Soon after Dr. Nirmala Menon was appointed chief executive officer of ING Insurance for Malaysia in 2007, she was invited to a gathering for leaders of the insurance industry.
The reception she received from the all-male gathering was not exactly welcoming.
'I remember walking into the meeting and they just ignored me,' she said.
Dr. Menon, who began her career as a medical doctor before climbing the ranks of the insurance industry, had just become the first woman to be appointed to lead an insurance company in Malaysia.
She may have been the only woman in the room back then, but there is no shortage of female senior managers within her own company now.
With women occupying half of the senior management roles, the Malaysian arm of ING Insurance has already surpassed the parent company's goal of having women occupy 33 per cent of its top leadership positions by 2013, Dr Menon said.
While the upper ranks of many industries remain dominated by men, more companies are taking steps to ensure women have greater access to leadership opportunities and that working hours are more flexible.