A Business Meeting in Europe

September 2019, I was given an all expense paid trip to Europe because my business partner, who is German, thought it might be a good idea for me to see European architecture. We were in the real estate business, so I thought why not. Also, the last time I went to Europe was 4 years ago, so again I thought, why not.

Fast forward, there I was in Germany in a bit of shock. I did not know my business partner was going to introduce me and my colleague to high-society Düsseldorf, where we met famous painter and dubbed “modern picasso”, Bernd Schwarzer. (I’ll write a separate story about this) Meeting politicians, business men and women from all over the city, it was unexpectedly surreal.

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The whole trip was like a dream come true for a small town girl like me but all good things come with a price.

I think one of the most challenging things that I had to encounter in this trip was having to prove myself twice every time I meet people for work, especially when the subject is credibility.⁣

In one particular meeting, I felt this underlying discrimination that because I am “Filipina”, I was directly stereotyped as the imported wife or the help. It’s not that I had any problem with it, these are very respectable positions to be in and I for one am proud that for years we have been known as one of the most hardworking race in the international labor force. ⁣

⁣It’s just that in one particular meeting, I spent most of the time having to narrate what I do, what I had finished in college, if I was taking my masters, what I was working on, despite being introduced as someone who is a partner for this certain company.

Instead of talking about the business at hand, I felt as if it was more of me trying to defend myself and the facts of my work experience. Never mind, that I Co-Founded the company they came to meet about, never mind that I am finishing a law degree, never mind that I spoke better English than they did.

It was both inferiorating and exhausting to not be respected in the way a regular western woman would have been in that setting. ⁣

⁣I hope one day, Filipinas or even fellow asian women who are stereotyped as such would see a time where we are all capable of doing and being so much more than what they immediately label us to be. ⁣I think the current reform on the educational system plays a huge part in that for us to be at par with the rest of the world.

I hope that if you are a Filipina, I hope you don’t contribute to the western mindset and perspective that our limit stops in being domesticated.

When the word “Filipina” comes to mind, I want it to resonate feisty, fierce, respectable, hardworking women, regardless of profession. ⁣

⁣“In order for this country to succeed, we must first educate the Filipina child to make the right choices.” (Clarita Carlos, Political Analyst; PSSAP 2014)