By Agnes Yu
Credited for holding up half the sky, women are also referred to as “the weaker sex, the speaker sex.” These same women are celebrated on International Women’s Day on March 8 to toast the female population.
Marked every year by women’s organizations around the world, this particular day is designated to recognize the contributions that women make as well as to foster their equality and emancipation.
This day is once a year but once a month on every last Wednesday evening here in Korea, the Working Women’s Network (WWN), a branch of the Seoul International Women’s Association (SIWA) meets to do just that in addition to more practical goals. Of course these lofty ambitions are considered while eating and drinking in empathy. Only women are permitted to attend.
Each month the venue is a different restaurant and the meeting starts at 7 p.m. with casual chatter and greetings as everyone slowly arrives. By about 8 p.m. the group sits down for dinner and each person leaves afterwards at her own pace. Women don’t have to be a member of SIWA to attend but must pay a participation fee of 10,000 won if not a member. Otherwise the remaining cost is your own tab of what you ate and drank.
The current program chair of WWN is Michelle Farnsworth, who by day is the Foreign Client Relationship Manager of Shinhan Bank in the Foreign Customer department, and she said, "I hope the focus of our meetings is on creating a warm, welcoming environment for like-minded women that allows time for introductions, conversations, and budding friendships with other women in similar situations and professions. Starting with this great pool of ambitious women, it’s almost impossible not to make meaningful connections."
Farnsworth is responsible for the logistics so the evening takes place smoothly each month.
As a purely volunteer institution that was established in 1962, SIWA aims to offer women of all nationalities, including Koreans a way to enhance expat life. For many years SIWA only organized events during the day. Anne Ladouceur arrived in 1997 and was the impetus for the WWN by realizing the need to get working women involved and planned a gathering that would take place in the evening. The very first WWN event was in September 1998 and between 14 and 20 women attended regularly in the months to follow.
The number always fluctuates but these days about 20 to 40 women participate.
Ladouceur was the program chair for one year until she became the president of SIWA between 1999 and 2000. She said, ``Many of the women at SIWA were previously working until they came to Korea with their husbands. The initial purpose of WWN was so members could network and possibly find work in Seoul or remain active during their stay here.’’ In the past WWN events included a lecture or a panel of professionals so it could lead to employment or to make the evening somewhat educational. Ladouceur added that she had hoped to ``advocate working women and amplify their status.’’ At this time WWN has discontinued this aspect to offer more of a social and supportive structure to its attendees.
Once arriving in Korea, Helen Hume, the PMO Manager at British American Tobacco Korea, said, ``As a single expat woman the routes to making friends aren't quite as varied or as easy as it is for single expat men (i.e. they go to the bar, watch some sport, join an athletic team etc) ― so for me, WWN has been a key route to meet a range of women, some of whom have become good friends.’’
Hume has attended eight WWN evenings and once she even brought her sister who was visiting from England. Hume also mentioned that, ``I think the WWN dinners are a great format ― time to mingle and network and then time to have some longer more in depth conversations over dinner. It’s relaxed and doesn't overly contrive the networking nor does it force you to listen to speakers.’’
Before Farnsworth took over, the program chair of WWN was Catherine Hamel who has gone on to form a similar club called ‘Wine and Women Korea’ which according to the Facebook page ``is to make the international wine culture accessible to all women living in Korea, promoting cross-cultural exchange all around wine and food.’’ Men are welcome to join and the premise is rather towards ``gastronomy or other palatable pleasures.’’
Observed for roughly a century, International Women’s Day annually highlights women’s advancements and accomplishments as well as underscores the fact that women are still not paid equally and are not present equally in business or politics as their male counterparts. In order to get more women in the boardroom they must be valued for their contributions even if it’s from each other.
"It is inspirational and exciting to be a part of such an interesting and diverse yet similar group of women," said Farnsworth.
The next WWN evening is on March 28 and the venue has not been decided. For more information about WWN visit www.siwapage.com or email workingwomensnetwork@siwapage.com. For more information on Wine and Women Korea visit the group page on Facebook.