Today's Working African Woman - Juggling Professional and Family Life

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The oppressive culture in Africa debases women and convinces them that they can only amount to something if they are wives and mothers, and also accept their primary responsibilities in the bedroom for their husbands and the kitchen for the family. This attitude towards women may be the cause of stolen dreams of many African women. This could be a major contributor to loss of creativity among many “would-be-entrepreneur” women, potential co-creators of new products and product designs, and participants in both country, regional and global markets.

In general, the culture in Africa is one that disempowers women. As the women grow up it is engraved in their hearts, and minds and rooted in their psyche that they should learn how to keep the home and prepare themselves to serve their future husbands. It is not a bad thing for a wife to exist as a wonderful wife and mother, according to Good Life Mantra, (2016), “life is about creating yourself…”, but it is evil to steal her dreams of desiring to be highly educated while also trying to keep her home. In other words, it is not contradictory to be a highly educated woman and entrepreneur, and wife and mother, all at the same time. Many women have done it and have emerged successfully, impacting even beyond their immediate family. According to Victoria Kisyombe, founder of Selfina “if I can change the life of one person it makes a whole difference because behind that person there is a whole family. It’s a family, it’s a society…”

So if a woman who is both a wife and mother is transformed then another generation follows suit. Sadly, many African women who decide to take the bull by the horn are either left by their husbands to take care of their children, keep the home as well as a job or are divorced. They are now being punished for desiring to fulfil their dream in life.

The 67th annual conference on world affairs in Boulder, Colorado, (2015) confirmed that working women in general, are faced with tremendous challenges but stated that it was worse with West African women. The conference found that this stems from a culture which oppresses girls and women.After so many years of hard work African women achieve high powered positions. Rather than being supported by their spouses, they are seen as rebellious instead of a success. Leshao Ole Lekasi, a blogger with Agile International argues that “...discrimination and gender inequality has been transmitted to the boardrooms of major corporations and even governments except for countries such South Africa, Cape Verde and Rwanda with the highest number of women representation in government.”

Agile international has embarked on a project for women in Timbuktu and the rest of Mali, in which they will educate women on farming methods that will help them generate income for themselves and their families. A project that will also help them strike a balance between home and work. More women entrepreneurs are coming up the ladder despite the vast discouragement they face. Sadly, many still face family isolation, divorce and discrimination because of their achievements. This was confirmed by Happy Ralinala, Head of business banking South Africa at Barclays Africa Group, (2015) when she said that “women hold the key to unlocking economic growth in the country and more needs to be done to foster female entrepreneurs”. She continued by saying that "we know that given the opportunity, women would invest most of their income into their families and communities. This means that putting more wealth in the hands of women could have a significant positive multiplier effect on the economy".

Women entrepreneurs, particularly in South Africa, still face more obstacles in starting their own businesses than men and this she says can be attributed to certain unique abilities they bring to the business world (Ralinala, 2015). These obstacles were beautifully summarized by Daily News contributor, Paula Fernandes (2016) in which describes the shift in entrepreneurship from men to women. This was agreed by Barbara Birungi of women in technology of Uganda and WITU (2012) who maintains that statistics show that women entrepreneurs are now more than their male counterparts on the African continent. However, the struggle continues as the women remain steadily on the path of victory.

References

• Agile International, (2015) available at: http://agile-international.org/working-women-the-struggle-continues/?gclid=COakv9y8884CFe-17QodpqgCyw

• SME South Africa, (2015) available at: http://www.smesouthafrica.co.za/15915/Here-are-biggest-challenges-women-entrepreneurs-need-to-over-come/ Published August 2015 by Refilwe Kgosiemang.

• Lionessesof Africa, (2014) available at: http://www.lionessesof Africa.com/blog/2014/12/30/50-inspiring-quotes-from-Africas-leading-women-entrepreneurs.

• Business News Daily, available at: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5268-women-entrepreneur-challenges.html. Published May 10, 2016 by Paula Fernandes.

• Neha Roy, (2015). ‘top benefits of being a housewife’. Available at: http://www.goodlifemantra.com/top-benefits-of-being-a-housewife/. Colour Mag by Theme Grill, powered by Word Press.

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Blog Post Author: Maryanne Aniagolu-Oke is a bi-lingual freelance human resource generalist and community development expert who speaks English and German. Maryanne writes for SitiTalkBlog.

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