EXPERTS in the accounting profession, as well as players in the public and the private sectors, have underscored the need for women to be included in corporate leadership, politics, entrepreneurship and finance for societal and national growth.
They spoke at an event organised by the Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and ElectHER with the theme, ‘The Nexus Between Women Inclusion and Economic Performance,’ in Lagos.
The stakeholders argued that embracing gender equity is not a favour to women, insisting that it would benefit the nation and the world socially, politically and economically.
Those who addressed the gathering included Executive Vice-Chair, Emerging Africa Group Toyin F. Sanni, ACCA Executive Director for Markets Lucia Real-Martin and Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, FCCA, ACCA Nigeria leadership represented by Head of Nigeria Office, Mr. Tom Isibor, Ms Aderonke Adebule, Ibijoke Fakorede of ElectHer and others.
Sanni, who delivered the keynote speech at the event, said inclusion is the practice of consciously providing everyone, with equal access to opportunities and resources, irrespective of such divisive categorisation.
But she lamented that many women face serious obstacles in accessing financial services, especially in the African markets.
She mentioned a MCKinsey study, which claimed that in the private sector alone, women globally occupy less than a third of senior and middle management positions.
According to her, women in the financial services industry make up about 30 per cent of the workforce at the senior management level in Africa.
The Executive Vice-Chair, Emerging Africa Group said: “This is bested only by the healthcare and TMT (Telecoms, Media and Technology) industries, which have higher representations of 39 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.”
Sanni noted that women do 2.6 times more unpaid care and domestic work than men, adding that globally, only one in three businesses are owned by women.
The Sub-Saharan Africa, she said, is blessed with 29 per cent rate of women entrepreneurs.
Sanni lamented that in many Africa countries, most female-led enterprises were small businesses with little opportunity for growth.
On political inclusion, she said women serve as Heads of State or Government in only 22 countries. According to her, 119 countries have never had a woman leader, stressing that only 21 per cent of government ministers are women, with only 14 countries having achieved 50 per cent or more women in cabinets.
Sanni noted that despite the clamouring for inclusion, all gender bills proposed on the floors of the Nigerian House of Representatives and Senate were rejected by the National Assembly comprising 95.9 per cent male representation.
Fakorede of ElectHer said Nigeria ranks 184 out of 187 countries with women in parliament, quoting the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
She noted that less than five per cent of Nigerian lawmakers are women.
According to her, the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill has been rejected more than three times by the National assembly.
Fakorede said the top 10 countries with good human development index are countries with high women representation in their national parliament.
She said her organisation, ElectHer, would support women aspiring for political offices through funding, special projects, programmes and behavioural change communications to realise their ambitions, pleading with Nigerians to obtain their voters cards to vote for their preferred candidates in 2023 elections.
Oyedele, in his remarks at the event, said women are 47 per cent more likely to suffer severe injuries in car crashes because safety features are designed for men and noting that women are likely to experience more medical side effects because drugs are designed for male bodies.
He said women globally own less than 20 per cent of land and 33,000 girls become child brides every day, thereby making it harder for them to achieve their full potentials.
According to him, a woman is less likely to default on a loan facility and yet, female entrepreneurs get less funding for business than their male contemporaries.
“When we exclude women in economic activities, policy formulation, governance, leadership, access to education, job and career opportunities, we limit our possibilities.
“From an economic perspective, when women earn income, it means better child nutrition, health and education. I do not think that women are really asking for any special treatment, they are rather asking for equal opportunity to be considered based on their competence and capacity,” he said.
Real-Martin said there is an economic, social and political imperative to achieving gender parity – as well as a green imperative.
She said governments’ role is essential in achieving change to achieve inclusion.
“We’ve called on governments for a more inclusive approach to economic recovery, urging the use of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) to ensure that women and men benefit equally from the economic recovery out of Covid-19, and to guarantee a stop to inequality,” she said.
Isibor, who said he was trained from childhood to imbibe inclusion in his ways of life, said the Nigeria ACCA Office decided to support the programme since inclusion is topical in the realization of United Nations (UN) SDGs.