Women in communication: interview with Manuela Kron of Nestlé
Coming of age is certainly an important milestone, both for a person and for a brand and, in this very particular case, for ours.
As the female turns 18, we have decided to start a Women Empowerment project that focuses on women who work in the field of communication.
Manuela Kron, Head of Corporate & Consumer Communication for Nestlé, answered 5 significant questions for us, explaining how important it is for today's girls to actively fight for their rights.
1. What is "being a woman" like in the world of work?
Honestly, I have never perceived myself as a woman or a man: I work, I enjoy my job and I have always tried to give my best in my occupations. In any case, I happened to notice the differences between the sexes, first of all, during motherhood, but thanks to the strength of my character I was able to cope with the difficulties that presented themselves, not without realizing, however, that how such difficulties could create problems for the female gender as a whole. Today men think that we women give up careers in favor of the family, but they do not realize that in most cases it is a forced choice, dictated by the fact that for us the only option on the table is to follow a ambitious husband It is men who should realize how women fit into their man's career and, consequently, they should take a step back, stopping deciding, however unwittingly, the professional development of women.
Secondly, I came across differences generated by the different physicality that characterizes man and woman, which creates a competitive disadvantage. I tried to stem the problem with a little femininity trick: I always wear a pair of heels, to achieve "equal" eye contact with my male colleagues. It is simply a trick not so much in the light of a gender difference as in order to fill a real physical "lack". Likewise, I have always tried to take care of body language in interfacing with colleagues and superiors: posture, tone of voice and bearing make the difference in the context of a presentation as well as of a simple oral interview.
In general, to conclude, I have always found myself working in purely male contexts, but I have never felt excessive gender differences: my attitude towards a problem has always been to find a solution, instead of coming to it. overwhelmed.
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2. What was "women empowerment" for you at 18?
When I was 18 years old, a much more deeply rooted civil conscience was present and palpable than today. We girls were engaged in battles that today are taken for granted, such as the protection of divorce, abortion and motherhood in the field. working. C "it must be said that, personally, I experienced the Milanese reality, decidedly different from that of the rest of the national territory: the context in which I lived has always led me to think that in my future there was a working career. thoughts, on the other hand, did not affect girls from neighboring territories, whose ambition was, primarily, to form a family. We women at that time were so focused on fighting for those rights that today we would define as "basic" and, almost, established. , not to realize the total lack of female figures in the main political realities of our city, starting from high schools, up to the top of the administration.
3. Three words you associate today with "women empowerment"
Patience: we women, in any area of life, need a lot of patience.
Long-term vision: Today's women must strive for changes that will improve their lives tomorrow.
Inclusion: if there is one characteristic I like about women, it is that they are able to leave behind the divisions that can exist between different people, to fight side by side in order to achieve a common goal. Women are much more inclusive. than men and are much more capable of considering and embracing a "general need than that of a small group."
4. What would you say to the 18-year-old yourself?
What I would recommend to the 18-year-old me does not differ from what I would like to say to the current 18-year-olds. Do not set yourself any limits, since today many jobs that until some time ago were a source of great stress and psychological pressure for female employees, today turn out to be much more accessible. In addition, I recommend studying a lot, even subjects that are less obvious but really passionate, observe the context that surrounds them and discover the world, actively trying to change it for the better.
5. How much need is there to talk about women empowerment today and what should be done?
Nowadays there is a great need to talk about women empowerment, because the expectations of today's twenties are too low compared to those of my generation's twenties. Girls today should take to the streets and make their voices heard, because they are the ones who will lose the most if our society does not change. First of all, it is necessary to make pink quotas mandatory: we can no longer allow company boards to be composed almost in their entirety of male figures and, unfortunately, the only way to eradicate this custom is the introduction of an obligation. Secondly, society must make available to maternity workers the possibility of working from home, through smart working enabled by technological development; if you have the means to do so, every woman must be able to work and become a mother, without necessarily giving up one or the other desire. In this case, above all, the problem lies upstream: the drop in the birth rate that has afflicted our country for some years now is the portrait of a discomfort that women and girls are trying to express, but which is not listened to. With this in mind, we must fight so that today's girls have the concrete possibility of freely choosing their future, whether it is family-oriented, work-oriented, or both. For all this to happen, the new generations must acquire that civic awareness that in the past led to putting a stop to the so-called hard skills (including abortion, divorce, contraceptives) and which today must measure itself with the acceptance of the soft skills of which they need (like, in fact, pink quotas and further maternity protection) to achieve the freedom of choice that I hope for.
