developing women leaders in the developing world

Developing women leaders in the developing world • From a Western standpoint, it can be easier to think that challenges facing aspiring women leaders are limited to the developed world. Women in the developing world also face similar issues. Often, in the most patriarchal of societies even the most basic women’s rights cannot be taken for granted. • But that doesn’t mean that important initiatives aren’t taking place across the globe, initiatives that should be celebrated. And that’s why I want to use this blog to highlight two particular initiatives taking place in Africa. • As reported in an article on the Kenyan site, Standard Digital, the Director General of the Kenya Vision 2030 Secretariat , Mugo Kibati has advised the government to strengthen the leadership capacity of women by appointing them to corporate boards. Mr Kibati was speaking in Nairobi after launching an initiative through the US-based Duke Corporate Education entitled ‘Women Leading Africa: Board Leadership-Voices of the Future’. Acknowledging the lack of role models for young girls, he urged women to support each other in pursuit of their ambitions while recognising that much also had to be done to broaden women’s skills in order to prepare them for leading roles. • Meanwhile, the Tanzania Global Learning Agency recently organised a workshop on the theme of Transformational Leadership for Women’s Empowerment in Arusha. Designed to introduce women to both the skills and the mindset required for leadership positions, the workshop looked at what could be learned from other successful women, discussed the values and assumptions that could either hinder or advance the careers of women, and stressed the importance of women empowering one another to push back the limits that were

Upload: neela-bettridge-ltd

Post on 01-Jul-2015

35 views

Category:

Documents

7 download

Report

Download

Embed Size (px):

TRANSCRIPT

Developing women leaders in the developing world

• From a Western standpoint, it can be easier to think that challenges facing aspiring women leaders are limited to the developed world. Women in the developing world also face similar issues. Often, in the most patriarchal of societies even the most basic women’s rights cannot be taken for granted.

• But that doesn’t mean that important initiatives aren’t taking place across the globe, initiatives that should be celebrated. And that’s why I want to use this blog to highlight two particular initiatives taking place in Africa.

• As reported in an article on the Kenyan site, Standard Digital, the Director General of the Kenya Vision 2030 Secretariat, Mugo Kibati has advised the government to strengthen the leadership capacity of women by appointing them to corporate boards. Mr Kibati was speaking in Nairobi after launching an initiative through the US-based Duke Corporate Education entitled ‘Women Leading Africa: Board Leadership-Voices of the Future’. Acknowledging the lack of role models for young girls, he urged women to support each other in pursuit of their ambitions while recognising that much also had to be done to broaden women’s skills in order to prepare them for leading roles.

• Meanwhile, the Tanzania Global Learning Agency recently organised a workshop on the theme of Transformational Leadership for Women’s Empowerment in Arusha. Designed to introduce women to both the skills and the mindset required for leadership positions, the workshop looked at what could be learned from other successful women, discussed the values and assumptions that could either hinder or advance the careers of women, and stressed the importance of women empowering one another to push back the limits that were imposed on them through gender stereotyping.

• So much of what is written and said about women in leadership is focused on the US, the UK and Europe that I find

it particularly gladdening to read of initiatives like these.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000092108&story_title=involve-more-women-in-leadership-urges-kibati

http://www.vision2030.go.ke/

http://www.tagla.go.tz/

http://www.neelabettridge.com/women-in-leadership-resources/