Women the world over have fought for equality in the workplace for a number of years now and have succeeded in being heard. These women have carved a path to which many young women aspire to follow through. Although the fight for equality is yet to be won, the success is magnificent and worth celebrating.
As the world celebrate International Women’s Day with the tagline Break the Bias, we celebrate with them with a highlight of women who have in one way or the other broken the bias in the fight against the mould of what society sees as her place and how she has overcome that discrimination by helping fight it through her work and authenticity.
The canvas of women breaking the bias spans from the early 1800s to the modern-day woman; be it in the sphere of Arts, Oil &Gas, Beauty, Engineering, among others. These women have felt it and fought through subtle ways that became big paths for many to follow.
Starting from the first black female millionaire, Madam CJ Walker, who ventured into the field of manufacturing beauty products suited for the black woman, to the Ghanaian makeup brand creator Sacha Okoh of beauty brand SO Aesthetics. The powerful black women physicists, at NASA who faced discrimination in their line of work and yet found many solutions to the problems at NASA whose story became a blockbuster movie ‘Hidden Figures’ that inspired many young girls to venture into the world of science and believe that they too can bring change.
Research conducted by McKinsey & Company shows that in spite of the challenges of the global pandemic, women representation in leadership positions has improved and, in these positions, women are pushing for more inclusion, equality and diversity. This, the report stated, has women more likely to practise ‘allyship’ (bringing more women along the journey) than their male counterparts in the same position.
The report further highlights the fact that black women in America are significantly underrepresented at the top. In Ghana, however, there is no available statistics to compare to that of McKinsey & Company’s, but it can be said that we are bridging the gap through our local and multinational companies where women are at the helm of affairs. Vodafone Ghana has the first female Chief Executive, Patricia Obo-Nai, an engineer.
STEM
Let me digress and talk a bit about women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) – the most feared combination for many young females, but as the years progressed there has been an increasing interest in STEM. Gone are the days when an engineering class had just two females who at some point fell off the dream.
In a class of about 50, one would find 20 females fighting alongside their male counterparts and in some situations even doing better than their male counterparts yet research shows that women make up only 28 percent of the workforce in STEM which happens to be one of the fastest-growing and highest-paid jobs. The question then is: are we not doing enough?
We certainly are doing quite a number of things with initiatives such as the Bountiful STEM Educational Foundation which brings STEM education to male and female pupils in rural communities and again, Patricia Obo-Nai, through the Vodafone Ghana Foundation has held mentorship sessions for girls in ICT.
Furthering the cause of breaking the bias and pushing through discrimination in what has often been called ‘male dominated’ profession is Constance Swaniker, a Ghanaian sculptor who during her school days took up apprenticeship as a carpenter at Art Deco Limited. After her apprenticeship, she established Accents and Art Limited, where she specialises in crafted bespoke wrought iron furniture and in line with brazing trail, has found a way to marry theory and practice through creating an art and design institute where she works with various universities and polytechnics.
A woman is no man, and research has time and again proved this to be true as it highlights how women are rising as stronger leaders yet remaining unrecognised. Women are seen as taking up space and taking on more work in fields such as oil & gas where three years ago, the industry’s global workforce of women representation was at 22 percent and still remains so despite evidence of an increase in women inclusion in the workforce.
The sector, though challenging, has female employees eager to make it up the corporate ladder though just a few percentages are able to succeed. One of such persons on the Ghanaian front is Salma Okonkwo, the first female director of an oil and gas company in Ghana. She later started her own company, Blue Power Energy, an alternative energy conglomerate focused on creating sustainable energy.
The women mentioned have broken many a bias and have paved the way for many. They are not the only ones, there are many who keep lifting others and continue to break the bias. A hearty congratulations to women all over. Happy International Women’s Day!
