"To Achieve Gender Equality Society, Social Consensus Must Be Established First" [2022 Women’s Forum]

Fleur Pellerin, Corelia Capital CEO, Special Lecture at '2022 Women Leaders Forum'
France's First Asian Minister... "Adoptee, Woman, Overcoming Obstacles of Balancing Personal and Professional Life"
Investment Industry Needs Change... Low Female Executive Ratio and Female Entrepreneurs Struggle to Secure Venture Capital Funding

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyul Hwang] "Changing social paradigms inevitably takes a long time. That is why solidarity with colleagues and sisters is necessary for the perspectives I want to share."

At the '2022 Women Leaders Forum' held on the 19th at the Crystal Ballroom of Lotte Hotel Seoul in Sogong-dong, Fleur Pellerin, CEO of Korelya Capital, gave a special lecture and said this. CEO Pellerin emphasized that achieving gender equality requires long-term efforts and that movements toward diversity must also expand into the investment industry and beyond.

Adopted to France at six months old, CEO Pellerin was appointed as the first Asian-origin French minister in 2012 when she served as Minister Delegate for Small and Medium Enterprises, Innovation, and the Digital Economy. She later served as Secretary of State for Trade, Tourism, and French Nationals Abroad, and as Deputy Minister of Culture and Communication. After stepping down, she founded the global investment firm Korelya Capital to discover competitive startups.

Fleur Pellerin had to face many obstacles and challenges to reach her current position. She said, "I started from the lowest social level," adding, "I had to overcome three obstacles: being an adoptee, a woman, and balancing personal life with career." She continued, "Past wounds remained as scars, and I carried complexes and inferiority feelings."

In particular, when appointed as the first Asian-origin French minister, she had to continuously prove herself not as 'Asian' but as a 'young woman,' citing two examples. One was during a parliamentary audit when she received excessive technical questions from other lawmakers while proposing her ministry's budget. Pellerin said, "It felt like they were testing whether I was giving the right answers and knew well," adding, "Such questions were not asked to colleagues with more political experience or male peers."

She also had to confront the media's focus on her as a 'woman' rather than a politician. During her ministerial tenure, articles sometimes covered topics far from her work, such as "what kind of nail polish she wore." She said, "It was not my ability as a minister but my identity as a woman that was highlighted," illustrating how male-centered French politics was at the time.

However, she said that France today has made significant progress in terms of gender equality compared to back then. In 2011, controversy arose over the extremely low proportion of female executives on boards of directors, leading to calls for increasing gender equality on boards. In response, the conservative party proposed a bill requiring listed companies to have at least 40% women on their boards within ten years, and the bill was passed. Currently, women make up 43% of board members in France, with the number of female executives increasing remarkably over the past decade.

CEO Pellerin emphasized that such diversity efforts must also expand into the investment industry. She explained the reality by saying, "The venture capital industry still has inequalities," and "I read an article on Bloomberg that only 2% of female founders were able to raise venture capital."

She also pointed out that the proportion of women decreases as one moves up to executive levels in venture capital. "At the junior level, women make up about 20%, but at the management level, it's only 17%," she lamented. "For senior executives, the proportion of women is even lower." She added, "There are not many women themselves, so the lack of female role models is also a problem."

CEO Pellerin stressed that a social consensus must be formed to achieve a gender-equal society. She explained that the gender equality bill proposed by the conservative party in the French parliament in 2011 was able to pass because a social consensus preceded it, allowing the progressive party to support it. She said, "In France, it is naturally accepted among politics, economy, media, and elites that women should have representation," adding, "It is not about discriminating against men but about efforts to enhance creativity and performance."

She also said that ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) could be an opportunity for gender equality. She explained, "The 'G' in ESG includes gender equality and diversity, and shareholders look at ESG evaluations when assessing companies," adding, "This will send a very strong signal because companies and financial institutions will also face pressure to provide more incentives for gender diversity and women's participation, affecting all stakeholders."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.