28 November, 2023
#43 Portrait from a woman in finance: Maureen Vermoortel
Hi, my name is Maureen and I work in the ESG team at Belfius Bank as a project manager. I mainly work on social and human rights related topics. I am also an active member of the Diversity team and more particularly the multicultural diversity stream.
Multicultural diversity is important to me because I saw the people I love being treated differently because of their background at their workplace. My mother is a first generation immigrant from the Philippines. Although it seems that she never experienced overt racism at work, there were definitely some glass ceilings that prevented her from rising to senior positions after many years of experience. Her work would consistently be taken for granted, her ideas stolen and appropriated. It had such a grave impact on her perception of self-worth, that I truly believe that it is necessary to start taking multicultural inclusion seriously for the wellbeing of all employees. Many people, just like my mother, face invisible obstacles because of mainstream assumptions based on skin color, accent, religious belonging, etc. regarding their capabilities and deservedness.
"The financial sector has made considerable improvements over the years regarding gender and intergenerational diversity. As the sector is changing fast, it is also the moment to advocate for a well-managed multicultural diversity."
How can we make sure that everyone is empowered and has access to the same opportunities? How can we shed light on invisible barriers and harmful prejudices that are detrimental to employees, candidates and customers? And how can we remove those barriers and prejudices from our behavior and speech?
By addressing these questions, I believe that MCBN will contribute to a positive change in the sector considerably improve the situation of many.
