While it has been established that women are good at multi-tasking and can conveniently juggle many aspects of their lives effectively without allowing any part suffer, they are still viewed through the narrow minded lens of culture and religion that makes it a standard that they be treated less than their male counterparts in the workplace and in decision making.
It is a fact that many women make the world balanced by juggling life’s demands and challengers associated with the feminine gender while pulling their weight professionally; yet, they are still considered inferior and less than the men in the workforce.
Across the continent, various pointers reveal that despite advocacies, women still have a lot of challenges to surmount in the work place to achieve equality and parity. These challenges cut across various sectors and are proving difficult to crush in many organisations though, some women are lucky to find themselves in institutions where ability supersedes gender.
In some climes, the average woman is more educated than the men. For instance, in America, it has been established that the average woman is much more educated than the men as they have over the decades earned more bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and doctoral degrees than men. Yet, many of them still earn less than their male counterparts. This disparity in pay check is a major pointer to the fact that in spite of civilisation, gender inequality is still the norm even in developed countries of the world.
In Africa, women are expected to naturally take low income jobs irrespective of their qualification and abilities because it is believed that they have no responsibility, cannot manage finances and are usually dependent on men.
This is why young men and even women quickly stigmatise a woman that seems not to live by this norm; they are labeled whores or play things to their bosses or other men because there is a cultural belief that women cannot achieve anything on their own.
A woman that drives a car is often assumed to have been given the car by her husband or a lover. A woman that looks good is seen as definitely having a man taking care of her. This myopic belief is a strong enabler of gender inequality. This also accounts for victimisation or bad treatment of women.
Subtle harassment that comes in form of a joke and sexual harassment is one of the challenges women face in the workplace and an indicator of gender inequality. While advocacy and different movements have helped to put this on the consciousness of people, many do not still believe that some acts are harassments and expect women to laugh.
A survey conducted by a nonprofit organisation, Stop Street Harassment, in January 2018 found that 38 per cent of women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace, and 81 per cent reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime, including verbal or physical assault.
Research has also established that women are promoted less often than their male counterparts across the board despite having required qualification. It is said that women aren’t moving into higher-up executive type roles because there is a dearth of female role models in the workplace. This makes it look like moving into a leadership role for women is unattainable.
Inequality is a complex problem which is enabled by various factors and continues to thrive because religion, culture and patriarchy have made it entrenched in all areas of life. People defend it pervasively and give excuses for why it thrives, including those who are at the receiving end of its damage. Inequality is a major roadblock in the journey towards social justice and real development which needs to be uprooted for the society to attain its potentials in development.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Buy and read digital replicas of your TRIBUNE titles by subscribing through E-VENDING
COVID-19: Afe Babalola Offers 15-Point Prescriptions For Resumption Of Schools
The Founder and Chancellor of the flourishing Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has offered prescriptions on how the Federal Government can reopen schools and universities … Read full story
60-Year-Old Nigerian Woman Who Was A Nurse For 40 Years Dies Of Coronavirus In UK
An ‘exceptional’ mother-of-four nurse who devoted her life to terminally-ill children has become the latest healthcare worker to be killed by coronavirus in Britain, the Daily Mail of UK reported. Eyitolami Olaolorun had been a nurse for 40 years, most recently working at Wellington Hospital, a private centre in St John’s Wood… Read full story
COVID-19: Buhari, APC Betrayed Almajarai, Poor Nigerians ― PDP
President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) have completely betrayed almajarai and other downtrodden, poor and vulnerable Nigerians after using them to get into power in 2015, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged… Read full story
Unpaid Salaries: Polytechnic Staff Seek Akeredolu’s Intervention
Staff of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State have called on the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu to intervene in the crisis in the institution, over the non-payment of their salaries for six months by the management of the institution… Read full story
I Rejected N8m To Promote Bleaching Creams, Says Ex-Big Brother Naija Housemate, Khafi Kareem
A former housemate of reality show, Big Brother Naija, Khafi Kareem, on Monday, May 11, spoke on how she rejected the sum of N8 million for promotion of bleaching creams from a company producing them. Khafi, who had a brush with her employer, the British Metropolitan Police, for taking part in the reality show and who… Read full story
The Wasting Fruits Of Benue
From time, Benue has maintained its prominence of being the food basket of the nation. It simply implies that the state is blessed with arable farmland. Aside this, it also plays host to the second largest river in the country, River Benue as well as other streams that run throughout the year, thereby providing accessible… Read full story
POLITICS: Predatory Politics Is The Norm Since The Passage Of Awo —Shonibare
Apart from Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s photograph being hung in the most prominent part of the wall in the main sitting room of our home and the fact that, even at primary school (Oke- Ira Primary and Preparatory School- which was the preparatory school of St Saviour’s School, Railway Compound, Ebute- Metta)… Read full story
Unity Meets Industry: How Igbajo People Built Century-Old Plank Business In Ibadan
Although Bodija timber market is the headquarters for the purchase of timber in Ibadan metropolis, the Sango market could be called a mega market in terms of size, operation and system of administration. The history of Sango timber market is the history of Igbajo community in Ibadan since the 1920s. Igbajo is ancient… Read full story
Infections Of The Infectious Diseases Bill
On October 5, 2018, the National Assembly passed the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Bill, which was assented to by the President and thus became an Act on November 8, 2018. This Act is part of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, being an Act of the National Assembly, which is comprised of representatives of… Read full story