CONTESTING MASCULINITY: WOMEN IN FAO

BY HAPPY MULOLANI
Research shows that women are often marginalized despite being involved in most of the work that occurs in different social contexts. This is against the premise that most African societies are patriarchal in nature and positions men superior to women (Connell, 2002; Banda, 2008).

Patriarchy refers to male dominance and women insubordination which is perpetuated by cultural norms and values. Patriarchy reinforces male dominance over women even through religion as they are expected to be passive and submissive. These assertions are confirmed by a study which argues that cultural values have perpetuated the inequalities between men and women (Mutunda, 2015).

These notions have been perpetuated in work contexts which tend to position men in a hierarchical order. But, over time, these tendencies of men dominance are slowly but surely getting re-configured as more women are now being encouraged to take up positions of authority in organizations.

In particular, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is an international organization which has a policy that promotes the equal participation of women. Its policy stipulates that to encourage development, there must be participation not only of men but also women. Through this strategy, it is believed women will take their rightful position and contribute towards organizational goals and development.

FAO’s notion of women participation is especially pivotal in ensuring they contribute to the country’s development. One of the women contributing to the organization’s development agenda is Senduka Siafwa, who is Assistant FAO Representative (Administration).

Ms Siafwa oversees the following key units of the organization which include administration, finance, procurement, human resource, logistics, security and information technology, which comprises nine staff. Of the nine staff, five staff are women, which is rather encouraging to see such kind of gender re-configuration, as more women occupy key positions which was not the case previously.

She described her work at FAO over the last seven and half years, as a unique experience which has enabled her to rise to the challenge.

 “Although work is sometimes challenging, the challenges are outweighed by the realization that I am accountable to many people who look up to me to provide guidance in various processes that contribute towards achieving FAO’s mandate,” Ms Siafwa said.

Ms Siafwa, who has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Baldwin-Wallace University, Ohio, USA and Bachelor of Business Administration from Andrews University, USA (through its campus at Solusi University in Zimbabwe) never had it all rosy to rise to where she is today.

Like many African children, her parents at the time wanted her to pursue a teaching or nursing career because they were perceived as noble professions in her days. However, Ms Siafwa recollects that nursing or teaching was not her passion but to please her parents, she enrolled for nursing. Nevertheless, she quit after six months much to the displeasure of her parents.

“Though I enrolled for nursing, I felt that was not what I wanted to do. After six months, I decided to quit nursing. This disappointed my parents, nonetheless I needed to pursue my dream,” Ms Siafwa said.

After quitting nursing, she enrolled at Andrews University for a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Accounting. While at university, she worked not only support herself but to also get acquainted with the terrain of her field of interest. Taking this route was not only challenging but also insightful in navigating her field.

Later, Ms Siafwa went to the United States to pursue her Masters of Business Administration (MBA). The MBA journey she embarked on had no scholarship, but had to be self-financed. With the status quo, she had to work to take care of her financial obligations.

“The university scheduled the lectures to be held in the evenings to accommodate the professionals who desired to further their studies. That worked well for me; I worked full time during the day and attended classes in the evenings,” she said.

During the course of her studies, she became President of the Accounting Association at the university which was the beginning of not only taking up leadership role but also opened doors for job opportunities that she had never anticipated.

“After graduating, I attended several job fairs which exposed me to many opportunities through interactions with various employers. At one such job fair, I was privileged to be interviewed by an organization which offered me a job after a competitive selection process. Although the job was quite demanding, it exposed me to innumerable prospects during my career, “Ms Siafwa said.

Ms Siafwa explains that this exposure prepared her for future job opportunities and thrived on it upon returning to Zambia after completing her studies. She argues that exposure is very important in any career because it presents milestones in any career.

“The acquired exposure enabled me to develop networks and learn about different aspects of work and career progression,” Ms Siafwa said.

This also made her realize that women need as much exposure in order to tap into the opportunities that lie untapped out there.

“Even in this competitive age, opportunities are available to harness exposure that facilitates building networks. Exposure and networking compliment each other,” she said.

This means if women are to tap into any opportunities and find themselves in positions of authority, they should network and acquire the necessary exposure as well as share their experiences.

As Ms Siafwa asserts that sometimes women may be perceived as weak culminating in the dependence syndrome, they need to show persistence and patience in their work endeavours.

“I get motivated to put in my best efforts to inspire other women. Most parents and guardians ought to realize that investing in women fosters into investing in a larger community,” She said.

Gone are the days when women depended on men given the re-configuration which has resulted in more women occupying positions of authority nowadays. This re-configuration is evident in organizations like FAO which promotes women participation in the development process and contributes towards societal needs.

Though patriarchal notions are still existent, the willingness for organizations to contest these notions is feasible, as is the case with FAO. Admittedly, what should be brought to the core is that change is a process and contesting hierarchical structures in which men are positioned as dominant takes considerable time. The onus is on women to build their self-confidence and be assertive to be able to perform tasks which are performed by men.

Ms Siafwa’s testimony is one of those successful women who have found themselves in positions of authority. This should encourage other women to work on their self-confidence and realize that what men can do, women can also do! Once women position themselves in this manner, it will help them be assertive, participate and contribute to the development agenda.