Women Working

True wisdom is less presuming than folly. The wise man doubteth often, and changeth his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubteth not; he knoweth all things but his own ignorance

- Akhenaton

(~1362BC) King of Egypt

There was a time when it was common to see men who built turbines and cars and boats. There was a time that one could only find men fixing a power transformer. It was a time when women were hardly seen in engineering positions or positions that required technical knowledge. It was more common to see them as secretaries, nurses, teachers and house wives. I've got news for you! Things have changed!

I have seen women penetrate and excel in hitherto male-dominated roles. There are more and more women CEOs, more and more women who will fix your car sometimes better than a man will. You doubt me? Google Sheryl Sandberg. Traditionally, there were no women drivers (of PSVs) or women touts - take a walk around town and see. Painting jobs were traditionally reserved for men - perhaps because women never thought to do them? I have seen a group of women re-painting a huge institution. I have seen women becoming brand ambassadors for huge multinational companies. I have seen women, start their own companies and claw their way to success. I thought I had seen it all, when I saw women repairing and constructing a road - professionally.

In recent times, the call for equality at the work place has becoming increasingly louder. It is impossible to ignore it forever. To a man, it might seem that women are dissatisfied and ungrateful for their place in society. A man would be wrong in assuming the latter and right is thinking the former. The reason for this is that some men are ignorant of how women really suffer at the work place. Let me enlighten you.

It is not uncommon to see women earning less than men while performing the same job in the same company. In some countries where labour laws are ignored, it is not uncommon to find a woman retrenched for being pregnant. Of course some companies are crafty about this and often retrench the woman personnel before the pregnancy is too noticeable. With regards to leadership, women are often skipped over for leadership positions. Some companies are progressive while others are not. It is my experience however, that progressive companies that promote gender equality tend to perform better than those that don't.

This is not a threat to men. On the contrary, women are creating a niche for themselves in new industries like the up & coming Social Media industry. Men similarly are distinguishing themselves in jobs traditionally relegated to women. You may have seen men who own, operate and work in Salons. Do women not love them for the job more than their fellow women folk. Traditionally, cooking was considered the province of a woman. Today, more men appear to know how to cook than women. 

In fact, it is strange how men do not seem to mind when they work side by side with women. The issue often comes when men work under women. In some cases men do not mind, especially in the cases that the woman is tom-boyish; however, in the case when a woman is a woman, it is often that men will find it hard to work under her. We are living in a world that is still struggling to change the firmly cast roles of men and women in society. Some changes like gender equality at work are healthy.

Nevertheless, where there are good things to be admired, rotten things are not lacking. I have both male and female role models. My life is filled with positive minded, optimistic and enterprising women and men. It is my personal experience that women who excel in life are women of action rather than whiners. I know ladies that are bank managers, social marketers, account managers for corporate clients, business ladies, public relations experts, administrators at multinational companies. Quite a number of these are single mothers, others are beautiful and ambitious young ladies. I respect these women and will not hear any chatter about them obtaining such positions using dubious means. 

However, there is a crop of women that I heavily dislike. These are the whiners, the complainers - the women who believe that they are special by virtue of being a woman and who believe that men should set them on a pedestal stand. I have met women from all walks of life, and I have found that the most high achieving women do not expect to be handed life on a silver platter - they work for their fortunes. I praise these women. How they spend their wealth is a matter for themselves, I do not care. What I cannot stomach is a woman who blames men for all the problems that women face, who will only work as hard as she needs to keep the job. The younger ones are especially obsessed with social image and a prince charming.  

There is nothing wrong with wanting a prince charming, it is actually quite nice. However, complaining that today's men are not quite up to scratch and that all the good men you meet are married while you yourself are not queen Jasmine is ridiculous! A king needs a queen and you are not a queen by virtue of being born a woman. I raise my cup to all the women in my life who correct me when I stereotype, who through tireless effort have excelled and continue to excel in their careers and in their lives.