Being A Woman, and In Businesses : Lessons Learned - Loud Silent Practises

Surely this is just one topic that had been covered extensively by experts, government institutions, business people and ordinary citizens alike.

Given the advancement of conversations on equality and women’s rights globally, it is difficult to think that I am penning down my experiences on loud yet silent practices that are perpetuated against women in the business world. The first glaring observation that anyone can make is: globally, statistics show that there are more women than men, yet, women are outnumbered by men in the corporate and business world. Culture, religion and maternal nature of women have been cited as the reason for this anomaly. Whether the gender representation in the corporate and business world is by default or design, it just one of the areas that need to be tackled to bring about inclusivity and equality.

When I entered the business world eleven years ago, I was very much aware of the gender imbalance, its pros, and cons, but; I did want it to deter me. After changing the focus from kid’s clothes design and manufacturing. I ventured into the industrial laundry business. As expected, the most conspicuous thing was: about 90% of business owners were men and yet over 90% of workers in the laundry were women.

As a woman owner in the industry, I was sticking out like a sore thumb. I had to cover my basis as a new entrant and embark on a serious intelligence on my competition. The exercise proved to be beneficial, as we had had unscheduled visits and calls from our colleagues pretending to be prospective clients.

The competition was understood and managed, now getting a decent credit terms from suppliers who were predominantly males was rather an uphill challenge. Credit application with all required documents would be submitted. Strangely, an unprecedented call, enquiring who were the owners of the company was the order of the day after submitting the application.

After a series of such calls and engaging with the so-called credit granters/controllers. A set of questions which were unrelated to the application would follow; and these questions were: Do you have insurance? Are you married? In the event that the company cannot pay, who will be responsible for the account? From these questions, I realized that the silent yet the loud question was: Is there a man backing up the business?  

I observed the interpersonal and professional relations between myself and male employees and support staff from our suppliers, be the drives, machine maintenance, etc; with great interest and concern. Without vocalizing it, it was evident that they were comfortable taking instructions from any male around me, without knowing if those males were partners or directors in the business. At first, I attributed their behavior to their professional level and exposure, but I was taken aback when a similar behavior was displayed when I was soliciting for new business. 

The procurement managers of the institutions where I would solicit business from were mostly males. They would be excited at first that the business was woman-owned, and the company is compliant, however, they will never miss an opportunity to alarm me that: laundry business was tough and it needed manpower. I would always give no credit to this comment, and remark- we have enough men at the factory to help us with heavy laundry loads.   

  

These were just a few of my personal accounts. Some of my accounts were gross and elicited anger. As an entrepreneur, I learned to listen to my own noise, and my noise at the time was saying I deserved to be there!  To deal with these prejudices and the subtle ill practices.  I invited my ex-husband to join me in the company as a minority shareholder.  His role was very simple and clear- to show up whenever I was pitching for new business; and to put down fires whenever there were problems with a male employee. This worked well for a while but, in hindsight I realized that I was voluntarily giving away power, perpetuating patriarchy, betraying woman's struggle and not doing justice to the women's equality agenda.

Suppliers, clients, and staff members called me: "Mr. Mofokeng's wife". Whenever Mr. Mofokeng was not available to take the calls, clients, suppliers, etc would be told they would be transferred to his wife. It is at this point when I realized the negative investment the arrangement had on my profile as a businesswoman. My code name was "Mr. Mofokeng's wife".  To make amends and reverse the situation, Mr. Mofokeng was allocated a different role in the business. It was not easy, but worth it!!

I learned that as a female entrepreneur, unlike female professionals, we do not have the protection of company policies. Our protection comes from our confidence in our own capabilities- Be fearless and confident and know you are worthy to take part in the space. It is easy to voluntarily give away power, perpetuating the status quo, and betraying the woman's agenda by thinking you are making wise and sensible decisions for the business. The business world is under a transformation. Women are needed in this space to influence this process. Mbokodo-rock!(Referring to a strong courageous woman) stay in your post!

Photo credit- Chris Barbilis on Unplash