#InternationalWomensDay Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030, how realistic?

On International Women’s Day, women usually come together to set agenda that will promote gender equality. This year, they are clamouring for equal representation at the work place. TAYO GESINDE writes:

Every March 8, women from all walks of life across the globe come together to celebrate the International Women’s Day (IWD). The IWD, originally known as International Women’s Working Day is dedicated to celebrating women’s achievements, while also calling for gender equality.

Over the years, the International Women’s Day has become a veritable tool for  women to come together to force the world to recognise the gender  inequalities that persist, while also celebrating the achievements of women who have broken the glass ceiling.

This year, the United Nations theme is: Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030. In her message to mark the event, UN Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka  stated. “Across the world, too many women and girls spend too many hours on household responsibilities—typically more than double the time spent by men and boys. They look after younger siblings, older family members, deal with illness in the family and manage the house. In many cases this unequal division of labour is at the expense of women’s and girls’ learning, of paid work, sports, or engagement in civic or community leadership. This shapes the norms of relative disadvantage and advantage of where women and men are positioned in the economy, of what they are skilled to do and where they will work.

“This is the unchanging world of unrewarded work, a globally familiar scene of withered futures, where girls and their mothers sustain the family with free labour, with lives whose trajectories are very different from the men of the household.

“We want to construct a different world of work for women. As they grow up, girls must be exposed to a broad range of careers, and encouraged to make choices that lead beyond the traditional service and care options to jobs in industry, art, public service, modern agriculture and science.

‘’We have to start change at home and in the earliest days of school, so that there are no places in a child’s environment where they learn that girls must be less, have less, and dream smaller than boys.

“This will take adjustments in parenting, curricula, educational settings, and channels for everyday stereotypes like TV, advertising and entertainment; it will take determined steps to protect young girls from harmful cultural practices like early marriage, and from all forms of violence.

“Women and girls must be ready to be part of the digital revolution. Currently, only 18 per cent of undergraduate computer science degrees are held by women. We must see a significant shift in girls all over the world taking STEM subjects, if women are to compete successfully for high-paying ‘new collar’ jobs. Currently, just 25 per cent of the digital industries’ workforces are women.”

Nigerian women are not left out of the women’s day celebration. Many women groups and organisations, as well as women activists, non-governmental organisations and corporate organisations have lined up different activities to commemorate the event with the theme: #BeBoldForChange.

Nigerian Tribune spoke to some women in the corporate world, activists and mothers on the workability of the vision 2030 goal, especially in a traditional society like Nigeria:

Mrs Tampiri Irimagha–Akemu, the Managing Director of SESEMA Public Relations posited that “In order to achieve gender equality by the year 2030, a lot of work has to be done by parents, government and well-meaning organisations. As we all know that charity begins at home, parents should desist from giving preferential treatment to male children, treating them as demigods while the female child is made to do all domestic chores in the home and in some cases, they constitute a larger chunk of out-of-school population. The upbringing of a child is a critical task for parents because the child usually develops his/her view to life from home which, to a large extent, determines his or her ideology. If children are raised equally, there would be a significant decline in issues like domestic violence, rape, employment bias. Parents to a large extent, have a significant role to play to arrest the scourge.

“The government also has an integral role to play in ensuring that Planet 50-50 by 2030 is feasible. They should come up with policies that are favourable to women in their work environments, matrimonial homes and everyday life. The laws are highly favourable to women in developed countries which give them an edge. Women should also be encouraged to take up political roles at all levels of governance, to enable them contribute their quota to national development.

For Mrs. Temitope Olanre-Alade, Director of Studies, Ibile Vogue Academy and media consultant, government can help in a lot of ways. A lot can be achieved if the government will pass a bill that all business owners and companies Human Resources should intentionally look out for every woman that is employable and offer her employment on merit. Also, government should pass a law that remunerates all unpaid work like cooking, childcare, farming, cleaning, and so on.

“Women too can play a very vital role by helping fund girls education. They should teach and encourage leadership skills, in women, while also teaching them to act as the leader they should aspire to be. Women in leadership position should give support to the girl-child. The very fact that nature puts it upon a woman to nurture a child for nine months before he/she steps into the world, speaks of her greatness. How can she ever be any lesser?”

 Honourable Folasade Akinrinmola, chairman, Gbonyin Local Government Area, Ekiti State said: “It is a collective responsibility which can be achieved right from childbirth. Knowing or checking the sex of a child should be discouraged. Parents should know that a child is an added value, no matter the sex. So, parents should stop discriminating between their children, either by the type of household chores given to them, or the type of toys that they buy for them.

“Also, boys or girls should not be separated at school either by class, manual work or subject. Also boys or girls’ only schools should be discouraged by government, while NGOs should encourage the girl-child by giving scholarships. They should also create public enlightenment through the mass media so that the girl-child can see beyond her nose.

 Bunmi Apampa, author and motivational speaker urged the government “to pass new laws or strengthen existing ones against female genital mutilation, rape, female trafficking and child marriage as well as to create programmes to eradicate violence against women and girls.

“The government should also increase the number of women in leadership and decision-making functions within government and industry. Not only that, they should create gender-responsive economic policies for job creation, poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth, while also iinstituting policies to increase the availability of sexual and reproductive services, family planning and contraceptive access for women.”

She added that women in the informal sector also needed their contributions to be acknowledged and protected. “This calls for enabling macroeconomic policies that contribute to inclusive growth and significantly accelerate progress for the people living in extreme poverty by providing scholarships/funding to encourage female students into in science and high technology careers, revision of inheritance laws that put the female child at a disadvantage,” she stressed.

Doyin Ogunbiyi, chairman, Board of Technical Education in Ogun State is of the view that it is the responsibility of parents and to educate the girl-child while the nongovernmental organisation can support government’s efforts in this respect. According to her, “the NGOs involvement in training the girl-child, will acknowledge their potentials.  Government on the other hand, apart from giving the girl-child rights to formal education, must also appreciate the ability in women and her capability to make positive input in governance, to be engaged in order to balance the recklessness of men. Girls must also be exposed to broad range of careers and be encouraged to make choices.

Toun Okewale Sonaiya, Chief Executive Officer WM 91.7, Nigeria’s only Radio station for women and their families said success has no gender. “The girl-child should be given an equal opportunity to become a success. A lot of roadblocks hold women and girls back from achieving mostly due to customs and traditions which pre-determine her fate and makes it the norm. Before her birth, she is stereotyped where 98 per cent of what she gets is/are “pinky”. She grows up being automatically given girly chores: washing plates and cooking. She goes to school subtly advised to study home economics and aspire towards the traditional female-centric hospitality and secretarial roles. This needs to be changed, starting from home to school and the workplace. Equipping her is a clear route to achieving Planet 50 50 and everybody has a role to play.

“From birth, her parent/guardian must seek to enlighten themselves of the possibilities that abound, expose her to both male and female play activities and let her make her choices. House chores should be gender free, expose her to a broad range of professions that lead to wider options in careers and vocations such as engineering, innovation and technology,  manufacturing, finance and economy, politics, management and other male traditional roles. She should have access to every and same opportunity as the male child. She needs to be protected from any form of violence and unhealthy environment. At the same time, she should be taught integrity, dignity and respect towards self and her male counterpart for a balanced environment.

“There should be zero-tolerance for exploitation and abuse in every form. Early marriages should be frowned upon. Every girl should have access to education and be encouraged to achieve her potential. The woman should have access to primary health care to avoid high mortality rate. WFM 91.7 was set up to develop the woman and the girl child. EQUIPHER is a programme inspired by the story of a young girl who asked for help to train her as a tailor in order to be financially independent to live for herself and her two daughters aged two and four. EQUIPHER is one of our initiatives towards Planet 50-50.

“My parents did not discriminate nor treat their female children differently from the only male-child. I grew up in an environment where our parents worked hard to give all five children good education, both private and public. Home was an environment where you could fly and ask any questions with no fear of reprisals. Education was both formal and informal with exposure to things of intellectual, history and faith. There were no gender chores. I learnt how to change tyres, check oil and water gauges by watching my dad. I loved the media at a young age, and my father allowed me follow him to work at a TV /Radio station. My parents created an enabling and disciplined home for us to soar. I’m doing same for my children. I am of a strong opinion that every child especially the girl-child must be supported and properly guided to thrive.”

Florence Atunwa Olumodimu, Principal Consultant, Life Developers Network said “I support the UN’s Planet 50:50 by 2030 Initiative. This will become a reality with a mix of efforts from government, organisations hiring women and most of all, I believe that women also need to have a mindset change. As women, we must also believe in ourselves, abilities and our God-given place as half of the population of the world. We must take off all limiting thoughts from our minds and know that we can do anything we set our minds to. When we believe in ourselves and empower ourselves, so societies and cultural practices that have been hindering women’s progress for centuries will fall in line.

“We have to be ready to step out and be counted. We need to be available, competent and willing to take on leadership roles and contribute to policies that will push forward the gender equality agenda. Women associations and influencers will have to come together in one voice to push our government to adopt necessary laws, policies and special measures to further the realisation of the Planet 50:50 by 2030 initiative.

“We should take the mindset change and economic empowerment initiatives to our girls and start early to imbibe the can-do-spirit in all our girls. Let’s make sure all girls get education, and enter the workforce. As women, we need to speak up against discriminatory practices against women in the workplace and violation of women’s human rights and finally, speak out against all forms of domestic violence.”