Women Who Change The World: Nadia Shahin, Jordan

Originally published March 2, 2020 Nadia Shahin is awarded Jordanian Business Woman of the year. As the general manager of Kawar Group’s shipping and logistics division, Nadia Shahin represents multiple firsts: She is the first female and first non-Kawar family member to command a top leadership post at the firm, which she has held since 2010.

She also is the first to implement a series of women-friendly policy changes that have led to the hiring of a more diverse workforce, gender parity in her management team, and significant brand enhancements. It’s a drive that began with her own experiences as a young working mother. It gained traction as a result of her participation in a women’s leadership training program sponsored by the International Herald Tribune and in an IFC corporate governance program.

International Finance Corporation, established under World Bank Group, describes some of Nadia Shahin’s spearheading efforts in the attached article;

“She instituted policies that gave parents more time off following the birth of a child. She worked with her management team to allow flex-time work schedules for parents of school-aged children. “Leave and flex-time policies should apply to both men and women,” Nadia explains. “This uniformity in the application of policy encourages men to participate in shouldering some of the parenting load — it shouldn’t always have to be the mom who leaves work to pick up a sick child from school.” She appointed more female managers, including two in senior management positions who remained with the company throughout their pregnancies and post-partum leave. And she adopted coaching and mentoring programs to build the female leadership pipeline.

Fully aware that not every woman is fortunate enough to have family members willing to watch their children as she did, Nadia is now championing a drive to set up an infant care center at company head-quarters. And, to ensure that potential female workers are not put at an unnecessary disadvantage because they may not be able to afford childcare, Nadia and her team are looking to expand Kawar’s employee benefits options, to include a nursery school allowance.”