Legal & Compliance Director at Lafarge Africa Plc, Edith Onwuchekwa has given strategic analysis on how Lafarge Africa group has deepened gender inclusiveness in workplaces which analysts say is worth emulating by other conglomerates in Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview to mark the 2019 International Women’s Day (IWD) in Lagos, she argued that the cement solutions firm has taken leadership role in promoting equal and fair opportunities for all irrespective of gender.
Explaining more on the theme; ‘Balance for Better,’ she recalled that “International Women’s Day has been marked worldwide for well over a century. It should and I believe it will continue to grow stronger. The Day is a signal, a call for action, and this is very important”.
She noted that there are five females executives on the Executive Committee of Lafarge Africa handling critical roles including Human Resources, Commercial, Legal, Communications and Health & Safety. Most companies have just one or two.
According to her, “Lafarge is an organization that promotes inclusive workplaces for women with a deliberate commitment to Gender Diversity. In Lafarge Africa, we already have 30 per cent of women in the Executive Committee, also on the Board, the most senior level within the organization”.
“LafargeHolcim as an international group has a goal to achieve a 30 per cent female workforce by 2030. This is a big goal for a building and construction company and shows our strong commitment to women empowerment. All LafargeHolcim employees also have access to a learning database of resources for knowledge on gender and inclusive leadership among other inclusive initiatives put in place.
Answering question on if there are peculiar current challenges facing women in this profession, Onwuchekwa, a lawyer by profession averred that “It is important to note that gender equality, discrimination or intimidation of women is a challenge not only faced in the Legal profession, but by women generally in any profession. Other outdated customs, traditions and perceptions that women are only suitable for certain professions, like, Nursing, Catering, Fashion-Designing also still exist”.
“In the legal profession, there are some circumstances where women could be subject of bullying, intimidated by male colleagues or prefer certain briefs that are of a commercial nature instead of criminal litigation. However, in recent times due to aggressive workplace gender diversity policies, government awareness and dogged determination of female lawyers’ activism, these cases are on the decrease and need to be eliminated.
Giving further emphasis on how corporate organizations, professional bodies and governments can help drive the needed balance in gender positioning, she advised that “Corporate organizations should proactively, deliberately launch and implement policies that promote gender equality in the workplace. Violators of such policies should be identified, named and shamed. Executives should provide bold leadership not just intent”.
In her submission, she argued that “Government should provide grassroot awareness programs for the girl child to ensure that they are encouraged to become engineers, technologist, innovative scientists, the list goes on”.
“There is this notion that women or girls should not go into engineering and should instead focus on home economics, fashion designing and such. That particular philosophy should be eliminated because I see it happening in a lot of schools. The girl child should be encouraged to take up the medical profession, architecture or engineering if she wants to. There are no men or women professions.
Continuing, the Lafarge legal chief stressed that “Government orientation agencies have a big role to play. There should be a comprehensive action to achieve true gender balance, develop policies and practices that support both men and women.
“For instance, men should be granted paternity leave to remove any stigma attached to ‘maternity leave’ as a women’s concept. The business environment should also be geared towards empowerment of all, irrespective of gender. Friendly policies on creating work-life balance, childcare infrastructures or easy access to same should be implemented in the work place. For instance, Lafarge pays for crèche services for its employees as part of benefits offered, which is commendable.
Also, on what role women can play themselves in bridging the divide gap, Onwuchekwa said “Women should be mentors and not tor-mentors of each other. Women who have climbed the ladder to reach senior positions should not destroy the ladder but deliberately make way for younger women to seek to attain the same or even higher positions”.
