pany’s employees are women. they are the most I’ve had opportunities to important resource work with great people in my we have at career, both men and womour disposal en. Some of them were also my mentors, and among them are some really wonderful women. I also have that balance between young and experienced male and female colleagues in my team, which I consider a great advantage. There are no longer positions in which women and men can’t contribute equally to a company’s success, which is why we should encourage women to dare to try. Dr. Oetker Srbija is a genuine example of female colleagues taking on key responsibilities in many positions, which can be seen in top management, where there are currently more women. I believe we’ll see even more women in management in the future, especially in executive positions.

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A PERSONABLE APPROACH MAKES THE DIFFERENCE At A1 it’s precisely the users that drive and inspire the company, which is why A1 strives to remain relevant and thus able to provide those users with support, additional information and a personalised approach, all using methods and dynamics that suit the user

BRANKA PUDRLJA DURBABA Chief Sales and Customer Satisfaction Officer, A1 Serbia

Women comprise more than half of A1’s employees, and also hold around

60

per cent of management positions

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n struggling for equal opportunities for all, we are also struggling for a society that’s healthier and more successful, because we believe that the economic empowerment of women is key to progress in general,” explains our interlocutor, before emphasising her belief that technological development mustn’t be allowed to negatively impact empathy, intuition and creativity.

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From the perspective of the user experience, what marked the past year; and what do you expect the leading trends to be over the year ahead?

— In an era of rapid technological advancement and dehumanisation, a personable approach is what makes the difference on the market. Companies have had a serious task over the past year: to identify the exact point at which human empathy, intuition and creativity are met by the speed, scale, precision and efficiency provided by technology. The experience a brand provides for its users will gradually give way to the desire for self-actualisation and the transpar-

ent communication that characterises the younger generations. The E2E (end to end) user experience is one of the most important pillars when it comes to building relationships with users. It implies an omnichannel approach – providing a faultless and unique brand experience, regardless of the communication channel that users choose.

Today’s users know what they want before they even come to us, and our assignment is to be relevant, to provide them with support, additional information and a personalised approach, all in a way and under dynamics that suit them.

Do you think women in Serbia today have enough self-belief and belief in their own abilities?

Do they have support when they start building a career? Do you think they should be empowered while they are still girls?

— Women today are certainly more confident than they used to be, but there are still challenges confronting women with regard to equality, access to education and employment, as well as with cultural and social norms. I’m personally fortunate to work at a company where gender isn’t linked to success or failure in any way. Women comprise more than half of A1’s employees, and also hold around 60 per cent of management positions.

They all have belief in themselves

and their abilities, and have a desire to change the world, and with that also strong support in developing their careers.

Many factors impact on women’s perceptions of their own abilities, including education, family support, the availability of mentors and the role of the media in shaping awareness. That’s why all of us who are part of the social ecosystem have an important role to play in empowering them, from an early age, but also later.

You are also a mother of a little girl. Is it difficult to strike a balance between your parenting and work obligations?

— The role of mother and parent is one of the most beautiful and responsible roles in life. On the other hand, I enjoy my job immensely, so I don’t perceive it as an obligation in the proper sense of the word. I believe that many women today think in a similar way and manage to successfully become self-realised and satisfied and accomplished in both roles. It is important to know how to draw a clear line between your work and private life, which is not always easy to achieve. However, as long as there exists, like in my family, good communication, understanding and support between partners, achieving that balance is much easier, because every happy woman is a successful woman.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

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ADDIKO BANK VALUES WOMEN The fact that women occupy leadership positions at Addiko Bank point to its egalitarian working environment, where promoting equal opportunities includes encouraging diversity, fair selection processes, mentoring programmes and policies that support a balanced working and private life

IVANA BOGDANOVIĆ

Marketing & Communications Director

WOMEN ARE MORE SKILLED WITH WORDS When you work in communications, it is essential to master them. Understanding your interlocutor or client, being able to convey a message in the right way, but also to listen, is highly valued today. Women have always been skilled with words, and possessing emotional intelligence is crucial to achieving success in one’s work and career, particularly when you reach more senior positions. Marketing and communications have an affinity with women’s sensibilities, and that’s precisely why I’m not surprised that women dominate in this field.

VANJA VULETIĆ

Retail and Digital Banking Sector Executive Director

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY INITIATIVES At Addiko Bank, we witness significant engagement of women at all levels. These efforts not only promote gender equality but also create a richer working environment through diverse perspectives and skills. In practice, this means that women take active roles in key banking sectors, including management, finance, innovation, and technology. With the support of initiatives emphasizing equal opportunities, mentorship, and training, Addiko Bank fosters an inclusive culture that values the contricordmagazine.com

bution of every employee. This approach contributes to a competitive advantage through the diversity of ideas and strategies stemming from various perspectives.

It is a key element for long-term success.

MARIJA MIJATOVIĆ

HR and Organisation Department Director

FULLY SUPPORTING FEMALE ENTREPRENEURSHIP Providing equal opportunities to everyone, continuously empowering women and ensuring a balanced ratio between private and work life are all among our priorities.

Alongside our long-term diversity and inclusion strategies, which have clear goals and actions, Addiko Bank also contributes to strengthening female entrepreneurship. We do so through our support for female social entrepreneurship and cooperation with social enterprises, such as Radanska Ruža [a food processing company that employs women from marginal groups]. Also testifying to this is the fact that Addiko Bank is the first Serbian company to hold the prestigious MAMFORCE Standard certificate for gender equality and family responsibility.

SANJA MATOVIĆ

Product and Client Relationship Management Department Director

SOFT SKILLS ARE IMPORTANT IN BANKING Adaptability to rapid changes is a vital quality in modern banking, as is constantly monitoring trends, listening to

the needs of clients and creating new products and features in accordance with that. That’s also why creativity and insight are crucial, and such qualities are much more characteristic of women in business. The primary values of traditional banking were knowhow and responsibility, while today they are no longer bonus values, but rather competences that are a given, while soft skills have become much more important. And that’s precisely where female intuition, flexibility and the ability to multitask come into play.

MARIJA PANKOV

Risk Control Department Director

WOMEN ONLY NEED TO RECEIVE AN OPPORTUNITY Women remain insufficiently included in certain lines of work, but that fortunately doesn’t apply to the banking sector, which believes that employees should be promoted in accordance with their results.

Women often don’t receive opportunities to advance – not due to having failed to achieve results, but because they are at an age when they are planning children or have children, or because they are middle-aged. Addiko Bank is a shining positive example, because it supports women in planning and achieving their professional goals. I received my first managerial position contract in the 4th month of my pregnancy, regardless of the fact that I took maternity leave just a few months later.

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INCREASINGLY ACCESSIBLE INNOVATIONS MSD has been active in Serbia since 1996. From day one it has worked to establish a partnership with the state to provide the most up to date and innovative therapies for patients in Serbia

SANDRA MARINKOVIĆ External Affairs Lead, Merck Sharp & Dohme

In just over a year, more than

30,000

Serbian children have received the HPV vaccine

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erbia has come a long way in access to innovative medicines in the last few years, with increased investment that has resulted in much better outcomes for patients. Where we are today is revealed by Ms Sandra Marinković

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In the U.S, where your company originates, innovative cutting-edge therapies are rapidly becoming available to patients.

How can Serbia reduce the lag behind developed countries in this regard?

— All healthcare systems around the world aim to provide mechanisms for long-term sustainability of healthcare costs, while at the same time enabling new healthcare technologies and better outcomes. In parallel with investing in the development of new med-

icines, MSD is dedicated to making them widely available to all patients who need them. Through joint efforts of the state and private sector, Serbia has shown progress in the availability of innovative medicines, which has brought us closer to European and world treatment standards. If we are to see a positive effect on disease outcomes as soon as possible, especially mortality from malignant diseases in which Serbia unfortunately still trails countries of the European Union, we need continuity of investment both in new therapeutic options and in the prevention and early detection of diseases.

A major breakthrough in the prevention of cervical cancer took place last year, when children were immunised at the expense of the RFZO against infections caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the main cause of this disease.

Over 30,000 Serbian children have received this vaccine so far, which gives us hope that cervical cancer, which takes more than 600 lives of women every year in our country, will soon become a rare disease.

How do you at MSD struggle to achieve a balance between private and business life?

— The pace of today’s life and high stress levels pose great risks to all of us, regardless of age or gender. That’s why MSD makes extra efforts to listen to the needs of its employees and to respond to them with new solutions that allow a greater degree of flexibility. In future we will need even more such practices so that each of us can achieve our ambitions with a better

balance between our professional and private lives. The first step is to accept diversity among employees, and create a dynamic, creative environment that stimulates productivity and individual development. I believe that MSD, with its many initiatives through employee groups such as the Women’s Network, Rainbow Alliance and Next Generation Network, is well on its way to achieving these changes.

You find it important to leave a strong and clear mark and make people’s lives better?

— Our corporate culture is characterized by innovation, employee support, and a positive impact on the communities in which we operate.

It is very important for us to actively contribute to the development of our health system and that is why we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Serbian Government to support the development of the BIO4 campus, which has the ambition to be one of the leading incubators of biotechnology projects in this part of Europe. This type of public-private partnership enables financial and professional support to strengthen the capacity of our research institutes, while it will enable MSD to gain better insight into both the outcomes of health interventions and the specific unmet needs of patient groups or populations.

We have special progress and expectations in a project with the Institute for Artificial Intelligence which, among other things, has the potential to put Serbia on the map of countries leading the way in making evidence-based decisions.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

CORPORATE

A BREWERY THAT EMPOWERS WOMEN For the first time, Apatin Brewery won an award from the Top Employer Institute, receiving the ‘Top Employer Serbia 2023’ certificate for excellence in its practice with employees, which testify to just how good it is to work for this company

espite the fact that some would suggest that producing beer is typically a man’s job, Apatin Brewery dispels that stereotype in the best possible way. Discussing this for our magazine here is a woman who has spent 18 years in the beer industry

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Gender isn’t important at your company, but rather knowledge, experience and dedication?

— I’m proud of our shared commitment and success in dispelling traditional gender stereotypes in the beer industry. I’ve never felt any difference or been treated differently for being a woman in the beer business or in this position at my brewery, and I’ve spent almost 18 years here. At Molson Coors and Apatin Brewery, we always underscore that it is knowhow, experience and commitment that are important.

We have excellent examples of “power girls” at the level of the entire Central and Eastern Europe region, who successfully manage production processes cordmagazine.com

at facilities, quality control and safety at work, but who also manage sales masterfully. By establishing such a culture, we’ve not only created a productive work environment, but are also helping to transform an entire industry in the direction of talent, knowhow and experience being above prejudice. This value is vital to our company and contributes to our continued growth and success.

Does it feel nice to work at your company? Is it nice to be a woman in your company?

— Yes, I agree with that. We are proud that we received, for the first time, the Top Employer Institute, obtaining the “Top Employer Serbia 2023”. We thus joined a select group of 2,053 companies from 121 countries around the world that carry this important recognition.

This global accreditation confirms our high quality in terms of relations with employees and places us among the ranks of companies that nurture high business standards. The awards that we’ve received not only reflect our commitment to employee development, but also our commitment to improving the community in which we operate. We are continuing to together build a positive and in-

spiring work environment for all employees.

Almost 50% of your leadership positions are held by women, while you’re planning to increase that number even further through diversity equity & inclusion. Which sectors have the most room for that?

— We currently have close to 50% women in top management positions, which is an excellent ratio. I can confirm that firsthand, but we want to even further improve this balance through our diversity equity & inclusion programme. The greater representation of women at all levels of the company is an essential part of our strategy and this programme. We pay special attention to sectors that are traditionally led by men, such as production, logistics and sales. We are also proud that we historically have the highest percentage of female colleagues in production operations and logistics in Serbia – as much as 30%.

Our brewing environment is developing swiftly, dynamically and challengingly, and we are grateful to our “power” ladies, who help our brewery to grow and our production plants to be safe, inspiring and wonderful places for development and work. Dear ladies, you are welcome at our brewery.

SVETLANA VUKELIĆ Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs for Serbia and Montenegro at Molson Coors

We are proud that we historically have the highest percentage of female colleagues in production operations and logistics in Serbia – as much as

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ENCOURAGING WOMEN TO CARE ABOUT HEALTH Richter Gedeon endeavours to continuously expand its rich product portfolio and develop its infrastructure and commercial capacities, in order to achieve its goal of becoming one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of its category in Europe by 2028 more than 70% of pharmaceutical markets worldwide. Throughout all these years of the company’s history and awards received, we’ve received confirmation that we remain on the right track and true to the original idea of the founder.

JELENA RISTIĆ Country Manager, Richter Gedeon

We received approval for our innovative therapy intended to treat schizophrenia to be made available on over

70%

of the world’s pharmaceutical markets

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e will always view success in business and c a r i ng f o r h u m a n health as inextricable elements, because we are thus worthy successors of the desires and ideas of the founder of our company ~ says Richter Gedeon Srbija’s Jelena Ristić in this interview.

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Since day one, with the establishment of the company back in 1901, caring for human health has been the chief thread running through every pore of your business. Despite more than a century having passed, you still haven’t deviated from the original ideas and desires of the company’s founder?

— Caring for human health is something that’s been woven into our company since its very inception and traverses every pore of our business. Tangible proof of this is the Innovation Grand Prix award that the company received in Hungary for an innovative therapy in the field of psychiatry, which is available on

Despite treatments for the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system comprising an important part of your portfolio, you also pay special attention to women’s health. How come?

— I’m delighted that the awareness of the importance of women’s health in Serbia is changing from year to year, and that we represent an important and reliable participant in that process. Women used to feel embarrassed to go to a pharmacy to ask about emergency contraception or oral contraceptive pills, for which we are among the world’s leading companies. It would have been considered a strange way of thinking back then to conclude that this is exactly how a woman takes care of her reproductive health responsibly and that with oral contraception she preserves her eggs, so that she can get pregnant when the time comes for that. Although contraception is no longer a taboo subject, we continue to encourage women to take better care of their health and to impact positively on other women.

Given that your company is innovation-oriented, it comes as no surprise that you focus on products with high added value. Which areas of expertise do you direct the most resources towards?

— The last few years were challenging, especially in terms of investing in innovation and therapies that enable people to have a high-quality life. We haven’t faltered, and our every move is well planned to show that we are a member of the social community that’s worthy of respect and isn’t only here temporarily. We are in Serbia; this society is ours, and we want to contribute, through all our activities, to creating a better life here in terms of health. We have taken strides into new therapeutic areas, such as psychiatry, while biosimilar medicines are something we’ve already been working to develop for quite a while.

Apart from the fact that we want to rank among the leading companies, in the business sense, it is very important for us to contribute, through our innovative products, to the fight against diseases and thus to improving the quality of people’s lives. As a woman in a leadership position, I’m even more delighted that our focus is on women and improving women’s health.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

CORPORATE

A SMILE IS THE FIRST ADDED VALUE Companies that implement Lean Six Sigma improve quality and reduce waste, bringing longterm benefits in customer experience, efficiency, profit and the working environment, in both manufacturing and services

n the years to come we will invest the maximum effort and knowledge to understand the needs of our clients. With constant training and developing our corporate culture in the region and around the world, we will give our best to provide top-notch service — says Kruna Gavović.

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You have an extremely demanding and responsible job, and yet you emphasize that the most important role in your life is being a mother. Is it possible to learn how to set priorities and how to rank goals?

— It is very important to set priorities, because this is the only way we can strike a balance. But it is also very demanding, it requires huge investment, but also a change in the way of thinking. My priorities have changed in the last seven years since I became a mother, but since childhood I had a clear picture of my future and what I want to give to the environment and the world. I always carry good energy with me, which usually makes people think that everything in my life goes easily. My life path has not always been easy, but it wasn’t ordinary either. That’s why I always try to focus on opportunities with the right risk assessment, and also to set the best excordmagazine.com

ample to my daughter. I have a few role models in life, people close to me - each of them because of a certain part of their personality and the art of living. And my greatest success is the fact that I have achieved everything I visualized.

With Balance Company slogan “We build smiles”, are you saying that in the years to come you will also develop corporate culture while creating smiles among your clients and the whole of society?

— I always try to carry a smile with me, because I believe that a smile is the first added value of any relationship, including in business.

Happy customers are likely to buy again, to refer someone, and to stay loyal to a brand. In short, customer experience directly impacts loyalty. We must always understand our customers’ needs, appreciate them, ask for feedback, give them our undivided attention, promote a helpful and friendly environment and boost employee’s morale. It is the customer who ultimately defines true value. In the years to come we will invest the maximum effort and knowledge to understand the needs of our clients. With constant training and developing corporate culture in the region and around the

world, we will give our best to provide top-notch service.

You are focused on services related to Lean Six Sigma methodology, Family Friendly Enterprise and Socially Responsible Employer certification. Which companies invest most in these concepts?

— Companies that implement Lean Six Sigma will increase the quality improvement and waste reduction, which will have long-term benefits in customer experience, efficiency, profit and work environment.

There are benefits both for manufactory and service industry.

Regarding Family Friendly Enterprise and Socially Responsible Employer certification we are very happy that many companies in Serbia and the region are active in work-life-balance and social responsibility. Social responsibility can improve staff experience, increase motivation, build loyalty in the workplace and lead to greater productivity. The best benefits for a company that improves work-life balance and social responsibility are its positive impact on society and the environment, increased brand recognition and public trust, increased customer and staff loyalty, a competitive advantage and greater sustainability.

KRUNA GAVOVIĆ CEO at The Lean Six Sigma Company CEE and CEO at Balance Company CEE

My priorities have changed in the last

7

years since I became a mother

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STILL ONLY HALF WAY TO PARITY Today, women hold 24 per cent of parliamentary seats globally – still only half way to parity – and the global gender pay gap stands at 23 per cent.

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EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

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COMMUNICATION EXCELLENCE IN SERBIA In 2023, agency Chapter 4 has succeeded in expanding its cooperation with existing clients and gaining new clients and new projects. Its team has enhanced its competences through various training courses and exerted efforts to contribute to the development of the profession and won the European Excellence Award jects during the year; we improved internally at various training courses and made efforts to contribute to the development of the profession through our participation in various conferences, and awards ultimately also arrived. Among them is the so-called European PR Oscar – European Excellence Award – which we entered the finals for with as many as two clients – Pepsico and Galenika – and took home one award, the highest gold medal. We are really extremely satisfied with everything we achieved over the year as a team.

MILENA AVRAMOVIĆ BJELICA Executive Director and Co-Founder

TAMARA BEKČIĆ Managing Director and Co-Founder, Chapter 4

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ircumstances locally and globally have a great impact on communication, the future of which is dependent on us, at least according to our interlocutors from Chapter 4. As they emphasise, the more dedicated and better we are at what we do, the more likely we are to achieve a positive outcome.

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The best socially responsible campaigns in Serbia were declared recently and included two that you participated in with your clients. Congratulations! Did 2023 live up to your expectations?

— MAB: It was a really good year for our team and for Chapter 4 as a PR agency. We expanded our cooperation with existing clients and gained new clients and new pro-

You often emphasise that Chapter 4 is oriented towards people, respect and ethics in communication. Does that approach also form the basis of your mutual relationship?

— TB: It is extremely important that, from day one, we’ve had honest and transparent communication and mutual respect and acceptance, even when we don’t have the same opinion on absolutely every topic. Our relationship has never been just a business one. It was out of an existing friendship that the idea to launch a joint business was born, and I think that’s the key to our partnership, because we share the same values and views on both the professional front and on social and life topics. We often comment that we still learn from each other and inspire one another even after all these years and decades, and we are infinitely grateful for that.

When it comes to communications, do you think artificial intelligence and machine learning will ever be able to replace humans and their creativity and adaptability?

— MAB: I’m completely certain that that will never happen. It is true that all these technological inventions will ease certain parts of our work, as well as many other jobs, but that was all designed by people and a machine will never be capable of replacing people completely, regardless of the great amount of data it has at its disposal, because it has no experience and doesn’t have the feeling that a human has. Things change so quickly that it isn’t possible for a machine to gather all the information around the world in real time, and even if that does happen, the machine still lacks the experiences, feelings and empathy that form the foundational elements of a human being. Those who are capable of using all these innovations for what they need will be at an advantage.

In recent years, we’ve been constantly on edge due to the pandemic, wars, inflation, economic crises, and other challenges. However, it seems that at least when it comes to the future of communication, there’s no need to worry. Do you share our optimism?

— TB: The ability to listen and understand from the basis of what we do in terms of planning or advising clients. In our work with companies and brands, we see on a daily basis that those who develop their business and communication on a foundation of empathy thus strengthen their relations with consumers, users and the community. Empathy plays an important role in PR and in the building and maintaining of relationships with stakeholders. We often describe ourselves as being cautious optimists.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

CORPORATE

SUPPORTING POSITIVE CHANGE She launched her career at CPI Property Group in 2016 and has since advanced constantly to become one of the leading experts in Serbia’s retail industry. As a successful Country Operations Manager and leader of the Belgrade office of the CPI Property Group, but also as a mother, Maja proves it’s possible to strike a balance between one’s private life and career, while she confidently and tenaciously leads the team behind the renowned STOP SHOP retail park brand ere Maja discusses the challenges brought by her dynamic daily life, as well as success in the business world, for CorD Magazine’s Empowering Women special edition.

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You seem to have had a fairly dynamic career path, particularly since joining the CPI Property Group. How challenging has it been to become one of the leading experts in the retail property sector while remaining a good mother?

— I’m well aware of the times in which we live, as well as all the challenges they bring for women who are mothers and are successful in their work. Striking a balance is possible when we don’t forget about ourselves – when we find personal time that’s exclusively for ourselves, dedicated to the things we enjoy. For me, that means making time for sport and films, while I’m also fulfilled by trying new flavours, so cooking is one of my favourite hobbies. All of that, coupled with the positive energy I receive from my children at home and from my wonderful colleagues in the office, ensure that I’m a happy and fulfilled woman. I attribute my success to my great desire to learn, my team-based approach and the great support I’ve received cordmagazine.com

from my colleagues and the management at CPI Property Group. I’m proud of the fact that, at one point in my career, I was successfully covering as many as three markets – Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia – and I believe this experience helped me additionally prepare for my current position as Country Operations Ma­ nager and head of the Belgrade office. Today, together with my team, I’m establishing new standards in creating a unique shopping experience, by jointly building a brand that’s becoming a key player in the retail park sector.

To what extent does successfully balancing your work and private obligations help when it comes to conceiving the content mix of STOP SHOP retail parks, which are among the favourite shopping destinations for families?

—It is a great honour to lead the Serbian portfolio, which includes 14 STOP SHOP parks nationwide, as well as to manage a team of brilliant and inspiring professionals. Taking the responsibility to manage such a prominent brand, which has set significant market trends and high standards in eco-friendly construction, represents a challenge, and that motivates me to continue, together with my team, to bring positive changes to the retail industry.

Considering my professional path and personal experience as a mother, I develop a vision of retail parks as places where people can relax, socialise and spend quality time with their families, while this also reflects the business culture at CPI Property Group, which emphasises the importance of creating spaces that satisfy a community’s various needs.

Could it be said that you’ve paved the way for other women in the retail world by working, step by step, to conquer a sector in which men represent the majority in leading positions? What would you advise your young female colleagues?

— Empowering women in the retail world is very important to me personally, while it’s also among the values woven into CPI Property Group. I’m happy to be part of a company that supports its employees and fosters equality and diversity… I would like to encourage all women to be bold, always true to themselves and to persevere in pursuing their goals, because I believe that’s key to achieving success in any sector, regardless of gender. On the road to empowering women in the retail world, I will strive to be part of positive changes and to offer my support.

MAJA MARIĆ CPI Property Group, Country Operations Manager Serbia

I will strive to be part of positive changes and to support all ladies working in the dynamic world of retail

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LIFELONG LEARNING IS FUNDAMENTAL Engineering Software Lab has commemorated the first decade of its operations in Serbia. It now has almost 300 employees supporting the Group’s teams based in Italy in the segments of public administration, healthcare, DigiTech, finance and energy and utilities

GORDANA GLIŠIĆ MORGANTI Engineering Software Lab General Manager

hanks to my phenomenal team that achi­ eves exceptional results, we demonstrate how foreign investments can enable young engineers to remain in Serbia and contribute to building a new culture of producing IT services, says Engineering Software Lab General Manager Gordana Glišić Morganti, who personally proves that IT is no longer a typically male-dominated industry.

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Yo u r c o m p a ny h a s s h ow n that excellent results can be achieved through perseverance, enthusiasm and commitment.

Are you satisfied with what’s been achieved to date?

— Yes, that’s right: perseverance, enthusiasm and dedication are key factors of success, but belief in what you do is just as important.

A group like Engineering Group, operating in the domain of digital transformation, faces a highly competitive environment in its quest for resources with lots of talented people. Talent attraction therefore becomes a fundamental strategy to implement.

We are a strongly human-centred company, so we place particularly importance on our dedication

OUR ENGINEERS WORK AS PART OF MULTINATIONAL TEAMS, CONTRIBUTING TO THE OVERALL SUCCESS OF THE GROUP WITH THEIR WORK AND KNOWLEDGE 38

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

to every team member, and to supporting their development within the company. Constant professional and personal growth is a strong motivational factor to all.

As a company that employs nearly 15,000 people worldwide, how big is your team in Serbia?

What’s included in all the work your software engineers do in our country?

— Our Serbian company has now grown to almost 300 employees and works in several departments, which we call laboratories, supporting the Group’s teams based in Italy in the segments of public administration and healthcare, but also DigiTech, finance and energy and utilities. Digitech also assumes services to our Italian clients around SAP support.

This work is all enabled by our support teams in HR and general administration.

Our engineers work as part of multinational teams, mostly Italian, contributing to the overall success of the Group with their work and knowledge.

Does Engineering Software Lab serve as an example of how foreign investments can enable young engineers to remain in Serbia and contribute to building a new culture of producing IT services?

— I hope that we’ve managed to become an example to other companies. I can confirm that, with the training of young people for whom this was their first job, we have contributed actively to this particular cause. Hundreds of young people have passed through our threemonth school and have been employed since day one. For most of them, this was also the first professional door to be opened, so to speak, as they received a chance cordmagazine.com

to work in the IT sector for the first time. As we all know - and which is perhaps even more pronounced in this industry - landing a first job is the most difficult career move.

On the other hand, working closely with colleagues who belong to another culture, even though it is a culture that’s so close to ours, represents an additional advantage in overall professional and personal development within the diverse and inclusive organisational environment that we have.

You head a phenomenal team that achieves exceptional results. Have you transferred your own passion for lifelong learning to the members of your team? Do they learn from your experiences, your attitude towards clients, challenges etc.?

— Perhaps it would be better to ask them. I certainly have done my best to lead by example and to share the energy and passion I have for all that I have been working with.

What’s more, I am still learning!

Lifelong learning is fundamental and Engineering Software Lab invests in it heavily. Also, at least in my case, having an open mind, enthusiasm and dedication to the company and the people in it is something that brings a special sense of satisfaction that extends beyond financial recognition.

IT is no longer perceived as a typically male-dominated industry. Does that also apply at your company?

— The tech sector has historically been characterised by male dominance, and only in recent years have we started to observe a shift in this pattern. In our hiring process, we take into account the possession of adequate education, character traits and understanding of the corporate world. Although

gender plays a non-decisive role in the hiring process, more than 30% of Serbian women are employed, which is a good result compared to other countries. We are glad to see that talent and gender equality come hand in hand! We place a high priority on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, as we think that diversity can only make any team stronger and I firmly believe that

WE PAY ATTENTION TO COOPERATION WITH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PARK BELGRADE, THE ITALIAN EMBASSY, CONFINDUSTRIA SERBIA AND THE MIXED ITALIAN-SERBIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE this trend will only continue, especially now that remote work enables far more flexibility and lifestyle choices and options.

Within Serbia, how integrated or connected is your company with other Italian organisations? Do you see systemic support and is this also the way to promote business and talent in Serbia?

— Although we do not have a market in Serbia, because we are export-oriented, we can say that we pay attention to cooperation with Serbian institutions, such as Science and Technology Park Belgrade, and with Italian institutions like the Italian Embassy, Confindustria Serbia and the mixed Italian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce. Our next step is to establish or renew cooperation with the country’s most important colleges and universities.

Although gender plays a nondecisive role in the hiring process, more than

30% of Serbian women are employed, which is a good result compared to other countries

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CORPORATE

FOCUSED ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT With more than 4,000 products and the processing of more than three million kilograms of plastic annually, Roto ranks among the leading companies in the production of rotomoulding technology in Europe

DARJA MIHALIČ Member of the Managing Board at Roto Group

ll Roto products satisfy high standards of quality and functionality, while they are environmentally safe, have a modern design, a higher utility value and competitive prices. And it is thanks to these facts that the company is constantly considering the conquering of new markets.

A

Could it be said that your success is also a result of combining global experiences and local knowledge, as well as the dedication of employees?

— We are focused on investing in development and each week make a minimum of two new products for OEM partners. We also invest plenty in the development of products that represent our flagship products on the market. Those are mostly products from the programme of the wastewater treatment system. We ensure the growth of the group with at least 15 new partners each year, and by contracting the sale of several different products with existing partners. When our customer gets to know us and realises that they can source everything from us – from the development of production tools, via high-quality serial production, to the meeting of delivery deadlines - we then establish a longstanding partnership with them. And all

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you need to do after that is to respect what has been agreed and nurture relationships with people.

The company is composed of people.

If people understand one another, and if we also create positive energy and partnership relations between us, as suppliers and customers, then we have forged a real business that will last for a long time. People get attached to people, not to companies.

You have 10 companies with production operations in four European countries. How many women are among your employees and which positions do they occupy?

— Women are well represented in our group, and in the management of the Roto Group here we have three women and two men. Us three women lead the sectors of marketing and commercial activities, finances and IT, while our male colleagues are responsible for technology, production and product development. A large number of women in the group work in the commercial, legal services and accounting departments.

We’ve introduced many production innovations and transferred from conventional machines to electronics and robots,

EVERY LOST OPPORTUNITY IS NEVER TRULY LOST

thanks to which we’ve employed all women. Women are more precise in processing products, more responsible and tenacious.

Of the 600 workers employed by the entire group, 15% are women, which is a lot for production processes.

Is it time for expansion?

— It is always time for expansion, which depends on market coverage with a sales network and the cost of transportation. If we have successful distributors who work with dedication, as though they are employed by us, that provides excellent market coverage.

One example of a good sales network is North Macedonia. When we reached the point at which the high costs of transportation and the retail prices of products, formed in accordance with the purchasing power of consumers, did not cover operations, we realised that we couldn’t expand sales further without establishing production operations in North Macedonia. There could be no expansion on this market without that, while we would also struggle to launch new products without it.

We have quite good coverage on the markets of the former Yugoslavia, though it’s never enough for us, and our biggest investment when it comes to production is linked to Kenya, where we can achieve our greatest expansion. It is often difficult to decide how much to invest in which market and to evaluate whether everything will unfold according to plan.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

CORPORATE

NIRAS IP CONSULT GMBH

OVERCOMING INDUSTRY STEREOTYPES Breaking Barriers: Supported by E2E, Women Redefining the IT Landscape Despite Gender Disparities

n the dynamic landscape of the IT industry, prevailing stereotypes have long perpetuated the perception that it’s predominantly a male domain, though historical evidence contradicts this assumption. Aida King Lovelace, recognised today as the first programmer, was a woman. Despite Lovelace’s pioneering contributions, contemporary research from Trust Radius reveals a stark gender imbalance in IT engineering, with men constituting a substantial 80 per cent of the workforce. In this field, only one woman is found for every five male professionals, underscoring a significant gender disparity.

The IT sector today continues to grapple with substantial gender imbalances and entrenched stereotypes against women.

These stereotypes often steer women away from pursuing careers in IT, compelling them to explore other professions, mostly in the lower-paid domain of care and teaching. However, there’s an encouraging surge in women expressing interest in both technical and non-technical roles within the IT industry, signalling a positive labour market shift.

The ongoing Swiss supported “Education to Employment” (E2E) project is currently in its fourth cycle of work-based learning (WBL) programmes, supporting young individuals seeking employment.

Notably, this cycle witnesses a growing number of IT companies actively participating in the WBL programme by organising training courses for new employees.

Niš-based IT company Nistruct is one such firm that’s actively incorporating the E2E project into its capacity expansion initiative. In collaboration with the

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cordmagazine.com

career counsellors of the Job Info Centre Niš, within the framework of the ENECA organisation, an E2E local partner, Nistruct has extended opportunities for four young women to undergo training for four different IT occupations and subsequently join its IT team.

E2E adopts a gender-sensitive approach in conducting fundamental activities, such as career guidance and counselling, and WBL programmes. Through diverse work modalities, young individuals are supported in making career decisions that are aligned with their aspirations and characteristics, aiming to diminish the enduring influence of gender stereotypes in occupations.

HR Manager Jovana Pavlović sheds light on the success of this approach, emphasising the ambition of the young women and the alignment of their expectations with what the company could provide.

The company’s efforts to offer exceptional mentors, involve the trainees in internal projects and facilitate knowledge transfer

have left the trainees highly satisfied with the organisation.

After completing the WBL training, all four young women are now gainfully employed at Nistruct, contributing to roles ranging from junior iOS developer to junior QA tester. Reflecting on her WBL training for Junior IOS developer, Tamara Milovanović underscores the positive impact it had on her professional and personal development, emphasising the practical application of theoretical knowledge gained during formal education.

Marija Gajić stresses the importance of practical experience during her training for Junior Android developer, noting her successful adaptation to the work environment and the acquiring of valuable work experience. Nina Ćirić considers direct involvement in projects as the most valuable experience during her training for Junior Java developer, providing her with the opportunity to take on responsibilities and witness the tangible impact of her contributions.

The women’s new colleagues have noted that the successful integration of all four trainees into the team has added a vibrant energy to the company culture. Encouragingly, these young women report feeling equal to their male counterparts, signalling a shift in awareness regarding women in programming. The testimonies affirm that there are no discernible differences, stressing the evolving perception that programming is a profession like any other. Pavlović concludes that the most crucial aspect is to be knowledgeable, continually learning and embracing the dynamic nature of work, echoing the sentiment that defines the IT world itself.

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CORPORATE

TEAMWORK MAKES DREAMS COME TRUE Our interlocutor has worked in marketing since the start of her career and has advanced, step by step, from the position of marketing assistant to that of director, while she is today an advisor and consultant to two large and successful domestic companies: Telekom Srbija and Srbijavoz

DANIJELA GAŠPARAC Head of Market Research and CEO Advisor, Telekom Srbija; Marketing and Communication Consultant, Srbijavoz

We expect passenger numbers to have exceeded seven million in

2023, while just two years ago that number stood at around

2.7

million

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or Danijela Gašparac, one thing is certain: the future of marketing and doing business in general depends on understanding the real needs of customers and connecting with them, but also on the mastering of new skills and acquiring of new knowledge.

F

Someone who isn’t familiar with your career might wonder where you work and what you actually do... Let’s provide an explanation at the beginning of this interview...

—At Telekom Srbija I hold the position of Head of Marketing Research – CEO Advisor, while at Srbijavoz I am a Marketing and Communication Consultant. I’ve been working in marketing since the start of my career, and over the years I’ve built my career, step by step, from marketing assistant to the position of director, to today be an advisor and consultant at two very large and successful domestic companies. I would say that I’ve been very fortunate to receive opportunities to work with wonderful people and great experts and to learn from them. And I am still learning, every day, because the times in which we live constantly impose new challenges on us, demanding

the mastering of new skills and acquiring of new knowledge. I always try to convey what I’ve learned to my colleagues, because I believe that dreams always come true – through teamwork!

At the juncture when you rebranded Srbijavoz, little was known about the company, while in contrast Telekom Srbija is an undisputed market leader. The difference is big...

— I really like both brands. Telekom Srbija is the absolute leader in its industry, but we mustn’t forget that the telecommunications industry is one of the most dynamic, with perhaps the strongest competition.

As a market leader, Telekom Srbija is expected to be the first to recognise the latest trends and offer new products and services to the public.

Being ranked first is a privilege, an honour and a pleasure, but the most difficult thing is to retain that position and constantly raise the bar in terms of quality.

When it comes to Srbijavoz, we’ve achieved unbelievable results in just two years. We expect passenger numbers to have exceeded seven million in 2023, while just two years ago that number stood at around 2.7 million. The Soko [Falcon high-speed train] has become

a synonym for speed and comfort, which is why extra tickets are still being sought to travel the route between Belgrade and Novi Sad. With diligent work and a top-quality service, we achieved one of the most important tasks: bringing trains back into fashion.

You often emphasise that the future of marketing depends on inclusion and being connected to the real needs of customers.

Could it be said that women better recognise and define these needs because they are more sensitive than men?

— Marketing has long since extended beyond standard branding and advertising, so almost every task is handled by several teams: PR, creative, digital, sales and user support.

Today’s marketing messages are just a supplement to the most important goal, which is to listen and respond to the questions of consumers and users of services. We need to work together in order to create the best user experience, because that is today’s top priority and most important task. Women are certainly more sensitive, but gender isn’t important if in our work – and in life generally – we listen carefully, work diligently and strive every day to be better than yesterday.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

CORPORATE

EXCELLENCE IN REAL ESTATE CBS International is a leading real estate consultancy in Serbia with 37 licensed real estate agents, ten appraisers and over 4,500 clients. The company’s focus is on continuous improvement and growth

aintaining high standards through a professional approach and the dedication of our licensed agents ensures that we are continuously providing exceptional services tailored to the specific needs of our clients” stresses Mina Kalezić. “Our goal is not only to maintain but to go beyond expectations, especially in the approach of our experts, as that is what ultimately distinguishes excellent from well-done work”.

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Your local, reliable, and expert team in the Serbian market stands out from others by offering solutions, not just services. Can

the local market and adapting strategies that reflect and add value to the unique aspects of the Serbian real estate market.

We noticed that there are many m o re wo m e n t h a n m e n i n your Belgrade office, so we are interested in whether women are better in the real estate sector.

What female qualities in this business work to your advantage?

— In our team, diversity is a key value, and the presence of many women contributes to the diversity of perspectives thereto. Women are often recognized for their exceptional communication skills and multitasking abilities, which

WOMEN ARE OFTEN RECOGNIZED FOR THEIR EXCEPTIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND MULTITASKING ABILITIES, WHICH ARE INVALUABLE TRAITS IN THE REAL ESTATE SECTOR AND A TRUE FOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENT NEGOTIATING POWER you explain that a bit more?

What else makes you specific and different?

— Our team stands out by providing solutions tailored to the real needs of the clients. Instead of standard service formats, we focus on analysing individual requirements to provide the most efficient solutions fully customized to the client. Additionally, our advantage lies in a deep understanding of cordmagazine.com

are invaluable traits in the real estate sector and a true foundation for excellent negotiating power.

This combination contributes to a team spirit and the overall success of our office. It’s worth noting that there is an increasing number of women in the real estate world today. Just fifty years ago, the percentage of women in the industry was around 10%, whereas today, the global average is around

40%. In our company, women account for around 60%.

The real estate sector in Serbia has been experiencing its boom for several years now. Will this strong development activity in all market segments continue in 2024?

— Current trends indicate stability and the potential for further continuous growth in the real estate sector in Serbia. We expect this strong construction activity to persist in 2024, supported by economic factors, demand growth, and new trends in diversification of potfolios of investors, in line with the maturity of our market. Unlike some neighbouring European markets, the Serbian real estate market is far from saturation, historically balancing construction activity and supply volumes with the demand in all segments, from residential to office, retail, logistics, and industrial spaces. This leaves enormous potential for further growth. Our team is ready to adapt to changes and continue to provide top-notch services in the dynamic real estate environment. All these elements make us a leader in the real estate market, always ready for new challenges and record-breaking results in the future.

MINA KALEZIĆ Partner I Sales & Marketing Director, CBS International

In our company, women account for around

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OPINION

THE HIDDEN GENDER WEALTH GAP As important as equal pay and other labourmarket advances for women have been, progress towards economic parity with men remains tenuous and incomplete. As inequality becomes less about wages and more about wealth, women once again find themselves facing profound structural disadvantages

By Céline Bessière, Professor of Sociology at Paris Dauphine University, and Sibylle Gollac is a research fellow in sociology at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)

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his year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Claudia Goldin, is an optimist at heart. Some might say that she needs to be. After all, her research on long-term trends in economic inequality between men and women has demonstrated, time and again, that progress for women is anything but linear. Goldin’s now-famous “U-shaped curve” shows that women in the United States were pushed out of many occupations during the 19th century, such that later generations then had to spend the 20th century regaining lost ground.

If it happened before, could it not happen again? As a quote often attributed to French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir advises, “Never forget that it only takes a single political, economic, or religious crisis for women’s rights to be called into question.”

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EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

Nonetheless, Goldin believes that wealthy countries are on the cusp of what she calls the “last chapter” of the “grand gender convergence.” This could be achieved, she contends, through a combination of changes at work (eliminating “greedy” jobs that demand availability during evenings and weekends) and at home (through equal sharing of housework and caregiving). Now that women are free to make the same career choices as men, these advances could reduce the earnings gap to zero.

Yet as overdue as such changes are, our own work suggests that they will not be enough to reduce economic inequality between men and women. Even if women do someday get equal pay for equal work, they will continue to lag men, becordmagazine.com

WE URGENTLY NEED NEW STUDIES IN HISTORY, SOCIOLOGY AND ECONOMICS TO UNDERSTAND THE FULL SCALE AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE GENDER WEALTH GAP cause economic inequality today is increasingly about wealth, not wages.

MONEYED MEN

Wealth is the term social scientists use to qualify what others refer to as capital, assets, property, estates, or patrimony.

It is, simply put, a store of value. And as French economist Thomas Piketty and

his team have shown, wealth inequality is a central and defining characteristic of contemporary capitalism. According to their 2022 World Inequality Report, the wealthiest 10% of households own more than three-quarters (76%) of global wealth, whereas the bottom 50% own a mere 2%. While privileged social classes monopolise wealth and strive to preserve it from one generation to the next, most others are persistently deprived of it.

Although Piketty’s work has become part of mainstream thinking, pioneering statistical studies have demonstrated the extent to which wealth inequality is also gendered. For example, a German study based on data from 2002 to 2012 identified a significant gender wealth gap not

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only between single men and single women, but also within unmarried and married couples.

S i m i l a r ly, e c o n o m i s t s N i c o l a s Frémeaux and Marion Leturcq have shown that France’s gender wealth gap has widened steadily in favour of men, rising from 9% in 1998 to 16% in 2015.

They have also found that men systematically own more capital than women, whether it be housing, land, or financial and professional assets. Notably, the gap was modest between working-class men and women (as neither partner accumulates much wealth), and much wider in the upper income cohorts.

This gap has remained hidden and underappreciated, largely because it is difficult to document. In most countries, wealth data are collected by household

(either through surveys or tax filings), rather than at the level of individuals.

With equal ownership in households usually presumed, the standard approach tends to mask the reality of power dynamics concerning the control of assets. These obstacles help to explain the absence of gender as a variable even in Piketty’s 700page magnum opus, Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

So, how does one estimate the individual wealth of a man or a woman when they jointly own property as a couple, and when most surveys group together everyone living under the same roof? As sociologists working on the topic for the past 20 years, we found a way around this difficulty: namely, by focusing on the extraordinary moments when couples break up and family estates are

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transferred to next of kin. That is when power dynamics come to light, revealing who really controls and benefits from family wealth.

FOR RICHER OR POORER

Obviously, part of the gender wealth gap is linked to what happens on the labour market. The diverging careers and unequal earnings that Goldin studies imply that it is easier for men to put money aside. But nowadays, an individual’s wealth comes less from what he or she has personally accumulated, and more from what he or she has received, usually through inheritance.

We find that the gender wealth gap takes root in the family, where it is tacitly reproduced by men and women as they carry out the roles of spouses and partners, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters. But it is also reinforced by legal professionals – lawyers, judges, notary publics, and others – who tend to condone an unequal sharing of wealth between siblings or former spouses.

And, of course, women are socially conditioned to accept these unequal outcomes, often in the name of preserving familial peace or ensuring the maintenance and transmission of the family’s social status.

The perpetuation of gender hierarchies thus goes hand in hand with the reproduction of social class. Consider the 2019 divorce between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the novelist MacKenzie Scott. The couple’s net worth was over $130 billion, including 16% of Amazon’s stock. Since the divorce laws in Washington State, where the couple resided, stipulate that

NOWADAYS, AN INDIVIDUAL’S WEALTH COMES LESS FROM WHAT HE OR SHE HAS PERSONALLY ACCUMULATED, AND MORE FROM WHAT HE OR SHE HAS RECEIVED, USUALLY THROUGH INHERITANCE

all assets acquired during marriage must be divided into two equal parts, some Amazon shareholders feared what would happen to the company if Scott claimed the half to which she was legally entitled.

But a few months after the decision to divorce, Scott announced that she was, “Happy to be giving him all my interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, and 75% of our Amazon stock plus voting control of my shares to support his continued contributions with the teams of these incredible companies.” After two decades of researching the topic, we have found such outcomes to be fairly common. When couples break up, men tend to keep ownership of “structuring assets” such as land, real estate, or companies, while women receive cash payments (if anything). Even when women do keep productive assets, they are usually the least profitable ones.

PRIVILEGED SONS

Gendered wealth inequality is also revealed – and reproduced – at the moment of inheritance. Consider the case of a middle-class family in the southwest of France. When bakery owner Marcelle Pilon retired in 1992, she had to choose a successor to the family business. A widow of 15 years, she decided to give the business, and the large house attached to it, to her 43-year-old son Pierre, who had been working with her making pastry.

But Pierre had three sisters, and French law technically requires that inheritances be equally shared. To circumvent this condition, Marcelle arranged for each of her daughters to receive some real estate, too; but since these assets were much less valuable than the bakery and the house, it was agreed that Pierre would provide his sisters with free bread and pastries, daily, for the next ten years. In the event, the deal was scrupulously upheld under the watchful eye of the heirs’ mother, who made sure that each baguette and croissant was duly delivered.

But not only did this arrangement imply that the daughters must live near the family bakery to collect their daily bread; it also left other undeclared transfers in the shadows. In fact, Pierre had already previously received from his parents a pastry business – worth almost €100,000 ($107,000) – which was later merged with the family

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

MORE THAN AT ANY TIME IN THE PAST CENTURY, OWNING WEALTH HAS BECOME THE KEY NOT ONLY TO ACCESSING INCREASINGLY EXPENSIVE HIGHER EDUCATION, HOUSING AND HEALTHCARE, BUT ALSO TO SECURING CREDIT, SELF-EMPLOYMENT, OR INCOME bread bakery. But no one had bothered to mention that to the authorities.

The justification for this apparent favouritism was that the parents had paid for their daughters’ higher education, while Pierre had gone to work for the family business. Yet when one of us asked the sisters directly about the fairness of the arrangement, they challenged the official

version. In reality, they said, they had financed their education mainly through scholarships and had worked for free at one time or another in their parents’ shop, whereas Pierre had immediately been given a wage and a percentage of pastry sales. The sisters had legitimate grievances, but they dared not file a legal claim.

Maintaining the family business and preserving the peace had priority over considerations of fairness between the siblings.

THE ASSET ECONOMY

All of this matters because we have left the era when livelihoods depended primarily on wages and welfare provisions. We have entered what sociologists Lisa Adkins, Melinda Cooper, and Martijn Konings call the “asset economy.” More than at any time in the past century, owncordmagazine.com

ing wealth has become the key not only to accessing increasingly expensive higher education, housing and healthcare, but also to securing credit, self-employment, or income. In uncertain times characterised by precarious work and disappearing safety nets, the ability to build wealth has gained existential importance.

The goal of feminist empowerment is to teach women to act as autonomous economic agents. Yet now that income is increasingly valued less than wealth, women stand to lose the most once again. Far from being merely a topic for academic study and debate, this broad shift has profound implications for women’s everyday lives. It tells us that working-class single mothers will continue to face daunting choices and hardships for themselves and their children; and it means that business ventures will remain the preserve of men.

Even romantic prospects may once again be matched with economic considerations. As British economist Peter Kenway notes, we could soon see a “Jane Austen-style marriage market, as millennials without an inheritance try to partner up with millennials who stand to inherit a house.” Indeed, the gender wealth gap affects all conjugal life, because men’s wealth advantages reinforce their power to make lifestyle choices (such as where to live) that may affect their spouses’ or partners’ professional careers. Worse, in cases of domestic violence, it is well known that financial dependence can prevent women from leaving.

All these inequalities are revealed and reinforced through break-ups – which are increasingly common – and widowhood, which more often affects women, given their longer average lifespans and tendency to be somewhat younger than their male partners. As more and more couples choose to separate their assets (either by

living in marriage-like relationships or by signing prenuptial agreements), widows are less protected than before. Gendered wealth inequality thus threatens to usher in a future of women who are burdened in old age, dependent on pensions that generally pay less than men’s, and with little, if any, wealth.

MORE GOLDINS, PLEASE

Goldin’s work captured the essence of an era in which the gender employment and wage gap was gradually narrowed – especially in the more prestigious professions – owing to policies and technologies that improved the labour market and strengthened women’s reproductive rights. Yet as Goldin herself points out, there is still much to be achieved, and past progress can be easily undone, as demonstrated by the recent restrictions (many of which are tantamount to outright bans) on abortion in the U.S. Looking ahead, policymakers and researchers will need to start addressing the gender wealth gap before our societies revert to the kind of inequalities that characterised the 19th century. That means focusing on dynamics not only on the labour market or on Wall Street, but also within households and families.

We urgently need new studies in history, sociology and economics in to understand the full scale and implications of the gender wealth gap. Just as Goldin recoded an impressive mass of 18th- and 19th-century archival data to show that women listed merely as “wives” could in fact be considered “workers,” we need researchers to lift the veil on household wealth. What share do women actually control? If we are ever going to fix the problem, we first need an army of Goldins to document and describe it.

Ironically, precisely when women in many countries have become more educated than men, and have secured the right to access any occupation at the same pay as their male counterparts, the locus of economic inequality has shifted. Wealth is what matters most now, and the deck is stacked against women once again.

Another French philosopher, Albert Camus (also a Nobel laureate), famously wrote that “one must imagine Sisyphus happy.” In fact, one must imagine Sisyphus a woman.

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CAMPAIGN: 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE the creating and promoting of an international exhibition dedicated to the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Europe.

PANEL DISCUSSION EXHIBITION Rewomen – European Women’s Remembrance Under the auspices of the campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, an exhibition entitled ‘REWOMEN – European Women’s Remembrance’ opened on 23rd November at the EU Info Centre in Belgrade and included the presenting of a mural by Serbian street artist Jana Danilović.

“Through this exhibition, the history of the struggle of women for their civil and political rights, such as the right to inheritance, voting rights, the right to express a political opinion, is presented. We today take many of these rights for granted, but what we’re primarily striving for is the right to freedom from violence. According to the latest statistics of the UN, 89,000 women were victims of domestic violence last year. This is just the official statistic, while the real numbers are higher,” said Plamena Halacheva, deputy head of the EU Delegation to Serbia.

The REWOMEN project commemorated the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights of the European Union through

LECTURES “Women Create – Incentivising Conversations” Interested residents of Niš were able to hear considerations of various social topics, as well as the promotion of equality and human rights, under the scope of the lecture “Orange the World” by writer and cultural activist Marija Ratković. The lecture took place on 29th November under the auspices of the campaign “Wom-

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Kragujevac Joins “Stop Femicide” Campaign According to UN statistics, every third woman in the world experiences physical or sexual violence during their lifetime, while 27 cases of femicide were recorded in Serbia just in the period from

ernment’s policy of zero tolerance of violence.

“The ‘Stop Femicide’ campaign should awaken and encourage citizens to recognise and report violence against women in an effort to prevent potentially tragic outcomes. A total of 300 women have been murdered in Serbia over the last ten years, which is why it is essential to work on changing the climate, on strengthening institutions and on multi-sector cooperation,” said Miroslav Petrašinović, member of the Provisional Authority of the City of Kragujevac.

ANNOUNCEMENT State Creates a Secure Environment On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and President of the Coordinating Body for Gender Equality, Maja Gojković, pointed out

January to July 2023 – as announced at a panel discussion held in Kragujevac as part of the “Stop Femicide” campaign, organised by the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, within the scope of the German Development Cooperation project “Support to Social Inclusion in Serbia”.

The aim of the “Stop Femicide” campaign is to raise awareness of the dangers of femicide in society, and to that end it mobilises all public bodies, civil society organisations and others in the implementation of the Serbian Gov-

that gender-based violence against women and its most extreme consequence – femicide – require the joint, multisector and coordinated work of state institutions, international partners, the non-gov-

en create – incentivising conversations” and organised by EU Info Point Niš.

The organisers emphasised how Ratković utilises her engaged approach to courageously break down stereotypes and explore discriminatory aspects of reality. Standing out in particular is her illuminating of different aspects of the existence and emotionality of the female being.

Her voice is strong and sharp, providing support to all women and representing their rights in different spheres of life The event provided attendees with opportu-

nities to familiarise themselves with Maria’s literary work, pose questions, discover more about her creative ideas and humanitarian engagement, and to participate actively in discussions encompassing a wide range of topics.

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

ernmental sector and the media, in order to create a secure environment for all Serbian citizens. Gojković noted that the state has done a lot over the previous period when it comes to the issue of the legislative and strategic framework, as well as the strengthening of interdepartmental coordination, but that further work on prevention remains essential.

“The fact is that women suffer various forms of violence before femicide occurs. As such, my message today is also: report violence. Don’t stay silent if you know that violence against women is happening in your surroundings; this is not a private problem, as violence impacts society as a whole. We can’t talk about having achieved gender equality and ensured the wellbeing of women and girls as long as a certain number of them continue suffering violence and remain at risk of femicide,” concluded Gojković.

CONFERENCE Right to Inheritance – paving the way to gender equality and halting violence Speaking at the conference ‘Right to Inheritance – paving the way to gender equality and halting violence’, which was held in Belgrade on 28th November 2023, Milana Rikanović, director of the UN Women Office in Serbia, which is responsible for promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, announced that research of Serbia’s Republic Geodetic Authority showed that women own just 25 per cent of all property assets in Serbia, while women are

the owners of a paltry six per cent of all real estate in the country.

“If you look among total assets at real estate alone, women actually possess just a quarter of that 25 per cent. Women earn less, are represented less on the labour market and do more unpaid work.

The economic independence of women is extremely important,” noted Rikanović.

The results of research show that approximately 36 per cent of women would renounce their right to property in favour of men, while only 19 per cent of men would do the same for women. A whopping 84 per cent of respondents stated that they were unaware of the fact that they will be unable to receive social assistance if they relinquish their property assets.

According to the assessment of Equality Protection Commissioner Brankica Janković, the consequences of renouncing property are reflected in economic inequality that develops into violence and escalates further into femicide.

EXHIBITION “16 Women” The Embassy of Sweden in Belgrade, in cooperation with photography school Fabrika Fotografa and Aleksandar Crnogorac,

SURVEY What women (50+) in Serbia want Under the auspices of the campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, the Red Cross of Serbia, with the support of the White Ribbon Alliance, surveyed 4,860 women aged over 45, with an emphasis on women aged over 65. The survey, which encompassed residents of more than 30 municipalities in Serbia, related primarily to the right to health and access to healthcare services, with spe-

cordmagazine.com

organised a photography exhibition entitled “16 Women”, which was unveiled on Monday, 11th December, in the Hall of the Cultural Centre of Belgrade.

The exhibition presents portraits of 16 women from Serbia’s public life who give their support to all women who have survived or face psychological violence in various forms.

The exhibition’s aim is to draw attention to this type of abuse that often remains invisible and unrecognised, but also to encourage women to pluck up the courage and strength to resist it. The

exhibition also has the aim of spreading awareness of the importance of the struggle to combat violence against women and promoting gender equality and human rights.

All exhibited photos were taken by students of the Fabrika Fotografa photography school, members of the Photography Lovers Club, under the mentorship of Aleksandra Popović Petković and Aleksandar Crnogorac. The exhibition, which forms part of the global campaign “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence”, will remain open to visitors until 11th January 2024.

cial effort exerted to also cover rural areas where access to services tends to be aggravated. Older women expressed a need for more regular systematic checkups, more information related to menopause, but also more information on mental health protection, which demonstrates that they are aware of how valuable preventative healthcare is when it comes to preserving their health as they enter old age.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign ran until 10th December 2023.

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OPINION

HOW A MAN’S WORLD SYSTEMATICALLY NEGLECTS WOMEN When half the global population is treated as an afterthought, research is less accurate, policy is less effective, and welfare is diminished.

That is why accounting explicitly for women must become the norm in every sphere of research, product design, tech, and policy

By Navika Mehta Economist-Editor at the International Economic Association

he existence of “women’s issues” reflects the simple fact that we live in a man’s world. Over the course of centuries, research and policies focused on men became the default, whereas initiatives that account for women are “women-centered.” But if men are treated as the default, virtually no aspect of women’s lives ends up being built or optimized for them. Research that excludes women is not simply “ge n d e r- n e u t r a l ” – i t i s “incomplete.”

The consequences can be deadly. For example, women are 73% more likely to be injured, and 17% more likely to die, in vehicle crashes than men. One rea-

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son for this is that the crash-test dummies used in vehicle-safety trials are designed to mimic the body of an average man. “Female” dummies were not even developed until last year, and regulators still do not require that they be included in vehicle-safety research.

Personal protective equipment, like that used by healthcare workers, is also optimized for male bodies, with dimensions staying the same even as items are scaled down for women users. In a 2020 survey of British health-care workers, 44.7% of women found PPE overalls ill-fitting, compared to just 15.3% of men. In a recent survey in Canada, more than 80% of women respond-

ents reported issues with PPE. Similarly, the “unisex” body armor used by police officers is designed for men, leaving women both uncomfortable and potentially more vulnerable to attack, especially around the armpit and neck.

In the United Kingdom, where 50,000 women now serve as police officers, women-specific body armor was not introduced until this year.

While women are no longer excluded from clinical-drug trials, they continue to be underrepresented, particularly in the trials’ early phases.

As a result, women still face a higher risk of adverse side effects from medication, not least because recommended

doses are not optimized for women. An analysis of studies in which women were given the same drug dosage as men showed that, in more than 90% of cases, women experienced stronger side effects and more adverse reactions.

That analysis arose from the observation that women taking Ambien, a sleep medication, were experiencing severe side effects, including a higher rate of traffic accidents the morning after. As it turned out, researchers found, the recommended dose produced much higher blood concentrations and drug-elimination times in women than in men.

The US Food and Drug Administration now recommends

EMPOWERED WOMEN 2024

attack. That same app might suggest that a woman is experiencing depression and thus does not need urgent care, even though women are hardly immune to heart attacks.

LIKE MOST OF THE OTHER ISSUES ADDRESSED BY THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS, THE EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING, INCLUDING CLIMATE-RELATED DISASTERS, DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECT WOMEN

that women receive half the “standard” dose.

Making matters worse, when it comes to health issues that primarily affect women, research tends not to be funded at all. In nearly 75% of cases where a disease primarily affects one sex, the pattern favors men: “men’s diseases” are overfunded, and “women’s diseases” are underfunded.

Women’s needs also take a backseat to men’s when it comes to tackling sexual violence. Because women are overwhelmingly the victims of such crimes, preventing sexual violence is treated entirely as a “women’s issue” – one that has no consequences for cordmagazine.com

men, even though they comprise the majority of perpetrators. Policies are so focused on the victims – for example, improving outdoor lighting, establishing helplines, and creating “safe spaces” – that the source of the violence is never addressed.

Likewise, health-related data have been collected primarily from men, which poses serious risks as artificial intelligence trained on such data is applied in health care. For example, if a man reports pain in his left arm and back, a medical app – trained on data establishing cardiovascular disease as a predominantly male issue – will recommend that he seek help for a potential heart

AI has the potential to harm women in other ways, too. In 2015, Amazon scrapped its AI recruiting tool for exhibiting bias against women. Having “learned” to assess applications by observing patterns in resumes submitted over the previous decade – resumes that had come overwhelmingly from men – the computer model rated male candidates more highly. This should not be surprising, given women account for only 12% of AI researchers and 6% of software developers. Several other companies that continue to use AI software for recruitment do not monitor it for bias.

Despite considerable evidence showing that advances toward gender equality play an important role in driving economic progress, analysis focusing solely on macro aspects of growth disregards gender. Ignoring the fact that government spending, taxation, and monetary policy have different consequences

for men and women can lead to flawed economic assessments, undermining the effectiveness of policies and the accuracy of forecasts.

For example, women’s unpaid labor as primary caregivers is unaccounted for in macroeconomic policy. Tasks like cooking, cleaning, fetching water, and caring for children and the elderly have substantial economic value, accounting for between 10-60% of GDP. As a result of gender-blind analysis, women are overworked and underpaid.

Increasing the share of women in the workforce needs to be accompanied by policies that reduce and redistribute this unpaid labor.

Consider the debate over India’s economic prospects. With India having recently overtaken China in population, some analysts predict that it will also surpass China in economic growth. But, as Ashwini Deshpande and Akshi Chawla explain, this works only if the population increase is reflected the workforce, and in India, low female labor-force participation limits the effect.

Gender plays a crucial role in countless other policy areas, including the single biggest challenge of our time: climate change. Like most of the other issues addressed by the Sustainable Development Goals, the effects of global warming, including climate-related disasters, disproportionately affect women.

When half the global population is treated as an afterthought, research is less accurate, policy is less effective, and human welfare is diminished. That will not change until accounting explicitly for women becomes the norm in every sphere of research, product design, tech, and policy.

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CHANGING THE STEREOTYPES TO PARITY

We can do a great deal to change mindsets through working with partners on changing the stereotypes of men and women that appear in advertising, marketing and many forms of media and entertainment. Something as simple as changing the numbers of women who are depicted in advertising as professionals, rather than only as carers, can make an important contribution to changing what we regard as normal – and to shape a more ambitious future.