THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP

Kathleen E. Okafor argues for more opportunities for women

Globalization is no longer a choice but a mandatory factor in business models. To achieve and maintain prosperity, all economies must ensure that their men and women are all well positioned to take advantage of new opportunities and challenges offered by the global market. Undoubtedly, there is a growing worldwide realization that gender equality is good for economic growth and critical to poverty reduction.

Also, where gender inequalities constrain women’s participation in political and economic activities, economic growth and private sector development are also constrained resulting in less investment, less competition, and lower productivity.

For Nigeria, there is reasonable parity in the population between males and females. This is also the trend with respect to the labour force. However, in the micro-business space, the trend is skewed in favour of men having 59% whilst women accounting for 41% of business ownership and 3.4% of female employment within micro-enterprises.

The World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy recognizes that “women are more likely than men to be poor and (more) vulnerable to adverse shocks than men”. Up till about 30/40 years ago, it was still widely believed that a woman’s place is in her husbands’ homes, the kitchen to be precise. Many cultures still believe that it is a waste of time and resources training a woman. Most women still end their education in primary schools because funds are reserved for training the male children. However, the paradigm is changing and modern labour economics commands the education of women for the common economic good. As a powerful force for growth and development, policymakers need to consider the role of women in the dynamics of national development and labour market policies, programmes and initiatives may be developed to promote their participation in the labour market. However, the relatively low level of female labour force participation and the significant regional and ethnic variations in Nigeria are in conflict with equity and efficiency goals and enhancement of national productivity.

In that regard, Nigeria still falls short of the need for giving males and females’ equal opportunities and access to advance socially, economically and politically. Evidence abounds of several forms of gender-based discrimination in low participation in politics, access to resources (land ownership and credit) and opportunities for (education, training, occupation).

As the political parties prepare for elections, women groups need to come out strong and negotiate the following incentives, with the political parties and the government:

waiver of deposit for elections, interest free loans for the elections, time-off work with guarantee to return after the elections, monthly allowance of N30,000 (per participating woman) for domestic help and creches till the conclusion of elections; weekend crash training programmes on the Constitution, grass root mobilization; four weeks training on drafting manifestos, campaigns and virtual home management.

Current Statistics put the total percentage of women workers (participants) engaged in one form of activity or the other in the economy at 43.1% as opposed to men’s 56.9%. This picture appears nice statistically but can be misleading. Key leading sectors in the economy by way of income yield or reward have not been favorable to women in terms of participation. There are the construction industries where women participation is 0.2% relative to men’s 3.2%, transportation and communication business where women are 0.5% relative to men’s 6.8%, and administration/defense, where women participation is only 2.5% as against men’s 7.0%. In other industries, their levels of participation are favorable quantitatively but negligible when viewed in terms of administrative positions occupied. Of much significance is the extent which women participate in matters of decision –making within the hierarchies of institutions.

Thus, a much higher concentration of women is found at the lower level of economic activities and are therefore less likely to influence policy decisions to their favor. Some have argued that in fact, women are naturally mothers, and their greatest pleasure and true fulfillment lie in maternity, the one out of a few things that women are good at. These kinds of ideologies about women have tended to marginalize women and have belittled women’s work in the home and outside the home and therefore women’s contribution to economic well-being of the home and society.

In order to correct this imbalance, and to overcome the issue of marginalization of women especially given the fact that women constitute more than half the active work force in Nigeria, there is every need that women’s voices should be heard and be part of major decision making in the country. In fact, if the human resources of a nation are supposed to be an asset, then it will be unthinkable to marginalize almost half of the labour force, which happens to be women, in Nigeria. Their political rights and participation even though guaranteed under 1999 Constitution, does not reflect their numerical strength in the country.

Currently, the Nigerian banking sector is seeing a surge in the number of women at its top echelon. Presently, eight women serve as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)/Managing Directors (MDs) of the country’s leading banks. With eight out of 23 commercial banks in Nigeria run by women CEOs, a new era of women leadership in the financial sector has set in. Still, the 26 per cent representation of women at the top echelon of banks falls short of the 40 per cent board position set for the lenders by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Banks are increasingly under pressure to ensure diversity within their boardrooms with some scholars seeing board diversity as a demographic phenomenon entailing age, gender, and ethnicity. Recent International Finance Corporation (IFC) report on gender equality says there is evidence of improved performance in banks led by women CEOs.

The report recounted that Chief Bola Kuforiji-Olubi was the first woman to be appointed to chair the board of a bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), in 1984. Later in 2012, under the leadership of the then-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the apex bank approved the Sustainable Banking Principles, mandating banks to ensure that at least 40 per cent of the management team is women. The banks are also required to disclose in their annual reports, statistics on female representation. This is the administration’s bid to institutionalise corporate governance principles and best practices in the banking industry.

It is refreshing that more women have held key positions in politics. The former Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a woman, now the Director General of the World Trade Organization. Also the current Minister Finance Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed is an accountant who has been serving as Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning since 2019. She is just among the few women pulling giant strides in the socio-economic and political sector. Senator Nenadi Usman too was minister of finance. Paullen Tallen was Deputy Governor, Plateau State, and now Minister of Women Affairs. Women demand board membership and/or CEOs of NNPC, CBN, AMCON, INEC, The Mint. The appointments will send a signal to both men and women that the urgency is real.

Prof. Okafor is a Law Lecturer at Baze University, Abuja