Gender discrimination limits women ’ s access to education and political power , leading to fewer women in leadership roles and less representation at the decision-making table . It ’ s prejudicial because it conveys the message of inequality in capacity yet we see everywhere how women have excelled greatly , and in many cases , more than the men when faced with the same task .
LEADERSHIP
The Fallacy Of Prejudicial Mindsets
By Dr . Wale Akinyemi
I was at Wilson Airport in Nairobi a couple of months back , where I encountered a Caucasian lady and her son , who appeared to be around 12 years old . When the boy saw me , he nudged his mother and said , “ Mom , look , a Muslim .” She answered him saying , “ Yes , love , a Muslim .” I smiled and replied , “ Nigerian .” The lady had only looked at my clothing and assumed that I was Muslim , when in fact I was simply wearing my traditional Nigerian outfit .
Some time later , I was in Uganda , staying at a prestigious hotel in Kampala . I was exhausted and thirsty from the long journey , and when the staff offered juice to everyone who had arrived with me , I was the only one who was left out . Perplexed , I asked the staff member who was helping me with my luggage why I was not offered any refreshments . He replied that they assumed I was Muslim and fasting and this was during the holy month of Ramadan . I smiled and explained that I was Nigerian and wearing my national attire . Unfortunately , incidents like these have happened to me time and time again .
These two incidents were light moments , and I laughed at them . But on a deeper note , the truth is that many make up their minds about how to relate to people based on preconceived notions and positions . I remember once when I was having one
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Gender discrimination limits women ’ s access to education and political power , leading to fewer women in leadership roles and less representation at the decision-making table . It ’ s prejudicial because it conveys the message of inequality in capacity yet we see everywhere how women have excelled greatly , and in many cases , more than the men when faced with the same task .
of my leadership training sessions , and I was teaching along the same lines as my discussion here-in . I showed my audience two pictures : one of a very decent-looking bespectacled white man with his equally decent-looking wife , and I also showed my participants the picture of a young man in his mid-twenties of Middle Eastern extraction . I asked the audience which of the two men they would consider dangerous . Without batting an eyelid and without much deep thought , everyone picked the young Middle Eastern man as the dangerous one .
As it turned out , he was a humanitarian volunteer with an NGO and a very kindhearted fellow . The white man , whom everyone passed a vote of confidence on , was a serial killer who had murdered 49 young girls and was on the FBI ’ s most wanted list . Can you imagine this ? If people were told to choose who to stay in a house with , the majority of people would have chosen the serial killer and not the humanitarian volunteer because of the prejudice and mindsets that have been formed by not challenging our assumptions .
The things we see and hear have built a way of seeing the world , and unfortunately , it does not leave room for exceptions . So , because a part of the world has been fed the information that the bad guys are Middle Eastern , they are Muslims , and so when you see any of them , they are
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