During the Global Conference On Women And Entrepreneurship 2019, Jack Ma, the CEO of Alibaba Group was one of the few male speakers at the conference.
Jack Ma has been very vocal about hiring females and in the past, he even said: “If you want your company to be successful, then you should hire female workers!”
At this year’s conference, the CEO even doubled down on his stance.
He said that women possess a unique girl power that can make the world better, make people happier, fill the world with hope and they possess unique wisdom. He then mentioned he is humbled because he can provide women leaders with a sharing platform.
“I want to be a woman in my next life, I want to have a group of children…I also feel a lot of women have very good ideas on what to do,” said Jack Ma.
Changes He Wants To See
The aim of the conference is to provide a platform whereby women entrepreneurs can gather and communicate with one another.
He recalls how during the first Global Conference On Women And Entrepreneurship, he was the only male speaker. But this year, there were 10% male speakers at the conference.
He realised that men are unable to adapt, unlike the women who had no problems with adapting. He said women are born to adapt to changes, like changes, and are good at creating changes in the world.
To him, he feels women are more inclusive compared to men, and men of this generation are more jealous—they lack confidence and they are arrogant.
He is also an advocate of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) for a more sustainable world.
Dictionary Time: SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.
United Nations (UN)
Gender equality is the 5th goal among the 17 goals that have been set by the UN. He also believes Gender Equality is crucial for the survival of mankind in the 21st century.
The World Will Be A Better Place If We’re All Like Women
Since the establishment of the Alibaba Group, Jack Ma noted women are more charismatic in the e-commerce field. He also hopes other companies will start promoting gender equality in their respective fields or industries moving forward.
With all the talk around AI and Machine Intelligence, people would think the tech era is dominated by males. But the Alibaba Group does not believe in that statement, because in Alibaba, females account for 30% of technical staff in Alibaba and 51% of their designers and product testers are females.
He then said when creating beauty products, females focus on others in the family and user experience, while their male counterparts focus on themselves.
He also talked about the shopping habits of females on Taobao. Half of the purchases of menswear are done by females and 60% of home supplies are purchased by a female because they take care of others before taking care of themselves.
We’re no longer just competing with muscles and power, but with wisdom and experience. Women are better at experience because they are better at serving and understanding others compared to men, Jack Ma said.
He also said when men are doing business, they focus solely on the figures while the women focus on the experience.
“The world will be a better place if we’re all like women. I also believe when women and mothers are strong, the kids will be strong and the society will be strong. Better educated mothers will also mean better-educated kids, then the better the structure of knowledge is for society.”
According to him, 50% of the internet startups are created by women and he believes the world needs more female leaders and ministers. He hopes to see the UN appoint a female General Secretary.
He closed his talk by saying “Men can be everything, but without women, they’re nothing…I wish in my afterlife, I would be a good woman so that I can contribute to the world.”
Q&A
In a Q&A after the talk, he was asked about breaking the glass ceiling in the digital era. He replied: it is a challenge, not just for women but for everybody. His job as a man is to break the ceiling not just for small businesses, but for women and everyone else because everyone is equal.
If any women in the world require his help, he will try his best to be there and assist them.
When asked if companies should have a bottom line when it comes to hiring women, he said one of his last wishes before retiring is for the company to never have less than 33% of women in the workforce.
He then continued on by saying he is successful because when he goes home, he listens to his wife, and when he goes to work, he listens to his female colleagues.
Women care about people’s feelings and the world needs feelings. He then said: “No matter how strong a company or a country is, if you don’t care about others, you will lose them.”
- Find out more about the conference here.
Featured Image Credit: Alibaba Group