The International Theme for International Women’s Day 2010 is “Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All.”
We must acknowledge the significant progress that has been made by women in the 20th century. The question is, “in the 1st decade of the 21st century have built on and multiplied progress or has the 20th century progress eroded”?
What are the circumstances that could cause the erosion of the progress made in the 20th century?
I shall refer some such circumstances, all of which I believe MUST be thought about my ALL women and especially by women who mentor other women.
Equal Opportunity
There are divergent views about whether women have more career opportunities than do men. Trends seem to show though that when a woman and a man apply with the same or similar qualifications apply for the same job, the man is more likely to get the job.
This bias ought to be made illegal, in The Bahamas, as it has been in other jurisdictions, by passage of a Sex Discrimination Act. Further, this bias does not take into account the cultural realities of The Bahamas. The reality is that the majority of households in The Bahamas, more than 60%, are headed by women.
As this is the reality, one can readily see how single mother heads of households are at an unfair disadvantage.
Equal Pay
Statistics also show that even though women have made significant progress at the workplace, men tend to be paid more than women for performing the same job.
This bias also ought to be made illegal in The Bahamas as it is in other jurisdictions by the passage of an Equal Pay Act. As more women than men head households, why should a man, who it is assumed is supporting his family be paid more than a woman, especially when that assumption is incorrect.
I have been advocating for an Equal Pay Act and a Sex Discrimination Act since 1981. Without the two acts women are disadvantaged. It is difficult to positively mentor to an already disadvantage group of people (52% of Bahamian population is women).
We should all recognize that equal pay and equal opportunity are human rights and inevitably lead to progress for all.
The Acts suggested are in the control of government.
There are some factors in our control that affect adversely progress and opportunity for women. I call it getting back to basics.
Fertility
More than 70% of children born in The Bahamas are born out to single mothers. Of that percentage, more than 50% are born to teen mothers. We cannot hope to build a strong society on the back of these statistics. Sociologists feel that many of our problems in The Bahamas can be traced to the breakdown of the family and to babies having babies. 13 year olds are children. How can a 13 year old know how to be a mother?
We must recognize that what we are doing is not working. More babies are having babies. Not less. It is imperative that the Church, Schools, NGOs and other institutions get involved in education about planning family life. We must intensify our education of women and men about family planning options and we must jealously guard the rights of children. Would our society look different if every birth certificate, by law, had to have the name of both the mother and father of the child? Would our society be different if every man was made to support all of his children?
Studies all over the world show that children accomplish more and are better emotionally adjusted when they are raised in a two parent family.
Excellence in Education and Attitude
It is no secret that accomplishment, by whatever yardstick is used, is directly tied to education. Persons with a High School diploma earn more than those without a high school diploma. Similarly the more degrees that one possesses, the more one’s earning capacity. A college degree provides women with a measure of insurance against poverty because college-educated women earn higher wages, have a lower rate of out-of-marriage childbearing, and have a lower risk of divorce than do women who do not earn college degrees. Other studies have shown that education not only increases a woman’s skills and productivity, as it does men’s, but also appears to reduce the gap in female and male earnings attributable to factors such as discrimination, preferences, and circumstances.
Many studies show that there is a strong negative correlation and various measures of crime.
I commend to you all the CHANCE FOUNDATION, a Bahamian Foundation whose aim is for The Bahamas to have a population with at least one College Degree in every household.
It is clear than we need to cultivate a culture of excellence. People should be taught that every task is to be performed to the best of one’s ability. This attitude is especially important for women as the hand that rocks the cradle does rule the world. You cannot pass on to your children qualities that you do not have.
We know that we will surely regress if we continue the trend of a D- National Average and a F National Average in Math and Science. We live in a technological era. Math and science are essential to technological competence.
The number of women who have won awards for math and science puts the lie to any suggestion that women are not competent at math and science. Think of Rosalind Franklin, known for her role in discovering the DNA structure; Elizabeth Arden, the cosmetics manufacturer; or Florence Nightingale, the founder of the modern nursing profession – just to name a few women who put the lie to that suggestion.
Finally on excellence and attitude, we must add appearance. The future leader must be taught that “you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression”. Going to work in tight revealing blouses, skirts or dresses does not convey a work attitude. Further, photos of yourself as a “dance hall girl” posted on Facebook, or any other social site, does not convey an attitude of excellence. Our youth need to know that many employers use Facebook as a tool to do a background check.
Delayed Gratification and Planning long term goals
Education also helps in this goal. Schooling rewards diligence, competence, conformity and cooperation. And teaching history and social studies causes students to focus on the future. There really is no secret to this. Most, if not all of us can recall, as children, being asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up”. Being grown up was then a long way away. From then we were being taught to plan for the future. In the IT era, everything seems to happen instantaneously. I emphasize “seems”. The information we get the result of technology is useless unless we know how to process and utilize that information.
Our youth must be taught that life is not a video game. You have to work for what you get. Most things do not happen instantaneously. You only get out of life what you put into it.
These thoughts are ones that we all can pursue as mentors of Bahamians.
I believe that we should encourage our youth to see themselves as leaders and I believe that we should also see them as future leaders.
For those who already understand the values above, I hope that we all will offer or continue to offer ourselves as mentors.
Personally, I find mentoring to be very satisfying. It is essential that mentor and mentee both understand and agree what they both expect from the relationship.
Mentoring is especially satisfying as it means investing time in people rather than throwing money at people.
I believe that it is possible to implement all of the above suggestion they are essential to capture and develop potential in our women in the 21st century and we will see some of the rewards in our lifetimes.
