Friday 26 June 2015

LEAN IN…..as Sheryl Sandberg puts it


Moyin came into the room and asked,‘Simi, where are the women?!’

She uttered the exact thoughts I had been battling with a few minutes before she came in. I was wondering why we had very, very few women sitting up at the tables, why there were lesser skirts in the boardrooms and why the legislative arm of government had just a handful of women who stand up to decision making processes that affect their sons and daughters and loved ones.

On my desktop wallpaper, there’s this treasured picture I have showing the 5 presidents of the countries that make up BRICS- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The only woman in the picture is the president of Brazil… seeing her made me proud, you know, at least, there was a woman in the picture, but I still silently wondered and asked  myself,’Similolu, where are the women?’

Just as I was ruminating on these thoughts, I was invited to be the compere at NACOSS (Nigerian Association of Computer Science Students) National Convention. The convention was centered on increased female participation in IT. All the presentations were laced with facts that proved that things were way more terrible than I thought - the number of females involved in IT is very low… In Africa, it is ‘lowerly’ lower than I could have conceived in my wildest imaginations. Still boils down to the same question; Where are the women?

Adepeju Jaiyeoba, a phenomenal Nigerian lawyer, entrepreneur and CEO of Brown Button Foundation finally made a statement that was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me after a long week of mind-battle. She said there was a program organized for the Nigerian youth by a United States Initiative, YALI, and out of 100 applicants, only 9 were females....Can you imagine?????

The question is this, where are the women?

Am I supposed to be somewhere at the back, far at the back because I am a woman?

Am I supposed to live an average life because I’m a woman?

Do life pursuits and aspirations end when a woman gets married?

Is Being Female= Being Passive?

Why should I be quiet when decisions that affect me and my future children are being made?

Why?


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(This is first in a series of about 4 posts. Let’s reason together. I’ll give replies to all comments and I’m promising objectivity-NO skewedness to the left or right to support any gender)