Swiss beats the drum for business women

Antoinette Rüegg, president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women Antoinette Rüegg, president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women

Switzerland's Antoinette Rüegg is going to travel extensively over the next three years as she champions the cause of business women around the globe.

Rüegg has been elected president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women.

Founded in Geneva in 1930, BPW now has 50,000 members in more than 100 countries.

“Our principal goal – to empower women in shaping a more humane society with the same degree of influence as their male peers – is part of our social evolution,” she says.

Rüegg, who was elected president as the sole candidate at a BPW conference in the Australian city of Melbourne, will lead the organisation till 2005, with her term coming to a climax at a conference in the central Swiss city of Lucerne.

She says that the organisation’s main aim is “demanding”. “It has been challenging us for seven decades, during which time it has become increasingly important to link our resources,” Rüegg says.

“Developing the potential”

“For me, it’s a wonderful task to develop the potential of this worldwide organisation,” she told swissinfo.

Rüegg, aged 57, is no stranger in the world of developing human potential. She studied biology and taught in Swiss grammar schools for nearly 20 years before leaving to turn her attention to applied psychology.

She now has her own business for human potential development, with clients including individuals, small enterprises and Swiss grammar school teachers.

She was introduced to BPW by chance. “I read a newspaper article about BPW Zurich and I was surprised that such an organisation existed,” she said.

“What impressed me was that a new member has to give a presentation about her job and professional life and that was something special. I was very surprised at the women who were very active.”

Asked about the need for BPW International and efforts to break down male dominance in the business world, Rüegg has clear ideas.

“Real partners”

“I think that women have to be real partners of men. I think it’s most important that they work together and one is not superior to the other,” she said.

“That’s a new culture because from the reproductive behaviour, the man has the priority and that’s not a good behaviour for professional life. We have to change that,” she added.

But she adds that the whole process should be one of evolution rather than revolution.

Rüegg’s main priorities in the next three years include improving information technology possibilities for BPW members around the globe and creating a strong cross-cultural network.

“What I think is very important is that we get closer to the members and that we really feel their needs because then they get motivated,” she said.

Motivation also means that business and professional women should dig a little deeper into their pockets to promote the BPW cause.

Miserly women?

Rüegg said that although women were “very generous” when it came to helping other people, they were “miserly” when it came to helping themselves. This was something she wanted to change, she said.

The BPW is funded mainly from membership fees, with some sponsorship and fund-raising activities. Rüegg admitted that finances were “short”.

The Swiss branch of BPW is a driving force in the international organisation. Apart from Rüegg as president, another Swiss is the body’s head of finances.

Many women have complained that having a career and looking after a family is no easy task to perform. Rüegg is no exception.

“It’s much more difficult than I thought. Although I have no children, I think it’s a common pattern that a woman is caring…and once the woman needs real care from the husband, he has to learn that,” she said.

“He’s not used to that and that’s not as easy as I had thought,” she added.

swissinfo, Robert Brookes

In brief

Antoinette Rüegg is the third Swiss to be president of BPW International.

BPW International has permanent representatives at the United Nations and its agencies in New York, Geneva, Paris, Vienna, Rome, Brazil and Seoul.

The organisation has played a major role in all four World Conferences for Women from 1975-1995.