Lisa Sennhauser-Kelly, you have just been elected as a member of the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation, what does this mean for you?
It is clearly an honor to work for the foundation. Although equal pay is clearly a right there is a lot to be done in this area and I am really pleased that I may be able to support the foundation in their work.
Why are you willing to support the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation, what moves you in our project?
Achieving gender equality is one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, SDG5. The only fair salary is equal pay for all. Although equal pay is everyone’s right, and in many countries legislation exists against discrimination, there are still perceived anomalies. A certification process allows companies to get a professional external assessment, correct any anomalies, and then once “certified” successfully they can tell the world and their employees that they truly are an equal pay employer. This is incredibly important for the employees and potential employees, it says something about the company and its values.
You have worked in a sector where women are often underrepresented, how would you describe your career as a woman in the Finances sector?
Many years in financial services here in Switzerland certainly makes you aware that there is room for improvement. Receiving a fair salary is only the first step toward gender equality. In Switzerland salaries are not transparent, so I think the EQUAL-SALARY Certification would help reassure both men and women about where they stand.
Which passions make you feel alive, what makes you get up in the morning?
It is important to me to feel that I am somehow making a difference. Although I am a Chartered Accountant, I also retrained as an executive coach some time ago, and I love to see visible improvements in people’s professional and also private lives. I get involved with startups and love to help them grow, including in the area of gender lens investing, where the goal is to move our investments toward gender friendly companies which are proven to outperform others in the long term, and thus are more sustainable. I love to travel, learn new things and meet new people. This year I was fortunate enough to travel home to visit my family in Australia, as well as take a special vacation with my husband and two teenagers to stunning Canada, crossing the Canadian Rockies from Vancouver to Calgary, which was simply awesome.
