African Women and #MeToo Revolution

-
I was on “The Takeaway” on Friday, March 30, to speak about equality for African women in the workforce: African Women and the #MeToo Revolution. What challenges  do African women face? What opportunities are available to them? 

Tremendous progress has been made but much remains to be done. It's a short clip that begins with a story about women in the Lesotho military fighting for, and getting the right to become pregnant due to their winning a lawsuit. 

The #MeToo phenomenon has not taken off because of the lack of legal protections for women who speak out about sexual harassment and abuse. There are also considerable social constraints to speaking about sexual trauma. Until those barriers are removed, there'll be little airing of trauma and pain in public.

I like it that The Takeaway featured African women journalists telling the stories that matter to them and to women in the African continent. I didn't like the photo that accompanied the story and am sharing some of the art by two highly talented young artists, Stephen Folaranmi, and Gbolade Omidiran, as well as a photo of me teaching at Brooklyn College in my early days there. There's also a photo of an adire (indigo batik) bedspread that I own, which is made by Nigerian women in Abeokuta and Oshogbo.

Read more about African Women in the workforce 


1.  Women Matter Africa talks about women in the formal economy.

2.  Africa A World Leader In Women Business Owners is a news story about African women's considerable entrepreneurship, and identifies Ghana as the leading country in this respect.
3.  UN Women's PROGRESS OF THE WORLD’S WOMEN 2015-2016: TRANSFORMING  ECONOMIES,  REALIZING RIGHTS is a great resource that shows the global nature of the problem and gives insights into challenges and opportunities.
4.  Education is an important factor for gender equality in the workforce, but there are serious, gendered disparities in access, retention and graduation. See:  UNICEF's Barriers to Girls' Education, Strategies and Interventions
5.  Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security's Women  Peace and Security Index 2017/18, with its focus on "Tracking sustainable peace through inclusion, justice, and security for women," also gives global insight to gender equity beyond the workplace.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Video recording 2nd session. “Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Academia: An Online Roundtable Discussion”

-
Appreciation! The video of the second, which is equally the last session of “Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Academia: An Online Roundtable Discussion” organized by the Lagos Studies Association Women’s Mentoring Network, is now available. We thank everyone who made these two events possible. Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi did an excellent job of moderating the events, making sure everything went as planned. Carli Coetzee and Lynn Schler worked behind the scene to conceptualize the roundtable and to develop the call for participation. The conversation was rich, thought-provoking, and boundary-shifting because our speakers (Lola Akande, Judith Byfield, Abosede George, Taibat Lawanson, Mojubaolu Okome, Charmaine Pereira, and Yetunde Zaid) intellectualized the problem. They combined personal experience with their knowledge of institutional politics to expand the repertoire of discourse. Other members of the Women’s Mentoring Network (Peju Layiwola and Oyeronke O
Read more

video recording 1st session. "Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Academia: An Online Roundtable Discussion”

-
Want to know what I think about sexual harassment? I participated in a roundtable discussion on this subject on Saturday, September 12 Here's the recording from last week and the announcement of the next roundtable. The video recording of the first session of Sexism, Sexual Harassment, and Academia: An Online Roundtable Discussion organized by the Lagos Studies Association Women’s Mentoring Network is now available. Many thanks to the speakers and participants. The second session will take place this Saturday, September 19 at 3 pm (Nigeria Time) 10 am NY time(EST).
Read more

Owo Eni L'a Fi Ntun Iwa Ara Eni Se

-
DRAFT COPY. PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE WITHOUT AUTHOR’S WRITTEN PERMISSION. The Future is in our Hands: Pan-African Women’s Leadership in the 21st Century Mojúbàolú Olúfúnké Okome, Ph.D.Professor of Political ScienceWomen’s Studies Coordinator Brooklyn College, CUNY Pan-African Women's Philanthropy Summit St. Paul, Minnesota December 6, 2006 Inspired by a Yorùbá adage: àtélewó eni l’a fi ntún ìwà eni se (one rehabilitates one’s character with one’s own hands/the solution for one’s problems lie in one’s hands), this paper argues that while there are numerous challenges that militate against the development of a cohesive Pan-African front among women leaders, there are also some positive aspects of African culture, (particularly in the ideals of philanthropy and community-building) that we can build on and accentuate to help us face the challenges of the future, beginning with the 21st century. These ideals include collective self-help, generosity, informal networking and mentorship and a
Read more