แจ็คกี้ หวาง
ผู้อำนวยการ Google ประจำประเทศไทย
Showing up to support women in Thailand
Women in Thailand and around the world have had to adapt and change their lives in unpredictable ways due to the challenges of the pandemic, political restrictions, and global conflict, yet their resilience has been remarkable. They have continued to show up for themselves, their families, and communities in demanding ways — and it's why on this International Women's Day, Google is showing up to support them.
Our global Doodle, created by Googler Thoka Maer, expresses this sentiment and women's many roles in their everyday lives. Thoka's illustrations represent her desire for all women to be recognized, appreciated, and inspired for all they do for those around them. But women cannot show up for others without first showing up for themselves. So Google is working to help women prioritize their needs by creating equitable, inclusive opportunities and support across all walks of life.
Empowering women to build businesses
According to research, women-led businesses in Thailand still face barriers in access to finance, networking, and developing necessary skills. For this reason, we continue supporting programs such as Go Digital ASEAN to ensure female entrepreneurs have the opportunity to succeed.
Over the last 18 months, the Go Digital ASEAN program, supported by Google.org, has trained over 33,000 women in 28 Thai provinces with digital skills and tools to expand their economic opportunities. Wanida, a beneficiary who recently completed the program, shared how she doubled her monthly income by learning how to use social media to sell her traditional woven scarves and reaching new customers. Stories like Wanida's remind us of the resilience and adaptability of small business owners, and opportunity to succeed when they have the right support and network.
Investing in programs to develop female talents
We're always thinking about how we can help more women believe that they can achieve anything they want, regardless of gender. Starting March 26, we will host the Women Developer Academy in Southeast Asia for women in tech to build their public speaking skills through 1:1 mentoring and tailored training sessions.
We also want more women to celebrate their accomplishments. I’m incredibly proud to expand our #IamRemarkable workshops to industry partners like InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). This program aims to empower women and underrepresented groups to speak openly about their achievements in the workplace and beyond, thus breaking modesty norms and glass ceilings. The program has helped accelerate the career progression of 100,000 women in more than 100 countries, including Thailand.
Building a workplace where women can thrive
Having a diverse talent pipeline is critical to building a more representative workforce. Our recruitment team has been paying attention to our hiring practices and taking a data-driven approach to ensure we're inclusive in how we hire. We've taken a database approach to reduce bias in job descriptions to achieve this. They looked into the historical data from more than 6,000 job postings in 18 months to analyze how word count and language in job postings affect applicants. One of the findings that we had was that women applicants decreased dramatically if a job qualification summary had more than 54 words. The data gave us insight and guidance needed to be more intentional about making necessary changes to grow our female talent pool.
Beyond our hiring efforts, we also want to ensure Googlers have the right support as they go through all stages of life. Last month, we expanded our benefits to help them care for themselves and their loved ones. Our parental leave increased to at least 18 weeks for all parents and at least 24 weeks for all parents who give birth, our carer's leave for seriously ill loved ones doubled to 8 weeks, and our bereavement leave now includes miscarriage and stillbirth. Plus, all our employees now have at least paid 20 days off of work to use however they need the most. Policies like these go a long way to ensure our employees feel supported and know that they have the flexibility they need for work or personal commitments.
This International Women’s Day, let’s recognize and celebrate the incredible women around us who are breaking the biases, and being inspiring role models to other women and girls around them.
Jackie Wang
Country Director, Google Thailand
