On the occasion of International Women Day, The Brussels Times launches 'Women of power', a series of interviews of women holding high profile roles in the public and private sectors that have the power to change society. For the first article of this series, Florence Raes, Director of UN Women Brussels Office, walks us through her experience as an agent of change.
Proud of her humble background from the Belgian countryside yet being the first in her family to graduate from university, Florence felt the urge to care for others since an early age. First by dreaming of becoming a surgent, then working as a researcher at the University of Brussels and finally working in international development, Florence has always believed in succeeding through education, but was soon aware of the inequalities and injustice, especially between countries: “when you go to a favela in Brazil, you see people that are born in a reality similar to the one you are born into yourself, but you realised that the access to good education that has led you to grow out of poverty is not an option for everyone.” Caring for others, this sense of caring beyond one own family or oneself, has always been something unconsciously present in Florence’s life.
What does the idea of power mean to you?
“Power is not an ugly word. On the contrary, power is an energy, an energy to bring people together towards a common good. Power should not simply be associated with force, instead it should be a synonym for leadership and one own inner capacity: power is an energy to be shared collectively with others in order to create a legacy for the future and allow others to continue to thrive. This, indeed, leads us to the importance of relationships and to the need of caring for one another.”
What is the achievement you are most proud of?
“At the beginning of my career, I thrived to change the world, to contribute to making the world a better place; this is why, I moved to South America to work in international development programmes and be involving in the promotion of women voices and women participation in every aspect of life, like women in the neighbourhood. However, through my career, this has changed: now, I feel that if I can change one person’s life, it is already an achievement to be proud of.
“An example that comes to mind is Raquelina Langa, a 10th grade student in Mozambique. While working for UN Women in Mozambique, the Secretary General of the United Nations came to visit; this of course was a big event for the UN agencies there. Among the many commitments, it was organised that he would visit a school, which promoted the elimination of violence against girls. Raquelina was selected to ask some questions to the Secretary General, that at the time was Ban Ki-moon. Raquelina asked ‘Can a girl like me become Secretary-General?’ Impressed by the question, he invited Raquelina to visit the UN Headquarters in New York as his special guest for a day.
“So Raquelina goes to New York, meet with Ban Ki-moon and his team and learn how to become Secretary General. But most importantly she sees a new world of opportunities, not just for her but for a whole generation of girls living in rural Africa. Unfortunately, Raquelina passed away a few years later. But for a brief moment her life changed and her eyes were opened: her legacy lives on in the people that met her and all the other girls who she advocated for in Mozambique. Briefly changing Raquelina’s life is probably the achievement I am most proud of.”
How does the gender gap influence your day-to-day thinking about your jobs?
“It influence my day-to-day thinking enormously. When you start looking at the world through the glass of gender gap, then you see it everywhere, you see it all the time, you see it in everything. Look for example at gender-sensitive procurements: do we source from the same number of companies led by women as well as led by men?
Florence Raes
If you start looking through this lens, you see omni-present inequalities; and according to research, we are still 170 years away from achieving equality between men and women. This is a long time and it is important to not become bitter, but instead keep hope for girls and continue working with women.
“In my role of representative of UN Women, I look at everything through the gender gap lens, and I know the importance of supporting activities to narrow the gender gap. Indeed, cutting down on development cooperation is shooting ourself in the foot: it is a very short term sight because you will not be able to thrive on your own, instead the whole of society must be involved in shaping the future.”
What are the leadership challenges that are unique to women?
“The most pressing leadership challenge that is unique to women is surely combining private and public priorities; even among my friends’ families here in Brussels, all very progressive with super husbands or dads, you can still see that those where the men do 50-50 or even more is very rare. It is true that men help more at home now, but we still continue seeing women interrupting their careers because of family commitment. It is still culturally challenging for women to choose between their private life and a leadership role. This has a huge impact on society, even in terms of pensions and economics. And this is another example of the importance of the participation of women in decision making, sometimes men simply do not think about the logistical challenges of dealing with a young family.”
What can society learn from the women who have made it to the top?
“Society can learn a lot from these women. Unfortunately, the world is still dominated by a male culture, but society is made of men and women. So the key word here is diversity; indeed, diversity makes society richer at so many levels: not only at social level, but also in business, in creativity, even for the national GDPs. Enabling women and girls represents the single biggest opportunity for human development and economic growth.
“By looking at women who have made it to the top, society can learn that stereotypes can be broken, that what we once believed to be mainstream roles can be transformed. This can launch humanity in a completely different trajectory leading to a more rich and fruitful societies.
“What is important for me in my role and in general,” concludes Florence, “is how I behave. Even in the difficult moments, even when it is challenging, it is important to walk the talk and lead by example; I want to inspire others in order to build a society on more equal grounds.”
