“BalanceforBetter”: PAPER PRESENTED AT LAFARGE PLC, NIGERIA TO COMMEMORATE THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
Introduction
I will like to thank the management of Lafarge for inviting me to make this brief presentation. And I must also congratulate Lafarge for putting this event together to mark the 2019 International Women’s Day. I must mention a bit of challenge I had dressing up for today. The mail had said part of the dress code should be the Coral colour. Coral being reddish or pinkish shade of orange, I checked my wardrobe and could not locate what I would describe as a feminine colour, and I also felt walking in here in pinkish or orange suit or whatever might raise some eyebrows. But out of deference to you my hosts, I have attached this pocket square which has a shade of Coral, and I hope it passes muster!
Some History
What is the International Women's Day? It is a global day set apart to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
The International Women’s Day has a rich and very interesting history. It is celebrated on March 8 every year, and is a focal point in the movement for women’s rights. After the Socialist Party of America organized a Women's Day on February 28, 1909 in New York, the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference suggested a Women's Day be held annually. After women gained suffrage in Soviet Russia in 1917, March 8 became a national holiday there. The day was then predominantly celebrated by the socialist movement and communist countries until it was adopted in 1975 by the United Nations. Today, the International Women's Day is a public holiday in many countries. In some places, it is a day of protest; in others, it is a day that celebrates womanhood.
The 2019 Theme
The theme for the 2019 International Women’s Day is, “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change”, and puts innovation by women and girls, for women and girls, at the heart of efforts to achieve gender equality, and has been condensed into the hash tag: #BalanceforBetter.
The theme brings into focus a few critical issues that have continued to engage nations and societies over many years: how to have a society that is equitable and justly treats women. Quite naturally, for these to become issues, it must mean that there has been the consensus that women have not been justly and equitably treated.
Global Views On Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Gender equality is a human right issue, as our world faces a persistent gap in access to opportunities and decision-making power for women and men. Globally, women have fewer opportunities for economic participation than men, less access to basic and higher education, greater health and safety risks, and less political representation. Guaranteeing the rights of women and giving them opportunities to reach their full potential is critical not only for attaining gender equality, but also for meeting a wide range of international development goals. Empowered women and girls contribute to the health and productivity of their families, communities, and countries, creating a ripple effect that benefits everyone.
The word “gender” describes the socially-constructed roles and responsibilities that societies consider appropriate for men and women. Gender equality means that men and women have equal power and equal opportunities for financial independence, education, and personal development. Women's empowerment is a critical aspect of achieving gender equality. It includes increasing a woman's sense of self-worth, her decision-making power, her access to opportunities and resources, her power and control over her own life inside and outside the home, and her ability to effect change. Yet gender issues are not focused on women alone, but on the relationship between men and women in the society. The actions and attitudes of men and boys play an essential role in achieving gender equality.
Education is a key area of focus. Although the world is making progress in achieving gender parity in education, girls still make up a higher percentage of out-of-school children than boys. Approximately one quarter of girls in the developing world do not attend school. Typically, families with limited means who cannot afford costs such as school fees, uniforms, and supplies for all of their children will prioritize education for their sons. Families may also rely on girls' labour for household chores and other domestic responsibilities, leaving limited time for schooling. But prioritizing girls' education provides perhaps the single highest return on investment in the developing world. An educated girl is more likely to postpone marriage, raise a smaller family, have healthier children, and send her own children to school. She has more opportunities to earn an income and to participate in political processes, and she is less likely to become infected with HIV and other deadly diseases.
Women's health and safety is another important area. HIV/AIDS is becoming an increasingly impactful issue for women. This can be related to women having fewer opportunities for health education, unequal power in sexual partnership, or as a result of gender-based violence. Maternal health is also an issue of specific concern. In many countries, women have limited access to prenatal and infant care, and are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This is a critical concern in countries where girls marry and have children before they are ready; often well before the age of 18. Quality maternal health care can provide an important entry point for information and services that empower mothers as informed decision-makers concerning their own health and the health of their children.
A final area of focus in attaining gender equality is women's economic and political empowerment. Though women comprise more than 50% of the world's population, they only own 1% of the world's wealth. Throughout the world, women and girls perform long hours of unpaid domestic work. In some places, women still lack rights to own land or to inherit property, obtain access to credit, earn income, or to move up in their workplace, free from job discrimination. At all levels, including at home and in the public arena, women are widely underrepresented as decision-makers. In legislatures around the world, women are outnumbered 4 to 1, yet women's political participation is crucial for achieving gender equality and genuine democracy.
The World Economic Forum in its 2018 Gender Gap Index reiterated that Gender parity is fundamental to whether and how economies and societies thrive. Ensuring the full development and appropriate deployment of half of the world’s total talent pool has a vast bearing on the growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of economies and businesses worldwide. The Global Gender Gap Report benchmarks 149 countries on their progress towards gender parity across four thematic dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. In addition, this year’s edition studies skills gender gaps related to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The report identifies political empowerment as the greatest gender equity issue for progressive countries. The U.S. for example ranked higher in economic empowerment, but women's earning power remains approximately 20% lower than men's. Women in the United States have a very high ranking of educational attainment, though, with high levels of literacy and enrolment in primary, secondary, and university education. At present, there are more U.S. women attending college than men.
Globally, no country has fully attained gender equality. Scandinavian countries like Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden lead the world in their progress toward closing the gender gap. In these countries, there is relatively equitable distribution of available income, resources, and opportunities for men and women. The greatest gender gaps are identified primarily in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. However, a number of countries in these regions, including Lesotho, South Africa, and Sri Lanka outrank the United States in gender equality.
Coming Nearer Home: Nigeria
What has been the experience in Nigeria? Still relatively poor, although some progress has been achieved in the last decade. To fully appreciate this, we must look at women’s experiences at home, the domestic setting, in government and public service, and within the private sector.
The Domestic Environment
The report here is not encouraging, especially if you section the country into North and South. Sadly, in the North, religion still compels women to play lowly and in some cases slavery roles. Indeed, the religion compels many of them to still cover their faces and live in purdah, and are denied certain basic rights. Girls as young as nine and ten are still married off to adult men, depriving them of education, career development and worse, sustaining the incidence of the Vesicovaginal Fistula, or VVF when underage girls are forced into sex, get pregnant and go through a hard time giving birth to children. Access to Western education all over the nation is generally restrictive, although has improved over the last decade. Even in the much enlightened South West of Nigeria, many women are simply made to go into trading when the parents think sending female children to school may be a waste of money. The Eastern Nigeria is better for women. It’s a reverse where the men decide not to school, but go into trading. The statistics show a high incidence of females in schools in many places.
Government & Public Service
The public service and government have provided better opportunities for women and career advancement. Apart from the posts of the President, the Vice and the Senate President, women have served in most senior positions including: The Speaker House of Representatives, Chief Judge of the nation, etc. But it is not enough. It is still obvious that in spite of activism driven by various first ladies, women are still not treated equally as men. The military is another area where women need to climb higher. We have not had women heading any of the services and the Police, even if we have many two and three star Generals.
The Private Sector
The Nigerian private sector can boast that it has been very liberal. Women have done well and occupy very senior and even executive positions in many sectors and organisations.
Recently and in commemoration of the 2019 International Women’s Day,
the Ambassadors of Norway, Denmark, Finland and Sweden to Nigeria said Nigerian women have not been adequately included in politics and decision-making at local and national level. The envoys said despite breaking new grounds in other fields, Nigerian women are still under-represented in the formal labour market. This was contained in a statement on Tuesday by the ambassadors, in commemoration of the 2019 International Women’s Day. The Scandinavians said the theme of this year’s celebrations, ‘Balance for Better,’ underlined the importance of promoting equal empowerment to drive the growth and development of a country. Hear them,
“Nigeria is a leader in Africa in many ways, and Nigerian women have broken new ground in their respective fields. However, just as in our countries, there is still work to be done. Nigerian women have not been adequately included in politics and decision-making at local and national level, and women are still under-represented in the formal labour market. Promoting gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it is a smart choice for economic growth and stability in a country.”
The statement said that in Nordic countries, women’s steadily increasing participation in the labour market has been estimated to account for up to 20 per cent of the GDP per capita growth in the past 50 years. Quoting the IMF, it stated that Nigeria’s economy could grow by 1.25 per cent per year if the gender gaps in the labour market, political representation and education were reduced.
How Do We Accelerate Gender Parity?
In a male dominated society like ours, it’s still a tough call. From the presentation so far, it’s clear that at least two major challenges need to be managed: CULTURE & EMPOWERMENT and EDUCATION.
Culture & Empowerment
The influence of culture is very deep, where people still jump for excitement when the new baby is a boy and just manage a smile when it’s a girl? (You all remember the controversial MTN’s “Mama Na Boy TV Commercial). To advance this cause, we will need very strong advocacy and an effective social mobilisation programme. These can be initiated by NGOs, but with ample government support, especially by way of relevant legislation and enforcement.
Education
The government will have to accelerate ad prioritize female education, especially in the North. By a deliberate state policy, parents and guardians must be compelled to send their female children to school and this can be supported with legislation and enforcement. Good education will discourage child marriages and such disenfranchising actions targeted at females. The more educated the people, especially the women become, the more empowered they are.
In addition, and at corporate levels, can organisations be encouraged to move more women into the executive cadre? There was a time in Nigeria where for example the advertising industry had three or four women at board level! Of course part of the challenge was that many women didn’t stay long enough to rise to this level because of competing domestic demands. One of the things South Africa did to enhance black participation in the professions was to put a legislation in place that compelled employers to reserve 25% of their staff complement for Blacks in a vigorous Black Empowerment Programme.
Finally…
Gender Balance is not just women's issue, it's also a business issue. The race is on for the gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, gender-balanced sports coverage etc.
Gender Balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive.
Collective action and shared responsibility for driving a gender-balanced world is key. Gloria Steinem, the world-renowned feminist, journalist and activist once explained, "The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights."
Progress and real development will only be possible if all people have equal rights and opportunities to thrive. Meeting that goal requires recognizing that women and girls face particular barriers and have different needs. And then taking deliberate steps so that no woman or girl is left behind, regardless of where she lives or how much she earns, or where she comes from.
Health-care services should reach all women and provide all the services they need. Yet, too many women still die giving birth, especially in poorer countries where services may be limited and poor in quality. For example, with 1,072 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births, Liberia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. In the remote areas, infrastructure and facilities in clinics are often lacking; midwives and health-care workers have to deliver babies without any electricity at night. Nigeria’s experience cannot be too far behind.
Women still bear the brunt of domestic labour, often leading to shorter life span. Meanwhile, longer, healthier lives are now the norm in many countries, an indisputable sign of progress. By 2030, over 16 per cent of the global population will be over age 60, compared to just over 8 percent in 1970. Pension systems are expanding to support people in old age. Yet women are less likely to be covered and generally receive less than men, even as they live longer on average.
I must use this opportunity to talk about the sad case of the missing Chibok girls. It is part of the abuse against women, where terrorist organisations focus on women to abduct, force them into marriage and illicit sex and are generally abused.
On a parting note, I want to say that in spite of all these, the future is exciting, and we must all join hands in building a gender-balanced world. Everyone has a part to play - all the time, everywhere. From grassroots activism to worldwide action, we are entering an exciting period of history where the world expects balance. We are celebrating its presence because in many cases we notice its absence.
Balance drives a better working world. Let's all help create a #BalanceforBetter
Thank you for listening.
‘Lolu Akinwunmi, frpa, fnimn
GROUP CEO, PRIMA GARNET AFRICA
PAST CHAIRMAN, ADVERTISING PRACTITIONERS COUNCIL OF NIGERIA
March 08, 2019