Let me acknowledge the vision of the people who were pregnant with this idea, who gave birth to it and nurtured it along with others up until today. This is what we call an enduring legacy. I will attempt to break down this theme and thereafter speak on our potential and how to unleash our intrinsic and other potential to transform not only our lives but the lives of others.
By Olufunke Fadugba
Who is a woman: A woman is a special species, I mean a purpose-built creature. A woman is extremely fond of or devoted to something specific.
A woman grows up to be confident except those who have been abused one way or the other.
A real woman holds fast to her beliefs and values, no matter the situation. It should be stated that integrity is the backbone of a real woman who is not swayed by peer pressure or outside influence.
Let us look at the border. In this context, I will look at the border as an allegory. It has both literal and deeper meanings.
Border could mean deep-seated societal barriers. It can be a self-imposed barrier or limitation. Border can manifest in the form of cultural limitation, lack of mentorship opportunities, and lack of educational and skilled training.
There is also the limiting influences of drugs on the achievement and orientation of women
Another border- like barrier is the insidious impact of social media imitation that could limit the possibility of unleashing our potential.
We have unequal access to inputs or opportunities to advance besides societal stereotypes and workplaces or environmental borders.
A critical border is the higher allocation of time to unpaid work such as child-rearing and household tasks by women. If only this could be quantified and incentivized.
*Potential: Women have inbuilt and acquired potential that can positively impact society.
These range from potential to do business in the economy, ability to impact and excel in human resource capabilities, as well as organisational competence.
In essence, women have the potential to multi task and excel in all endeavours they are extremely fond of or devoted to.
This gathering is meant to awaken our sleeping or dormant ability to break down the identified borders, which had continued to inhibit us from maximising our abilities and impacting on lives.
I must, before moving forward, say that women in a geographical border area like Badagry need strong support such as this type of periodic sensitisation backed with necessary tools, including finance.
Steps to unleash our potential:
To unleash our God-given potential and the ones we have acquired required deliberate attempts from the individuals, the family, community, and the government.
- We must be our “own woman” that is to unleash our potential. We must free ourselves from restriction (either self-imposed, family restriction, social prejudice, and environmental restriction.
- Free from control or dictatorial influence–your friends could be imposing dictatorial influence to tie you down.
- Leave the class or group of gossipy, blackmailing, pull her down, and conniving women into the team of refined, polite, hardworking women who are the cynosure of society for others to emulate you.
- To unleash our potential, we must be mentally strong, not about being popular, not about earning fat salaries or incomes but having character with self confidence, productive, caring, a go- getter, a fear-tackler and true to one’s self.
- Government and stakeholders must be deliberate in helping to bring down some of these borders through inclusion and diversity initiatives.
- We must dismantle systemic barriers against women.
I recognize the fact that the bulk of us at this gathering have paid the price to be counted among the achievers that have been able to make impacts in our chosen fields and various spaces of our endeavours, it is therefore not wrong to say congratulations as we aim for greater achievements.
However, Let me conclude by urging us to reflect on the saying that success without a successor is failure, we need to sustain the trend, by making deliberate and intentional efforts to assist the next generation of women in recognizing the need to break barriers, unleash potential and transform lives.
We can achieve this in alliance with the menfolk, by getting the policy makers committed to building the needed structures to enable the women to get education and empowerment, enjoy equal opportunities in all fields and have access to enduring mentorship and support to overcome gender-based biases and stereotypes that limit women’s potential.
We must also ensure safe, inclusive spaces that allow women to thrive and feel valued and promote women’s entrepreneurship and financial independence through grants and loans, while also encouraging the development of women’s leadership skills to increase their representation in decision-making positions.
As woman, look for what is needed in your community that you can be providing to earn a living. Don’t be too choosy beyond your capacity. Make yourself relevant and useful to yourself.
Finally, there is the need to attach more importance to women’s caregiving responsibilities, a lot of people tend to underestimate the economic value of unpaid care work, which typically include activities such as childcare, eldercare, household chores, and other forms of domestic labor, it is often assumed that because it does not attract payment, unpaid care doesn’t contribute to the economy.
However, if the same services were to be outsourced or paid for, it would represent a significant portion of GDP in many countries.
Therefore, those burdened with these kinds of responsibilities also deserved to be recognized and supported adequately.
Fadugba made this presentation at the 6th Annual Badagry Women Symposium on December 19, 2024
