International Women’s day - An interview with Rabia Awan

Rabia Awan - Senior HR Consultant - Tech and Media

1. Can you tell me about what you do?

I am currently an HR consultant- working mainly in the Tech and Media space 

2. What are your main responsibilities and achievements?

As an HR consultant, I tend to move around quite a bit focusing on short term, quick turn around HR  projects. A lot of my work is focused around restructuring, employment law / ER casework, recruitment, team and leadership building / development. 

3. Did you always want to work for a Technology (Fintech)Firm?

I have a natural interest in all things tech related. So combining both my passion for HR with my love for Technology, I feel it has been a bit of a conscious decision on my side to work in Tech firms. I revel in Tech environments and find them easy to understand and immerse myself into. FinTech in particular excites me because it is an area which  is continually growing and changing our lives. What really interest me about Tech environments in general is the people you end up working with. Highly creative, highly smart and entrepreneurial ….because technology is forever changing and progressing, these businesses along with their people are also on that same journey of progression. It’s a very unique situation.

4. Do you think there is a lack of women in senior HR positions?

I think there was and to some extent still is… but times are changing...though not quick enough.

HR is one of the few fields where women are more dominant in leadership roles (especially now, as when I first started out in my career, generally the HR team would consist of 99% women but the leader would always be a man).

I have seen changes throughout my career and more women are feeling encouraged and empowered enough to ask for that promotion or apply for that senior role, but it’s very much still led by the individual and not the wider business initiatives. I’d like to see this empowerment pushed by the business where women feel they have just as many rights as their male counterparts to be in a leadership role and that there is a seat at the table for them and they are encouraged to get there.

We still have many barriers to cross and I sometimes worry about the dangers of some businesses  placing female leaders into senior roles to almost tick a box. The hiring of women into senior roles is bigger than just making a female senior hire. The business needs to live and breathe their diversity and inclusion initiatives and break the cycle they have have been stuck in previously. We need to look beyond the norms and have a genuine appetite to reshape what leadership teams look like and that’s not by just hiring women but a broad range of backgrounds. 

As society changes and we have more female role models and women are challenging their male counterparts harder …so although we still have a long way to go - and there has definitely been a slow shift and we are moving in the right direction

5. What barriers have you faced, as a woman, in becoming successful in your field? How did you overcome them?

As a consultant - in my career I’ve been in situations where I have had to challenge an all-boys club of leaders. I have been in businesses where there is a clear power struggle between men and women, and it’s taught me a lot of resilience. 

Early in my career,  in male dominated environments, I sometimes felt I had to work twice as hard to be heard or have my views respected  just because I am a woman. The expectation was to be the quiet nurturing, maternal one. I used to worry that if I challenge back it would break this view, and would instead come across as too harsh, argumentative or emotional. Words I would hear other female leaders being described as when they would challenge back . Therefore, when I did challenge my male colleagues, I found myself apologising a lot or trying to tone it down or worse…say nothing at all and keep my thoughts to myself.

But now I’m older and wiser -  I am unapologetically not afraid to challenge.  I have done this by remaining professional in my approach, learning the businesses I work with and arming myself with knowledge and staying true to what I believe. I have also stop  myself each time I question how I might come across to my male counterparts just because I am the only woman in the room. I tell myself If believe in what I am saying or doing then ultimately I am staying true to myself therefore I will be heard.

6. Is there anyone (male or female) that inspires you in your career?

I’m really lucky to have worked with some of the most amazing  businesses and leaders both male and female. I have worked with real role models such as Jennie Jacobs who was Head if HR at Sky at the time and  Jacquie Leitch – Head of People at Ocado. Both taught me what it means to be comfortable in your skin and not to second guess yourself. Their leadership just came naturally to them.

I equally won’t forget the amazing male leaders I have worked with from my first HR mentor Mike Minchinton (HR lead for the HS1 project at the time) who taught me so many valuable lessons both around business and just empathy when working in a people focused role. He was great at allowing you to find your way through something and learning from it, he allowed me to question and to learn from him freely and I am grateful he was my first HR leader and Mentor so early on in my career and he has helped shape the way I see HR to this day. And more recently Neil Radley (CEO at Jaja Finance)  who took me under his wing, openly shared valuable knowledge with me, and always made me feel part of the bigger picture. 

7.How important is it for women to lift each other up and what does that mean to you?

I think as a society, women have  been programmed to see other women as a threat. When a male leader is promoted, he brings all the boys with him. Yet when a female leader is promoted, as women…we are almost programmed to believe there was only one spot at the table for a woman and there are no more spots for any more women… and if we do try and make one then we might lose ours. So you either give up your place to another woman or you fight for it (by letting  another women down). 

I think we are programmed to see the world like this because we have not seen enough women in senior roles. So,  we immediately think it’s not the norm to have so many women at a certain level. We think “it just doesn’t happen” but we must ask ourselves why doesn’t is happen and why can’t it happen, and this is how we lift each other up. We make room for another woman to stand beside us in our achievements and we bring them on the journey with us. 

The more women we see in leadership roles the more it will feel like the norm and the more we will reprogram ourselves to bring other women to the top with us and not see them as a threat.

I think over time women have caught onto this and are increasingly mentoring other women or making way for their fellow female colleagues. We should not be afraid to speak up for other women and encourage other women – it does not make us weak to do so – it actually makes us stronger. Being able to stand up to something you see unfit takes strength.

But I still feel we have a long way to go in reprogramming how we think towards other women too so we are part of the solution and not the problem

8. On International Women’s Day what is the most important message you want to send out to young women starting their career today? 

My niece is now at the age where she is starting to question what she wants to do career wise after education and I always start by asking her what she enjoys in her personal life and what is she passionate about? 

So as cliché as this sounds ... I would advise young women to just be themselves, find their own voice and do not be afraid to use it.

I would advise them not to second guess themselves in a room full of men just because you are the only women there and not to feel the need to play their femininity down in any way. Embrace it. 

I would advise them to learn passionately, question deeply and share your knowledge openly with other women.

I would advise them to stick together (Because when women stick together – amazing things happen) but to also include their male colleagues, so that we are learning from each other rather than remaining ignorant to our challenges, this is the only way we will see a change for future generations. 

Do not focus solely on your gender because of do then it can be paralysing to your career. Instead just be you and the best version of you to both men and women equally. The best leaders I’ve worked with have been those who are most comfortable in their skin. Find what you are passionate about and revel in it.. push yourself into situations that make you uncomfortable and allow yourself to learn…. And don’t be too hard on yourself.