Women seek to break inter-generational bias, barriers

With conversations around bias and barriers women face in different spheres of life, more women are enjoined to reach their full potential and achieve significant success despite the hurdles they encounter.

According to her, she used to work in an organisation where opportunities were dennied her due to the fact that she was a young lady and not because she wasn’t competent enough.

In some cases, she was even more qualified than her male counterpaerts, yet she would not grab the opporunuty. She said, “Everytime, I have to double up my work and show up extra just to prove that I am competent enough to get the job done. It’s just sad that with the level of exposure we’ve had as a people, I still have to deal with these issues. Overtime, I’ve realised that women should be assertive, but then, you come off as being rude or arrogant.”
  
In her 30s, Programme Manager with Liberty TV/Radio, Kano, Khadija Bawas, said northern Nigeria is the most sentimental region when it comes to gender issues and was largely because of the high level of illiteracy among women as well as the negative social norms and religious misconceptions.

“It was after I corrected it that they started following the hierarchy. So, many other experiences, but breaking the bias needs extra efforts as a woman and how I’m able to overcome them most times, was standing strong.”
 
For the convener of the webinar and development expert, Joy Aderele, who is in her 40s, she said women have to prove themselves over again to be taken seriously. On roles, responsibilities and time use, women are mostly confined to household chores that consume their time.
  
“Women access and control over resources are mostly limited. They constantly have to overcome the barriers in owning assets like land properties, even to rent a house as a single lady today, some house owners would ask you to bring a man. This is very wrong, but it is the reality that women combat everyday.”
 
An international development expert and Deputy Head, Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, Sharon Ayeni, in her 50s said that having been born and bred in London, black women also face biases.

Aderele

“So, the issue of inclusion and biases has its own roots from different categories. The biases women face stems from the economic hardship and I’m talking about the 75 per cent that live in the rural communities that do not have academic and educational privileges.”