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.