Stakeholders kick against tokenisation of women in workplace
On
By Elizabeth Adegbesan
Stakeholders in the Nigerian economic space have kicked against tokenisation of women in the workplace, noting the flood of female appointments in some global organisations.
They expressed their dissatisfaction at a webinar to honour International Women’s Day with the theme: Leave No Woman Behind: The 50% Rule, held in Lagos.
Speaking at the meeting, Managing Director, Everdon Bureau de Change, Theresa Ezeh said: “Tokenism is when a female is just appointed to a role not necessarily because she is the best fit but because they are trying to make up the number of representation as a team.
Governments at all levels as well as operators of private organisations have been advised to increase both leadership and economic opportunities for women.
This formed part of the recommendations given by speakers at a recent webinar organised by the VFD Group, with the theme: “Leave No Woman Behind: The 50% Rule.”
The event was organised to mark the International Women’s Day tagged ‘#choosetochallenge’.
The Managing Director, Everdon Bureau De Change, a subsidiary of the VFD Group, Theresa Ezeh, however stressed that competence should be considered above every other thing.
Responding to a question on if today’s workplace is a safer place for women than it was a decade ago, she said: “For me, it a yes and a no answer. The yes side is the fact that increasingly, there is more and more awareness being put out. People are becoming more aware.