The recognition that women have equal roles to play in organisations, if given their space is no more in doubt. This reality came to the fore during the International Women Day celebrations in series of programmes organised by corporate bodies, including WEMA BANK, where speakers stressed the need for women to be given their pride of place in corporate leadership positions thereby contributing meaningfully to the growth, not only of their organisations , but also to society in general, writes Group Business Editor SIMEON EBULU
Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. There has been progress over the last decades, but the latest available Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5-data clearly shows that the world is a distant away from achieving gender equality by 2030. It will take nearly three centuries to close the global gender gap, given that 85 per cent of Fortune 500 CEOs are men.
“The glass ceiling remains intact. Close to one in every three managers/supervisors is a woman. At the current pace of change, parity will not be achieved for another 140 years. Despite the progress being made, only 26 per cent of countries have a comprehensive system to track gender-budget allocation,” the report says.
There’s no doubting the fact that women have enormous impact on the well-being of their families and societies, but their potential in the corporate environment is sometimes not realised because of discriminatory social norms, incentives and legal institutions and cultural limitations. Although their status has improved in recent decades, gender inequalities persist. Education is one of the most important aspects of human development, and eliminating gender disparity at all levels of education, will doubtless help to increase the status and capabilities of women.
This indicator provides a measure of equality of educational opportunity and relates to the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG) that seeks to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but it’s also an essential prerequisite for a peaceable, prosperous and equitable world. Women’s empowerment is critical to achieving gender equality and other sustainable development goals as it is a tool for reducing poverty and advancing development.
In recent times, the global community has witnessed an exponential rise in diversity awareness and women empowerment policies and initiatives across national and international landscapes.
Advocacy for bridging the gender gap in all fields of human endeavour, gave rise to the launch of the Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day commemorated annually across nations of the world. March 8 every year, is set aside by the global community as International Women’s Day to amplify women’s voices and place the spotlight on issues affecting the advancement of women towards the attainment of true gender equality as espoused in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Many corporate organisations recognise this and usually design programmes to honour women and in addition design policies to advance and promote women courses in their respective corporate entities. The Managing Director/CEO of Wema Bank, Moruf Oseni, at one such outing by the institution, said Wema Bank is deliberate about efforts for women empowerment, gender diversity and inclusion, saying this is evident going by the range of products and initiatives offered through the female proposition – SARA, the bank’s internal female structure – Wema Women Network.
He said the bank’s women-focused impact initiatives have impacted over 300,000 women through diverse women empowerment projects, such as provision of seed funding for female-owned Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across Ferry Communities in Lagos State; and other local government areas in Ekiti State through its Annual Salary for Love projects.
“The drive towards curbing the period of poverty menace through the Pad-A-Girl initiative has recorded significant success across secondary schools in Port Harcourt and Lagos respectively,” he said, adding that women in Niger State have also benefited greatly from the Declutter and Donate initiatives since 2018. He stated that free mammograms and breast scans have been provided for female customers and employees in partnership with Lilly Women’s Health and Women’s Health Platform Foundation (WHPF) to mitigate the rise of breast cancer.
Oseni said since it was launched in 2019, SARA by Wema has impacted women in business and career through access to financing, capacity development sessions, mentorship opportunities amongst others. The SARA Gender Loan, he explains, provides finance facilities for women-led businesses, for as low as nine per cent. Through this product, he pointed out, over N320 million has been disbursed to female entrepreneurs for business development and growth. The SARA Health Scheme provides access to health care services to women for as low as N1, 600 monthly, he stated.
The Wema Bank women’s Conference anchored on the female proposition – SARA – took place at the Civic Center, Lagos witnessed women from all walks of life in attendance and a strong virtual presence across social media platforms.
The SARA Conference was centered on the global theme, ‘Embrace Equity: Achieving Economic Growth for Women in Career and Business.’ It featured industry leaders and government officials, and others from the corporate and business spheres, with Audrey Joe-Ezigbo, Co-Founder and Deputy Managing Director, Falcon Corporation Limited, who gave the keynote address.
The panel session featured Oluwatosin Olaseinde, Founder, Money Africa; Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal, Senior Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Persons with Disability; and Fela Durotoye, Founder, Gemstone Network. Head, Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility as well as Vice-Chairperson of the Wema Women Network, Abimbola Agbejule, moderated the panel session.
The panelists xrayed the distinguishing factors between equity and equality in the global drive towards bridging the gender gap and ensuring the accelerated progress of women across all fields of human endeavour. Agbejule in her submission, defined equity to mean “fairness and justice” distinct from equality, saying “whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity means recognising that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and adjust imbalances.” She added that equality is the same and equity is fair, pointing out that incorporating equality into a situation built on unfairness will always produce an imbalanced result.
Durotoye harped on the need to ensure that women and men are given fair advantages first, before true equality could be achieved. “It is important to recognise and acknowledge the underlying disadvantages and societal biases that have hindered the advancement of women and deal with them appropriately. Organisational structures should be put in place in consideration of the factors that hold women back to ensure accelerated progress, advancement, and growth,” adding that this will encourage the provision of more opportunities for women to thrive in all spheres of human endeavour.
No lip service
Olaseinde urged more organisations to take deliberate actions in promoting equity, adding that company policies should be reviewed with emphasis on providing increased advantages and opportunities for women. “We have to be intentional about bridging the gender gap through more deliberate efforts and policies to create enabling career and business environments for women to thrive.”
Oyetunde-Lawal shared insights into providing equal access and equitable services with the first step being the identification and recognition of the disadvantaged groups.
She said factors to help with easy integration into society must be considered as a matter of priority. “It is essential to do away with baseless assumptions of the needs of persons living with disabilities and actually ask relevant questions on inclusive policies, products and services to enhance their lives.” On her part, Mrs Joe-Ezigbo, challenged men to drop their conquest and feel-good disposition by suppressing women and keeping them down, saying that studies have shown that having more women in leadership positions produce better corporate performance.
On his part, Oseni argued that equity is about creating an added advantage to the people who have been disadvantaged, stating that men have a direct role to play in this. He said: “Embracing equity is a process that will take time, perseverance and deliberate effort on the part of all the players involved, including men, women, organisations, institutions and the society as a whole. It is not enough for only women to drive for equity, men must also rise up to the cause. I am a He for She for Life.”
Oseni explained that celebrating International Women’s Day helps recognise women’s achievements as the driving force behind social, cultural and economic progress, adding that despite progress in recent years, gender inequality remains a significant issue globally, and IWD draws attention to the barriers women still face in education, healthcare and representation in leadership positions.
“Wema Bank has been deliberate about embracing equity, we launched a tailored value proposition, Sara by Wema to cater to female customers’ needs and focus on improving access to finance through low-interest loans to support women and women-owned enterprises. we remain committed to providing a conducive environment for women to thrive, as women are found in all cadres, from entry-level to a director, Oseni said.
In further recognition of the need for deliberate actions and policy modification towards providing more opportunities for women to thrive, the Wema Big Sister Initiative was launched at the event. The Big Sister Initiative is a programme created by the Wema Women Network to provide direct mentorship and growth opportunities for younger female employees. This was one more way the bank has made deliberate effort to create a functional and flexible working environment for women to thrive and achieve their goals.
Wema Bank’s Chief Compliance Officer, Oluwatoyin Karieren, said 40 senior members of the network were enrolled in the Gemstone Mentorship Programme and have been certified coaches and mentors for this purpose. “Beyond this, the Wema Women Network provides a structured platform for all female staff of Wema Bank, regardless of grade, age or location. The Network provides resources, networking opportunities and activities, such as quarterly connect sessions with seasoned panelists, book reviews, debates amongst other initiatives that empower, nurture and inspire women to thrive in their career and personal lives, adding that the network also supports female employees to realise their full potential and ultimately drive representation across different levels in the Bank.