Leaning In to Achieve Equality

Have you read ‘Lean-in’ ? It is the international best seller by Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook  on working women and leadership in the workplace and it has a great message for working women. I was first handed the book by my mentor at work just as I was going off on maternity leave for the first time. The book really helped me and continues to do so and I would recommend it for every working woman who is seeking to become a leader in her field of enterprise, at work or at home.

Sheryl’s message is clear, we need more female leadership in all spheres of life. In order to achieve this, more women need to lean in, which essentially means, taking hold of their careers, being bold and getting their partners to support more at home. We need to be open and honest about who we are and be assertive about the value we bring to the organisations we work in and our personal relationships. We also need to make a way for others by challenging unjust practices when we have influence to do so.

Many may scoff and say the evidence suggests that female leaders of the past never did anything to help the cause of other women or even raise other women up with them. This may be true for a lot of the first wave of leaders like Margaret Thatcher, but we must understand that the back then, female leaders were busy trying to overcome so many barriers, fight stereotypes and negative feedback that they didn’t have any energy to raise others up. Thankfully, this is no longer the case as the initial obstacle course has been breached.

As the number of female leaders increase, the struggle to be accepted is being shared across bigger numbers, leaving more energy to speak up against discrimination and progress the cause for women in general. An increase in the number of females in leadership, will lead to more equal representation. It will mean there are more leaders who can empathise with 51 percent of the Nigerian population who are female. It will mean that employment laws, discrimination bills, etc. Which remove discrimination against women can be passed without fuss, it will mean that we can avoid a repeat of the fiasco that went on over the Equality bill that was never passed in 2017. It will mean that the inexcusable event which happened at Globacom Nigeria on International women’s day a few weeks ago, where over 80 women were sacked, because of their marital status/age, can be avoided. It will lead to fairer treatment for all women. I really believe this and I know I am not alone.

I will conclude this post with a quote from page 172 of the book. Sheryl writes ‘The hard work of generations before us means that Equality is within our reach. We can close the leadership gap now. Each individuals success can make success a little easier for the next. We can do this - for ourselves, for one another, for our daughters and for our sons. If we push hard now, this next wave can be the last wave. In the future, there will be no female leaders. There will be leaders.’

P.S: I have a copy of Lean In for one lucky reader. Let me know if you want it and we can work delivery out. It will be on a first come, first served basis.

Are You Still in Business?

Long time no blog.  My life has been a little tumultuous to say the least. Returning to work after a year off on maternity leave, assuming a leadership position almost immediately after my return and becoming co-lead of a diversity initiative on righting the balance for women at work while getting to grips with my new role and co-running a home with two young children to love and care for has been a huge adventure and this phase of my life is not over yet. Takes breath.

In all my busyness, what I have found is that I don’t feel my sense of fulfilment and through self searching I have discovered that I must give more time to writing about my passion for achieving gender equality through girls education and female empowerment.

Even though I mothballed the Equality Forum facebook group that I ran for over a year in 2016 (or was it 2017? Shrug) my conversations haven’t stopped and I haven’t stopped learning. The more I speak about achieving equality, the clearer my thoughts become and the clearer they become, the more apparent my unconscious biases are. So I am back in business and I am determined to keep writing about removing obstacles to female equality while doing my other underground work in support of my passion.

So a question for all readers, are you still in business? Are you still challenging biases and stereotypes and language that highlight difference and remove opportunities for females in your circle of influence? If you have become discouraged, if you have shut up your talking shop because you got tired of abuse, or faced fierce criticism, please come back, please reopen your shop, please start having those conversations again and respectfully challenge discriminatory behaviour when you see it but remember to keep safe at all times while doing it. And something really important, if you are feeling isolated and alienated, find some support. The internet has made the world smaller and its easier now to find like minds, so don’t delay, find some support to help you start again. I am here too, so reach out with any questions.

Anuli is back!