sometimes be abrasive. Women leaders are
seen as competent or liked but not both.
Stereotyping results in women not being
given opportunities to play roles that they
would flourish in if given a chance.
Most of us still operate in patriarchal
societies and as such it is expected that
women should be the primary care
givers at home. For this reason, work-life
balance is a major challenge for women.
Leaving work earlier or arriving later at
the workplace in many workplaces is
frowned upon and as such a lot of women
opt to care for their families rather than
deal with negativity. Unfortunately, a lot
of workplaces are to-date not open to the
idea of flexible work arrangements.
When it comes to women’s voices being
heard, women are interrupted by men up
to 3 times more than men interrupt fellow
men. They are also given less airtime in
group discussions and given less credit
for their ideas. Possibly because of
socialization, women in meetings tend to
gravitate toward the end of the table and
edge of the room, away from positions
that convey status. Women also typically
take up much less physical space giving
the impression that they lack confidence
and as a result again suffer the penalty of
being dismissed.
Though
considered
romantic
in
relationships, women many times will
have their sentences completed by men
a habit given the phrase ‘mansplaining.’
Add to all this, the fact that women
typically have higher pitched voices and
for some reason people with lower pitched
voices are considered more serious and
competent….
Sexual harassment affects women at
all levels of employment and in all
workplaces. The debilitating effects of
harassment at the workplace include:
increased absenteeism, depression and
anxiety symptoms, low productivity,
decreased engagement and enthusiasm,
and worst of all high turnover. Companies
that don’t have a structure which allows
women to voice their concerns over
inappropriate behavior will suffer severe
consequences in the long run.
Africa has the added disadvantage of
low levels of education amongst women
hindering them from participating in
the formal sector which typically pays
more and has more stable jobs. Teenage
pregnancies have significantly affected
school completion rates of young girls.
In addition, maternal mortality rates in
22 MAL35/20 ISSUE
Dr. Green Katherine Johnson
Melinda Gates Erika H. James
These women are
part of a much
larger cluster of
women I’d like to
refer to as phe-
nomenal women,
who’ve broken bar-
riers and proved
that odds can be
overcome with the
right attitude, grit
and work. With the
right mix of awe
and envy, they in-
spire women to be
uncomfortable in
their comfort plac-
es to push for more
and better.
Africa average at 438 per 100,000 births
compared to a global average of 107 per
100,000 births. Kenya has an average of
510 per 100,000 births.
The list of challenges above is not
exhaustive, however, it covers the main
areas of women’s challenges. Just to
emphasize again how important it is for
women to be included, Africa’s potential
Gross Domestic Product Growth is 10
percent over the next 5 years if her women
were given more opportunities. This
means that for every year African women
lag behind, Africa pays a hefty price, the
equivalent of USD63 billion.
No country today can claim to have
achieved gender equality. Akin to pushing
a boulder up a hill is the effort it’ll take
to reach equality. Every party must be
involved, men, women and organizational
leaders. Some have argued that asking
women to voice their misgivings and
fight for their rights is adding even
greater pressure on victims of unfortunate
circumstances.
To this I say that much of women’s gains
in the workplace have been as a result of
activism. I believe it is wrong for women
to not know their rights and to not fight