By Vera Chidi-Maha
There is a general misconception that for a woman to get to the top of her career, she must use what God has endowed her with or what people call bottom power. This is so wrong. The truth is you can take everything away from a woman, but never underestimate a woman’s determination.
When a woman wants to succeed, nobody can stop her. Have you ever seen a desperate woman looking for the fruit of the womb? I tell you, she will move God to give her the baby even if it is not His will! A woman can get to any length she desires to achieve what she is determined to get.
Below is a true life story of a woman that decided and actually succeeded against all odds: After I left my last place of work, I promised myself two things. First, I will not to be a small fish in a big ocean and second fiddle again. I decided that neither my gender nor the erroneous but common perception of career women will ever deter me.
So, when the opportunity came for me to occupy the position of Managing Director in Adreality Limited, I saw it as a chance to prove myself as a first-class career woman. Of course, I don’t expect you to believe that it was easy getting my husband’s consent, though he eventually succumbed.
What I did not expect was the total opposition of the management and staff to a female MD. Not that they cared much about my capabilities, their problem was my gender: the fact that I am a woman. My greatest support came from the Board of Directors, which was actually worried about the survival of the company, and whose members were very pleased to find in me a trustworthy and seemingly capable hand to manage the affairs of the company.
The chairman’s wife was another potential opposition, but I just refused to get personal with her, no room for anything else but business. The dissidents, as I call them, are my management team, the staff and the male chauvinists among us. Because I was fully aware that people generally resist change, I did not allow any distraction to make me lose focus. So, I decided to take all of them in my strove, the more they strife with me, the more I went about doing what I was employed to do. I am of the view that I can achieve what I put my mind to achieve. Gender, to me, has never and will never be a barrier. I practically moved the staff to work because I know it is the price for success.
The women in my office were not left out of this group. As a matter of fact, they were the leaders of the dissident group. We have only three of them, but they were enough to cause chaos if given the chance. My secretary, the chief protagonist, refused totally to understand and accept that a woman like here, in Africa, should be at the helm, other than in the ministry or somewhere else but in Adreality.
What does such a woman know? To her, it is not right, something is wrong somewhere. The present persistent rumour is that my humble self, the Managing Director of Adreality, is having an affair delves with my chairman. Why me? How did it come to this? Have they forgotten so soon that I am a married woman with kids? What is my sin? I can answer this question in one sentence, simple; I am a woman that is trying to succeed in a world where men failed.
How dare I attempt to aspire? There is no room to consider excellence, academic qualifications, not brilliance nor could success be deducted for making a woman an MD. She can only be seen as a harlot who got the job because of her wayward lifestyle. Of course, it is only men that have all the outstanding qualities of an MD.
You see, the absurd raffle draw that apportioned the destinies of Africa women: two people (male and female) starting off even as identical twins in the morning will quite easily find themselves in the evening, one as president dishing out instructions to the people and the other, the female, a house warmer or maid, jumping at the whims and caprices of the President.
I know I am not in the first list of women to be so achieved. As a matter of fact, I have read severally, of how women at the helm both young and old have been ceaselessly accused of sleeping their way to the top. Especially in show business, no one is believed to have gotten up there without one godfather or the other.
Sometime ago, there was a paid advert by a former top Nigerian official refuting allegations of the rumour of having affairs with somebody inside Aso Rock Villa. At that time, she was in her fifties. But for goodness sake, was the rumour intended to smear her reputation because she took the bold step of aspiring to an elite position? This is a woman that went through trials before the senators and successfully justified her position.
Ironically, women oftentimes are the reason for most of these attacks. We are very unfair to ourselves. Take my secretary for instance. To appreciate her role in all this, let me give you an insight into how we work. My chairman has closed for the day. As a matter of fact, my employment interview took place long after working hours, 7:30pm, to be precise so it has been the usual practice for me to stay behind after others had closed. And to make the job easier, I usually ask my secretary to wait behind also. Now, because my secretary is from the old school, I am planning to review their salaries upward, of course, and it will need a little bit of arm-twisting to get my chairman to approve it.
So, if it means sitting up with the chairman all night to defend this budget proposal, I will do it. And guess what? The secretary will not be staying behind with me; the last thing I need is a nosy secretary who would tip toe into the boardroom halfway through my presentation.
