As part of activities to mark the 2022 International Women’s Day, Nestoil Group held a virtual event to celebrate women and drive gender parity.
The virtual gathering, which had about 50 in attendance, including men, had select women who had broken the glass ceiling in their chosen fields lead conversations with a view to encouraging others, motivating the young to aspire and debunking the notion of gender stigmatisation.
The 2022 Nestoil Group International Women’s Day eventheld under the theme, ‘’#BreaktheBias: Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow.”
During the event, speakers explored the implications of gender bias in the workplace and charged fellow women to be ambitious, focused, deliberately competent and willing to put in the extra work as necessary ingredients to breaking the glass ceiling.
Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, director, public affairs, communications and sustainability, Coca-Cola Nigeria opined that for women to break the bias, they must be ready to purge themselves of stereotypical beliefs and embrace life with a positive mindset.
According to Onyemelukwe, one of the stereotypes that hold women back is the lack of conviction which prevents women from pursuing opportunities for which they are qualified. Whereas the menfolk, even those with lower qualifications,are often undeterred in going for every available opportunity.
She charged women to cultivate the habit of self-belief because there is no limit to what they can achieve if they do. “Women account for two-thirds of the world’s spending power; 66 per cent of work is done by women, yet they earn 10 per cent of the world’s income due to the type of work they do. By being more deliberate in creating value, mentoring other ladies and girls, while not forgetting to grow their network, more women will be empowered to break the bias and rise to the top.”
Onyemelukwe also urged women not to be fixated on doing everything by themselves to avoid burnout but should get support, if need be.She advised women to make their presence count at each opportunity.
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Also, Chichi Emenike, head of gas, Neconde Energy, described breaking the bias as breaking from the norm, while being competent is the key to growth for women because the world demands more people who have what it takes to succeed.
According to her, the strongest call for inclusion and diversity is for women to do better at each given opportunity.She counselled women to be resolute in their chosen careers.
‘’A capital investor doesn’t look at the sex, but atone who can deliver, who can make judicious use of the resources at their disposal’’, she asserted.
For women to grow, she tasked them to do a self-appraisal, be more intentional‘focus on their focus’ and know the type of conversations to engage in, while putting a support system in place. Life, according to Emenike, has to be a continuous improvement, and women and men must know how to deal with it because the focus of successful people is on how to win.
