{"id":17146,"date":"2023-03-07T17:21:53","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T16:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sustainability.selena.com\/?p=17146"},"modified":"2025-10-06T21:35:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T19:35:22","slug":"business-is-open-to-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Business is open to women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The broad discussion on the diversity of teams in the work environment and on equal opportunities favors the presence of women in men-dominated sectors. An increasing number of women, who make up half of the global population, are taking up STEM education and then are successfully pursuing their career goals, including in the construction chemicals industry. Just a quick look at the current data reveals that in 2021 women represented 59%[1]<\/strong><\/a> of all students in the faculty of chemistry and materials engineering at Polish public universities of technology, and according to Eurostat, women hold about 44% of all managerial positions[2]<\/strong><\/a>. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of women in business, as well as the division into \u201cmale\u201d and \u201cfemale\u201d industries, is the subject of many discussions and research, both in Poland and around the world. Women\u2019s presence is also noted in the scientific and research sector, which is often a prelude to a professional career. According to a report published by Education Foundation PERSPEKTYWY, in 2022 women represented 35% of students at public universities of technology. In turn, the European Commission’s She Figures 2021[3]<\/a> report shows that in fields such as production and construction, women account for merely 30% of PhD students. Such an imbalance in the fields of study affects the perception and functioning of women in the labor market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Does business have a gender?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Thinking about construction, many people still find it hard to imagine women holding professional roles in this industry. Both the percentage of women studying construction and women working in construction-related professions is quite low. This is clearly evidenced by statistics of the Polish Chamber of Civil Engineers, where the share of women is only 12%. However, this situation is slowly changing and the need to create gender-diverse teams is increasingly coming to the fore. Team diversity, including in terms of gender, gives companies more opportunities to develop and create innovations. McKinsey Report 2020 \u201cDiversity wins\u201d[4]<\/a> points out that diversity matters a lot in the context of the company’s financial results. This is why it has a strong business case and simply pays off for businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEmployees play a crucial role in the process of building sustainable development of the company. It is their actions, skills, knowledge, openness to constant change, as well as their awareness of megatrends that are critical to the company\u2019s success. One of the many tasks of the international HR teams in Selena Group is to raise the level of the company’s organisational culture, and to build a sustainable work environment and environmentally responsible employee behaviors. By applying the \u201csustainable HR\u201d concept, Selena successfully raises its standards of conduct towards employees and customers,<\/em>\u201d says Andrzej Zygad\u0142o, Chief HR Officer at Selena Group<\/strong>, an organization that specializes in construction chemicals, but is not a stereotypical company in its sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women represent more than 35% of Selena Group\u2019s total workforce. But at Selena FM, the Group\u2019s holding company, they account for more than a half \u2013 approx. 55% \u2013 of all employees. In turn, innovation and research functions in the Group’s central laboratory are mostly in the hands of women \u2013 they account for 65% of the staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSelena Group is an example of a company that is demonstrating more and more openness to the presence of women in the line of business stereotypically regarded as masculine \u2013 in construction chemicals. For the last 30 years, I\u2019ve been observing changes in the approach to women\u2019s pursuing a career and taking senior positions in business<\/em>,\u201d says Iwona Koptewicz<\/strong>, who has built her career and competences at Selena in 12 different job positions, and today serves as Global Indirect Procurement & Operational Excellence Director<\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the construction industry, we are particularly committed to offering an inclusive workplace culture where all individuals develop and use their full potential, and our top leaders advance and empower women in the workplace. Our internal employee award program TITANS for Selena in Poland, in which managers and employees vote in 11 categories, has proven that at our company women are recognised and appreciated, and successfully run many projects<\/em>. <\/em>Women \u2013 female Titans of 2022 \u2013 won in as many as 8 out of 11 categories\u201d, <\/em>Andrzej Zygad\u0142o, CHRO, adds<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women time and women power at Selena<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

More and more women are successfully pursuing their professional goals at Selena and are successfully progressing to strategic roles. Today, one of the key elements of business development is building the organization\u2019s strategy based on ESG indicators. Globally, the subject of sustainable development at Selena is also the responsibility of a woman: Ewa Kosmala<\/strong>, building physicist and enthusiast of sustainable construction. It is she, as Global Sustainability Director<\/strong>, that leads Selena\u2019s transformation towards sustainability and compliance with EU\u2019s ESG reporting requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In turn, the organization\u2019s transformation and its development in Europe, Latin America and Africa is the role of Chus Barroso, West Region Director at Selena Group<\/strong>. She notes that leadership is akin to parenthood. \u201cAs a leader, I must and want to be a model of what we want to achieve, a provider of values, behaviors and skills for our organization<\/em>,\u201d Barroso emphasizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Diversity and openness are fundamental values of Selena Group and have a major impact on its development, in line with the principle that both female and male employees are the company\u2019s biggest capital. This is highlighted by Patrycja Woszczek, a marketing specialist<\/strong>, who a year ago decided to start building her professional competences at Selena Group: \u201cDiversity in teams helps you look at certain challenges from different angles. And this can be seen, for example, during meetings \u2013 when a woman joins, she immediately sheds a different light on the topic being discussed. For this reason it\u2019s so important to build awareness of the need to set up teams that are diverse not only in terms of the skill set, but also in terms of gender.<\/em><\/s><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> \u201cWomen at Universities of Technology\u201d [\u201cKobiety na politechnikach\u201d], 2022 Report, Education Foundation PERSPEKTYWY; http:\/\/www.dziewczynynapolitechniki.pl\/raport<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> Eurostat, Q3 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> She Figures 2021, The path towards gender equality in research and innovation (R&I); https:\/\/op.europa.eu\/pl\/publication-detail\/-\/publication\/61564e1f-d55e-11eb-895a-01aa75ed71a1<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> Diversity wins, McKinsey report 2020; https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/featured-insights\/diversity-and-inclusion\/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time for visibility of women in the construction chemicals business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-selena"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBusiness is open to women - Selena FM S.A.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The broad discussion on the diversity of teams in the work environment and on equal opportunities favors the presence of women in men-dominated sectors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business is open to women\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The broad discussion on the diversity of teams in the work environment and on equal opportunities favors the presence of women in men-dominated sectors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Selena FM S.A.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SelenaWorld\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-07T16:21:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-06T19:35:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/selena.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Selena_zespol.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1006\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"maciej.fornalczyk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"maciej.fornalczyk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"maciej.fornalczyk\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a5a7b01712126168af1f2dc4f5756671\"},\"headline\":\"Business is open to women\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-07T16:21:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-06T19:35:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/\"},\"wordCount\":1030,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Selena_zespol.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"About Selena\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/selena.com\/en\/business-is-open-to-women\/\",\"name\":\"Business is open to women - 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