Woman, you must fight your way up corporate battlefield

Last week, there was a lot discussion on what people earn. Jack Ma, who earns billions visited Kenya and shared tips on how we can make more money. The BBC got into trouble following disclosures on disparities between what they pay their male and female stars. About two-thirds of stars earning more than 150,000 pounds are male, compared to one-third female according to the BBC annual report.

Here in Kenya, we got details of what NSE listed firms pay their CEOs and got a peek into who are some of the top tax paying professionals and institutions. What was glaringly obvious was that all these lists are male-dominated.

Men are still at the top of the food chain when it comes to matters corporate. This is despite all the efforts made at empowering women and the girl-child.

In my view, part of the reason for the slow progress of women in the corporate world is the fact that women continue to sabotage themselves by hanging onto self-defeating attitudes and behaviours.

Girls from a very early age are taught to be nice. Nice means oozing sweetness and approaching the world with kindness and tenderness. Somehow, no one seems to care enough to tell these girls that the corporate world (indeed the entire world) is a battlefield; a combat zone where one can be eaten dead or alive.

Emotionally stuck

Girls are taught to be sugar and spice and all things nice instead of being told that they need to be as tough as nails and wear combat suits and not power suits to get the job done. In some rather worrying instances, women are advised to take everything to God in prayer and to let God be the one who fixes their foes.

What no one tells them is that God’s inbox is too full dealing with bigger issues like Trump and North Korea and so it is better for one to fight first then seek forgiveness later.

Men, on other hand do not hesitate to backstab, undercut and out-manoeuvre those who they feel are getting in the way of their journey to the corner office. A lot has been said about women power and how it has transformed the world through chamas and merry-go-rounds.

Unfortunately, this power is rarely harnessed in the work place. Women do not like to rally around each other and provide support for those who aspire to high office. Instead of supporting their fellow sisters, they choose to spend lots of time discussing irrelevant details about their wardrobe or sexual habits. Women sometimes seem emotionally stuck in those high school days of girly gossip and giggles.

For a woman to make her mark in the corporate world, she has to decide how to stay above this maze of cheap gossip and propaganda. Unfortunately, many women get caught up in the ‘she-said, she-did" circus instead of focusing on matching forward into the battlefield.

Finally, no one tells women that making it in the corporate world involves understanding and managing their biological clock and their motherly responsibilities. Having a baby definitely impacts a woman’s approach to work and once again imposes yet another call for her to shift gears and multi-task.

Some women like to assume that they can have it all, juggle everything and rise to the top. What no one tells them is that in the process, something or someone has to give.

‘Felt neglected’

Yes you might be making all the money to pay all the nannies to take care of your children, but at one time you will have to contend with guilt because your children prefer the nanny to you. Yes your husband might say he loves career women, but you might have to contend with him having an affair with some woman claiming that ‘he felt neglected.’

Women who are planning to have a family must get a bit more clinical and realistic when it comes to family matters. Babies and husbands often get in the way of one’s ascent to the top of the corporate food chain.

njokikaigai1@gmail.com