#BTColumn – One step forward…

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

by Donna Every

In the last few months, I have seen a number of articles lamenting the impact of COVID-19 on women in the workplace. In many cases women have been the first to lose their jobs, primarily because of the industries that they work in such as hospitality and retail.

An article in The Independent quoted a recent study by McKinsey which reported that while women make up only 39% of the global workforce they constituted 54 per cent  of total job losses due to the pandemic, 1.8 times higher than men. There has also been an increase in women who have had to “voluntarily” leave their jobs to stay at home with the children because of the pandemic. One step forward…

When the head of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was appointed to her position earlier this year, a Swiss newspaper titled an article about her appointment: “This Grandmother will become the new boss of WTO.” It was reported that after major backlash on social media and a signed petition, the newspaper group offered an apology to her.

In a Tweet the WTO head said that she was “thankful to all my sisters, UN Women Leaders and the 124 Ambassadors in Geneva who signed the petition on calling out the racist & sexist remarks in this newspaper” and added, “We need to call out this behaviour when it happens.” One step forward…

The latest article I have seen that highlights the gender discrimination issue was when the President of the European Commission, Ursula von deer Leyen, on a visit to Turkey was left standing while her male counterparts took the two gilded seats that were available and she was eventually offered a seat on a nearby sofa.

She later reported to the European Parliament that she could not find any justification for the way that she was treated so she had to conclude that it was because she is a woman. One step forward…

This is 2021! How many more years will it take for women in positions of influence to be accorded the same respect as their male counterparts? In fact, how many more years will it take for women to ascend to positions of leadership and be represented equally in all spheres across the world? It seems that when we take one step forward, we are pushed back two.

There is a beautiful video that has been widely circulated featuring the women Presidents and Prime Ministers who are currently leading, or have led, their countries.

It is very inspirational, but when we consider that there are 195 countries in the world and only about 23 of those countries are currently led by women (11.8%) that is a very dismal statistic. Women have proven to be great leaders and it is interesting that it has been acknowledged that most of the countries which handled the COVID pandemic crisis the best were led by women.

Yet we are still struggling to be represented at the tables of power and influence and to even have our basic rights met in many countries across the globe.

The International Women’s Forum (IWF), of which I am privileged to lead the Barbados chapter, has as its mission: “Advancing women’s leadership and championing equality worldwide.”

One of the great programs that the global organisation
offers to advance women’s leadership, is a one-year Fellows program which is aimed at grooming corporate women leaders to ascend to C-suite positions. We desperately need other strategies to help women ascend to leadership positions and to use those positions to advance the cause of other women who have no voice.

There is a part of the book of Daniel in the Bible that I particularly like. It’s not when he was in the lion’s den, which is probably one of the most famous stories, but when he was promoted by the king to be the ruler over the affairs of Babylon. The first thing he did was to ask the king to have his three friends promoted as well.

As women, we need to have the mindset of helping to bring other women to the table when we get a seat there; not just because they are women, but because they have something
to contribute.

Other ways of helping women to advance in their chosen field, whether it be in the corporate world, in their profession or as an entrepreneur, is to promote their successes and also to give them a platform in which to inspire and encourage other women.

One of my friends, Cecile Watson, is doing a great job with her online platform Ladies Speaking in Jamaica. The benefit of Zoom allows her to reach women from all over the world to take part in the conversations that she hosts.

Among her guests so far have been head of the International Trade Centre, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, speaking from Geneva, Limitless Life Coach, Simmone Bowe from the Bahamas and Author Ingrid Persaud, speaking from here in Barbados. These successful women have been an inspiration.

Online platforms, such as Zoom, allow us as women to more easily connect with each other across the world and
to share what has been working for us so that we can begin
to apply some of the successes to bring about change in our own countries.

Networking and sharing best practices are key in moving our agenda of equality ahead and allowing our collective voices to be heard for our cause of advancing women’s issues.

This is a key feature of being a part of IWF and I am excited to have connected with other Presidents across the region and with the Bermuda chapter to see how we can work together.

Leaders from chapters on the West Coast of the US and Canada have also reached out to us and we will be having “get to know you” sessions with 176 women next week.

Although it seems that sometimes we have taken one step forward and two backward, I am convinced that women all over the world have come to a place where we are saying “Enough is enough” and we are preparing ourselves to take not just one step forward, but a giant leap to bring us to the place where men have been operating for centuries. And we will no longer tolerate being pushed back.

Donna Every is an author, trainer and international speaker. She is also the President of the Barbados Chapter of the International Women’s Forum. Contact her at donna@donnaevery.com