Each year, women
across the world celebrate the International Women’s Day (IWD). The day is
meant to direct attention to discriminatory practices against women and to
rally people across the world to join forces with women to stop these practices
that affect the dignity of the female gender. The theme this year #ChoosetoChallenge
is a call to action for local and global agencies, corporate organisations and
leaders in all spheres of human endeavours to address the gender inequality
issues.
Hence,
protecting the rights of women and the abolishment of discriminatory cultural
practices like female genital mutilation, early marriage, harmful widowhood
practices, wife inheritance, female disinheritance, male child preference
syndrome and unequal pay for equal jobs are expected to form the major
discourses in every part of the world on March 8, 2021.
Women, who
make up 57.4 per cent of the global workforce, have become a strong force for
driving social and economic growth. Women have also been proven to be change
agents. They are talented at transforming detailed concepts into valuable
insights. Women are also more emotionally intelligent in sensing issues that
are critical to the health of a family, a corporate organisation or a nation.
Therefore, providing more platforms to deepen women involvement in key growth areas
is essential to the overall wellbeing of the global population. However, this
would require bringing the lingering issues of gender inequality to the fore
and challenging the impediments to gender balance in the society.
Education remains
a major issue in gender equality. Girls are under-represented in education,
particularly in developing economies. UNESCO reports that one out of every four
females do not complete primary education. While educated women are more likely
to become strong economic enablers for their communities, keeping the number of
women who receive formal education low shortchanges the developing economies of
the vital contributions of this highly talented section of the society.
Financing is
another problem. Globally, access to loan facilities by women to pursue their
business dreams is disproportionately low. The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) revealed that there is a 9% gap between women and men in terms of access
to a bank account. “In sub-Saharan Africa, only 37% of women have a bank
account compared with 48% of men, a gap that has widened over the past several
years. The figures are even worse in North Africa where about two-thirds of the
adult population remains unbanked and the gender gap for access to finance is
18%, the largest in the world.” Limiting women’s access to financial
facilities, which is key to boosting the gender’s entrepreneurial drive, is
restricting the capacity of women to empower themselves and contribute to the
economy.
In terms of
employment opportunities, Hans Glick of Global Citizen, a web portal, said that
although women participate in two-third of the total global work hours, they
earn about one-tenth of the global income. Proposing that a framework that
ensures equal pay for equal jobs among the genders should be aggressively
pursued to encourage more impactful women economic participation. This pursuit
cannot be restricted to public agencies or governments alone. It is also relevant
in the private sector.
Looking
inwards, while Nigeria has made very marginal progress in terms of drawing
public attention and raising awareness for gender balance, with the hope of giving
due recognition to women and availing them the opportunities to contribute to
nation building and the economy. Not much has happened in terms of deliberate
action to back this, policy statement or enforcement. Today, the nation is
still far from where it should be and can certainly do more.
Regrettably, gender
inequality in the country is perpetuated and encouraged by different cultures
and beliefs. Depending on what part of the country you go to, you’ll find that
it is more entrenched in some places than it is in other parts.
Even though gender
inequality is a much deep-rooted epidemic in the public sector, it isn’t
limited to the public sector, as it exists also in the private sector. Issues
like women being denied the same work rights as men, sexual violence and
exploitation, and discrimination in public and private offices, persist and
remains huge impediments to attaining equal rights for women. The country must
therefore realise that only societies that value women and men as equal can
make meaningful growth and development as they are safer and healthier.
It is not all
gloom and doom though. Nigerian women entrepreneurs are increasing in numbers
daily and which must explain why they are now being referred to as the rising
stars of this emerging economy. And what women are simply doing is turning
their passion for food, cooking, baking, fashion, beauty, technology among
others into businesses. Industrious and enterprising young Nigerian women,
stepping out of the norm of a 9 to 5 job to build their own brands and create
something that will possibly outlive them.
Not too long
ago, February 2017 to be precise, the BBC, reported that Nigeria has the
highest number of female entrepreneurs in the world, as forty percent of
Nigerian women are entrepreneurs, which is higher than anywhere else in the
world. It’s hard not to believe this when you look around and see the number of
successful businesses owned and ran by women.
There are
several examples of such exemplary women, Nike Majekodunmi – Founder/ CEO, Nuts
About Cakes, Kene Rapu – Founder/ CEO, Kene Rapu Shoes, Linda Ikeji – easily
Nigeria’s most popular blogger and many others like them who are building
institutions and legacies.
Crown Flour
Mill Limited, a subsidiary of the Olam Group, an agribusiness conglomerate, has
been championing women empowerment across its value chains. The makers of Mama
Gold flour brand and other quality flour brands, used in local bakeries to
produce bread, cake and pastries, have consistently pursued and implemented impactful
initiatives that give equal opportunity to both male and female employees,
distributors, partners and consumers.
Mrs Karen
Adwao, who runs Handmade by Karen Baker, and Mrs Esther Adjarho, owner of Dea-Rho
Cakes and Events, are two small business owners who currently do business with
Crown Flour Mill (CFM) and benefit from the organisation’s initiatives which
also empower women.
The two women entrepreneurs
testified to the transformations that their businesses experienced in their
relationship journeys with the leading milling company and its products. Speaking
about her experience with Mama Gold Flour, Mrs Adwao said, “Having Mama Gold
Flour has opened a whole new world to me. There’s nothing I cannot make. I love
Mama Gold Flour”. Mrs Adjarho in her case had this to say: “Doing business with
Mama Gold Flour has not only impacted me positively, but I’m also able to
transfer what it has imparted in me to others who are aspiring to be
entrepreneurs”. Furthermore, on the issue of gender equality she opined that women
would do very well if put in strategic positions because of their ability to
multitask and their level of emotional intelligence. Women in Nigeria have not
been given enough opportunities to contribute to nation building and in the few
instances where opportunities have been provided, the right level of support
and flexibility has been lacking.
The
testimonies of these two women entrepreneurs underscores CFM’s commitment to
the growth and development of the feminine gender. Equally important is the
fact that CFM is an equal opportunity employer. The company has built a strong
human capital base made up of diverse talents due to its policy of equal work
equal pay for its workers as well as its robust and inclusive human capital
development practices. Ashish Pande, the Managing Director at CFM, while reiterating
the company’s commitment to gender equality, said, “We are committed to
ensuring that women enjoy equal opportunity throughout our value chain – from
our processing units, offices and senior management to all our distributors and
users’ channels.”
According to
Ashish Pande, CFM continuously provides on-the-job training and promotion
opportunities for its female employees while ensuring each employee receives
equal pay for equal jobs. These employee and channel management strategies have
positioned the food manufacturer as an equal opportunity employer. Only
recently, the organization was named an employer of choice in the African
region, for 2021 after emerging with a strong score card during an HR Best
Practice survey conducted by Top Employers Institute, a global authority on
recognising excellence in people practice.
As CFM joins
the world to celebrate the International Women’s Day, the company has
reiterated its readiness to continue to promote gender parity in its workplace
through the celebration of its people and their contributions, particularly the
female employees. It remains committed to highlighting the benefits of a gender
balanced workforce even in its trade partnerships, supply chain, and other
stakeholders’ engagements.
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