Those holding up half sky want equal recognition

It's great for women to seek and enjoy power in the workplace, but they also need to enjoy the rest of their lives and find balance between the two, a human resources expert said.

"Women need to believe that they can be leaders and develop their executive presence at work," said Wang Dazheng, former HR manager of Philips Beijing.

"They can be a big woman at work, but when they go home they need to be a little woman, be less mighty and enjoy life."

Wang made his remarks at a conference in Beijing on Thursday titled Power: Opening Doors for Women. It was put on by Power, an organization set up 10 years ago to promote and develop women leaders. It does this by providing educational opportunities for women at all career levels to meet their peers, industry experts and opinion leaders in four cities in the United States and two in China.

Deirdre Joy Smith, founder and president of Power, said thousands of businesswomen have taken part in the group's activities, including the US First Lady Michelle Obama.

The event in Beijing attracted hundreds of Chinese and Western women leaders. Topics included developing the executive presence of professional women; the significance of and challenges and solutions to empowering women leaders in changing times; and how to achieve a work-life balance through effective personal growth and professional development.

Although women are better educated and better paid than they used to be, gender inequality is still far from having been stamped out, and the wealth gap between men and women is increasing, participants said.

Leta Hong Fincher, a writer who has done a lot of research on Chinese women, said she believes that since reform and opening up began in China more than 30 years ago, inequality between the sexes has resurged.

"After the founding of the New China in 1949, there was a certain time when Chinese thought women could hold up half of the sky. Since reform and opening up began, women have enjoyed better education and incomes, but that is not celebrated. For example, women who choose not to marry are insultingly branded 'leftovers'."

Zhao Jing, CEO of ChinaWise, a business advisory firm in Chicago that helped introduce Power to China, said that, as a businesswoman and a mother of three, she realizes it is never easy to develop women's leadership. Rather than seeing that challenge as a sprint or a marathon, it would be better to see it as a relay, with women passing on their strength and techniques to other women, she said.