Gender equality: IBEDC, USAID rally support over discrimination against women

Bankole Taiwo, Abeokuta

Former National Chairman of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Chief Mrs Alaba Lawson, has said that women must always stay positive and be focused to break all sort of limitation that may want to hinder them from achieving their full potentials.

Chief Lawson who is also the Iyalode of Yoruba land revealed that women who wants to excel amidst male chauvinism must keep on pushing and refused to accept no for an answer in their pursuits.

The foremost educationist and women leader disclosed this on Tuesday during the 2022 DISCO Conference for Women organised by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) Ogun region in partnership with  United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Speaking on the theme of this year conference ‘Breaking The Glass Ceiling: Optimizing Career Opportunities’ Alaba Lawson highlighted some of the barriers against women to include gender bias, sexual harassment, earning less than man doing same job, being treated as incompetent, discrimination against women during pregnancy among others.

She stated that women who want to break “glass ceiling” which stands for all forms of impediment against their quest to excel in their careers must pursue their goal with passion, learn to persevere, be hardworking, stay positive believing that they can always achieve their goals irrespective of the challenges.

Lawson said, “You all heard from the profile that was read how I had joined the Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture since 1982 but did not become the first ever female Chairman until 2017. I started from Abeokuta City Chambers, moved to OgunCCIMA, then to the Southwest region known as ODUACCIMA and then the national Chairman.

“I heard someone from this Abeokuta, this same Abeokuta saying that my ambition to become the national Chairman will be over his dead body, I told the person that if Jehovah wants it I will certainly be there but if not, so be it. As Jehovah will want it, I became the National Chairman of NACCIMA in June of 2017, the first female ever to achieve the feat.

“There are other women around the world who have broken the ceiling like Prof Okonjo Iweala, the Director General of World Trade  Centre, Kamala Harris, the first black female to be Vice President of America among others. So, you can see that it is achievable, you must however continue to stay focus, pushing for your good to become better and your better best.”

She said aside having a mentor, someone that they can look up to for guidance and encouragement, women most importantly, must also be ready to support one another to move up in life rather than ganging up with men to be the opposition for the advancement of one of them.

Speaking at the conference, Angela Olanrewaju, the Head Branding and Corporate Communication for IBEDC explained that the programme was aimed at creating opportunities for women who have broken the barriers in their careers to help younger women find their way, especially in male-dominated professions.

Olanrenwaju added that IBEDC deemed it fit join other voices in raising the flag against inequality against ladies and women in different organisations and other sections of the society.

She disclosed, “In 2015 USAID/IBEDC signed an MOU on engendering utility programs. The USAID-Engendering Utilities Programme provides a strong platform to infuse the needed diversity required to recruit, train and empower more women into IBEDC workforce, which will ultimately impact our bottom line and stakeholder value.”

She insisted that women need to be encouraged and empowered to give the best in their chosen careers.

She disclosed that “IBEDC is committed to creating a diverse environment and ensuring equal opportunities, fairness of treatment, dignity, work-life balance and eliminating all forms of discrimination in the workplace for all staff and job applicants.”