Rector of UCP highlights the importance of female leadership as an example to students
The Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Isabel Capeloa Gil, attended the 6th Grande Conferência Liderança Feminina (Female Leadership Conference), which took place at Auditório Cardeal Medeiros, at UCP headquarters, this Thursday October 14th.
Promoted by the Executiva website, the event gathered several women leaders from various professional areas, to debate the current challenges of female leadership.
Speaking at the opening session, the Rector of UCP underlined UCP's bilateral work in strenghtening female leadership.
"Our university is one of the few Portuguese universities that does not have, in its History, only one female Rector. We have already had two female Rectors, and being second is always more important than being first since the first seems to be the example that everything has been achieved. But in fact, the second and third are the ones who prove the consistency in women's empowerment policy".
“Somos das poucas universidades portuguesas que não tem, na sua história, apenas uma mulher reitora. Já tivemos duas mulheres reitoras e é sempre importante ser a segunda e não ser a primeira porque a primeira parece que é o exemplo de que tudo está conseguido. A segunda e a terceira é que demonstram, de facto, a consistência na política de empoderamento das mulheres”, stated Isabel Capeloa Gil.
According to the Rector, this policy is also present at the level of the heads of the Faculties "with a strong female representation whose example is very important to the institution since professors and students must recognise themselves in the leadership".
Isabel Capeloa Gil also mentioned that at Universidade Católica Portuguesa there are 52% women students "who have to recognise in those who lead them, the capacity to make them aspire and develop skills that allow them to transform the world".
The Rector explained that "at the level of teaching strategies, UCP is doing important work", highlighting the "remarkable role of Céline Abecassis-Moedas, in the executive training of the Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics and the development of initiatives for the recognition of female leadership in business".
Also invited to participate in this women's meeting, Céline Abecassis Moedas acknowledged feeling "the weight of responsibility to create change from within".
Under the topic "Is women's leadership the future of leadership?", the director of Executive Education at CATÓLICA-LISBON underlined that "in many cases, a woman is only given a leadership position in situations of great difficulty or crisis".
Céline Abecassis-Moedas admitted being "a great admirer of Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, who has always been the first woman in the various positions she has held".
"Women have the qualities considered by several studies to be essential for the leadership of the future. Resilience is needed, but it is worth the effort", she concluded.
The conference also included the interventions of Ana Oliveira, Marketing and Retail Director of the Mobile Division of Samsung Electronics, Filipa Montalvão, co-founder and partner of White Way, Sara do Ó from Your, Cristina Saiago, general manager of Clarins in Portugal and Isabel Barros, executive director of Sonae MC, among others.