Monday 4 May 2020

#MyWordForToday is the Economics of #Inclusion


#Mywordfortoday is the economics of #inclusion.

When my younger sister arrived in the US about 15 years ago, she experienced such a culture shock.

She worked at a grocery store and people would not allow her attend to them because they claimed they could not hear what she was saying. 




They claimed that she sounded funny, this experience was not peculiar to her. Several other people have faced and are still facing this sort of discrimination, albeit in different forms.

Our world is ruled by different biases, racism, colourism, glass ceilings. 

It is hard being an African woman from a third world country, some people in Europe and in the Americas, believe that we live on trees.

Exclusion is much more intense as a woman of African origin because, at some point in our lives, there was institutionalized and legalized slavery in Africa, Nigeria was a British colony until 1960, and in many ways, it still feels like we are being colonized, but this time by culture, by tradition and societal norms, even in our home countries.

Women are not expected to be anything other than caregivers and homemakers so every time a woman is able to break through the layers of glass and ceramic ceilings we give a whoop of joy.

Women are usually at the forefront of leading social change but we must bring our own table in order to be included in decision-making processes, be it as a CEO of a company or in a political party or in the inner workings of a government.

It is so bad that men rarely get tested for fertility because it is generally believed that the responsibility to be fertile is Smackdown on the woman. 

Eradicating slavery was not just the right thing to do it was also the smart thing to do.
My write-up is written out of pent-up anger and frustration at a system that does everything to shut us down. 

However, as terrible as it is for women, in particular black African women, this problem or challenge of exclusion is not peculiar to us.

Many of us are suspicious of people who do not look like us, talk like us or think like us, it doesn't matter if that person may have a wealth of experience that others can draw upon, it doesn't matter if you might be instrumental to ending the world's problems, you are treated differently because you're different.

But all of these is beginning to change, we are thankful for that, but a lot still needs to be done all the incoming generation of leaders.

Being just colour-blind will not cut it anymore we must be brave enough to see beyond all our gender and all other limiting beliefs. 

Women, for instance, are blessed with emotional capital, we must not shy away from using this gift because it is who we are, we must instead use it to better our society.


I am incredibly proud of people like my mum very practical very realistic very pragmatic early on in our lives whilst fighting her own battles(an unhappy marriage and foolish customs) nonetheless opened our eyes to see that we can do better, she proved this to us by getting an associate degree from the Manhattan Community College, in an era where her contemporaries had settled into the traditional role of being housewives (there is nothing wrong with being a housewife so long as one is fulfilled) in traditional Nigeria. And she did this after she had had me and my younger brother.

I'm also very proud of Ms Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand Prime Minister who had been providing excellent leadership in the handling of the tragedies that occurred in New Zealand, another feather in her hat is in the handling of the Corona Virus which is currently affecting the entire world.
By a study undertaken by the UN, it was found that women that were women led or worked, the economy of that place grew, this is perhaps the best argument for gender inclusion or balance because we have seen that money is extremely important for us to be able to grow our different economies.

A strong female presence benefits not just the workplace environment but the world at large, as there are reduced discrimination, better staff retention and better general well being.

Another strong case for inclusion is that where decisions are being made, it is important that all perspectives are heard. We all see issues from different prisms, who knows which perspective will help solve a challenge?

The cure for smallpox, which by the way, was a devastating disease as it killed three out of every ten people who got it and the ones who survived it had survivor badges (sCars) to show for it, came from the unlikeliest source.

An English doctor called Edward Jenner in 1796 observed that Milkmaids who had gotten cowpox did not show any symptoms of smallpox, he based on this discovery developed a vaccine which effectively ended the scourge of smallpox.

Diversity is a strength if we allow it to be. We must challenge the norms, the customs, and the traditions which hitherto held us bound.

These difficult conversations must be had in being inclusive, we must deliberately include every perspective in our conversations.


It will be hard, but as we have seen, the effort will be worth it.


Bibire Omotoyosi Salihu🌹
30042020



No comments:

Post a Comment

#MyWordForToday is #Pedestals

#MyWordForToday is #Pedestals I am not watching Big Brother Nigeria, but I can tell you the names of housemates because it is the hottest sh...