Last year a woman emerged as the CEO of Zenith Bank. You see, Zenith Bank is one of the top-performing banks in my country, so a woman rising to the position of CEO made waves, and of course everyone had an opinion. During this time, we read rumors from private blogs that she is a mother of 6 children.
A rumor that my friend brought to me on WhatsApp to score argumentative points. According to my friend, motherhood does not limit a woman from succeeding in life, but sheer laziness does.
I read his take and went through the write-up he had sent to back it up. I didn't stop there; I also went online to validate the authenticity of the CEO's maternity, and of course it was fake news because no mainstream media or credible source broadcasted such news, only rumor mongers of Facebook and Instagram.
Soon after my little investigation, I went back to my friend and tendered my opinion from an informed position. Not only that, but I also backed it up with real-life illustrations. I went on to make him understand that motherhood is such a demanding task for a mother of 6 to rise to the position of CEO in the richest bank in the county.
From experience, women with multiple children most likely do not succeed in the banking sector because in Nigeria the bankers are given targets of account openings and financial deposits.
I remember my friend losing her job while working with one of the prominent banks because in a space of 5 years, she already had three children, which greatly affected her performance.
Indeed, I was quite certain that given the conditions surrounding employment in the Nigerian banking sector, a woman like the Zenith Bank CEO will be too busy for motherhood unless maybe she enlists the services of a surrogate and a nanny, which are practices that are mostly frowned upon on my side of the world.
After our little argument, my friend saw reasons with me because he's a single father of a special needs child. According to him, he knows how tasking it is juggling business and fatherhood.
We resolved quite beautifully as we discussed at length the sacrifices women make to pursue a career. It was from this argument I concluded that indeed men and women are not equal and women should strive for equity instead of equality in the workplace.
The thing is, biologically, women are already at a disadvantaged position in the pursuit of wealth. I remember when another of my friends, who is a supervisor in a chicken production factory, had issues with his female colleagues.
According to my friend's story, the women felt cheated as they had to box up the chickens while the men lifted and arranged the already boxed chickens for delivery. To them, the men had the easy task as they were swift in their jobs. In order not to feel cheated, the women opted to switch positions. My friend refused them at. first, and he was tagged a sexist.
So for peace to reign, he gave into their demands, and while the men were fast in boxing up the chickens, the women struggled with the boxes, and none could even use a forklift.
Again they cried out for assistance from the men, but my friend refused, and he was reported to their manager. While the issue was resolved, the women were made to understand the importance of equity and winning in one's own energy.
As opposite genders, the goal should be to complement each other's strength and weakness not to compete. In the home, partners should meet in the middle and support one another in their places of challenges. The home belongs to both partners as well as the children also belongs to them both.
Basically, home chores and parenting are tough and it's even worse when one doesn't have a supportive partner to lessen the burden. More so, given the high cost of living, there is need for two party income as financial responsibilities especially for the home becomes a burden for one partner to bear.
You know there is a saying that one will chase hundred but two will chase a thousand. Thus, equity for me is recognizing our flaws, our challenges and the conditions that sums up our entire existence.
Basically, it is from identifying these shortcomings of ours that considerations are put in place to ensure a fair working and living environment for all.