AWB begins research on women and workplace violence
The African Women on Board (AWB), a non-profit organisation dedicated to reshaping the future for African women and girls globally, has concluded plans to partner Ford Foundation for research on African women as entrepreneurs and consumers.
The project, based on the group’s 2020/2021 theme: ‘The Power of Africa’s Female Economy,’ will focus on violence and African women in the workplace.
According to the group’s chair, Nkiru Balonwu, violence against women could take many forms, including intimidation, sexual harassment, online abuse as well as sexual, emotional and economic violence.
She noted that there was significant gap in understanding the prevalence of such acts, particularly in the workplace, as relates to both corporate and non-corporate environments, including marketplaces, restaurants, homes and hospitals.
According to her, AWB would conduct surveys and produce a new podcast featuring transparent accounts from women who have experienced such acts within their workplaces. She disclosed that the organisation would partner forward-thinking businesses and brands to conduct anonymous employee-work-experience surveys and gather more granular feedback on the patterns of abuse taking place.
Balonwu revealed that research findings would be used to help stakeholders — women, men, organisations, regulatory bodies, policymakers, among others — to better understand and tackle violence against women, apart from creating policy models that could be applied in workplaces across the continent.
The group’s chair also disclosed that the organisation was committed to advancing narratives would help improve realities for African women and girls, and that the new initiative would emphasise the crucial role that women do play in growing the economy. Balonwu called on any person or group of persons that has experienced one form of violence or the other to share their experiences.
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