Clara, a young mother of two was recently hired in a company she had always wanted to work in. On her first day, her boss asked her to go through the journal that contained his weekly schedule and sort out the important meetings into a to-do list he would work with that week. Important meetings included meeting with clients, doctor's appointments, dinner dates with his wife, and meeting with government officials and the overall boss. She was to create a much smaller version of the schedule with just the very important meetings. Barely ten minutes after she got started, her boss called her to his office, gave her some money, and asked her to run to the restaurant just around the corner of the street and get him a can of sprite, a hamburger, and fries. As soon as he gave her the money, she ran across to buy them and then he called while she was there and asked her to go to the post office and pick up some mail. As soon as she got to the post office, she realized that she didn't h...

 World Poetry Day is celebrated on the 21st of March every year. To commemorate this event, I will be dedicating it to the celebration of womanhood and I will be posting three poems by three women. Poem 1  WO (nder) MAN 'It's half filled, not half empty' she clamours _exhibiting a raging compassion and affinity Here, Read on the peculiarities of a darling race! Whilst her feeble shoulders shudders from overwhelming duties Her alluring smile is so handy with no haughty gaze  And with swaying hips And with savoring lips Like some good news resounding clips Like some good books' pages flips Lustre_ity  & Human_ity 'Ooooze' from her like an oversprayed perfume _chocking the repugnant 'ahhhs' depression wears around The chambers of her heart are never shut and all stuffed with affection  She's a remarkable being who's bright Yes, an embodiment of love and light She's a Wo (nder) man -Aina Ayomide ©2021 Poem 2 "The Sufferer" Baby Girl...

 Harriet smoothened her purple peplum dress and smacked her lips. She couldn’t believe that she was attending Elvis’ family event as his plus one. She felt goosebumps as she looked into her reflection from the passenger car mirror.  They were finally doing it. And it felt great. They came down from the car.  Beaming with pride, Harriet looked over at Elvis.   “Thanks for inviting me,” she said. “It’s what I should have done long ago,” he replied, glad that she was happy too.  Walking hand in hand, they entered the compound with Elvis leading the way. When they got in, the guests were already arriving and being seated under the canopy outside the house.  Skirting the guests, Elvis took Harriet into the main house to greet his parents. “Son!” his mother screamed, throwing her hands up in excitement.  She was sitting on a chair while a professional makeup artist was tying her headgear.  “Mummy!” he replied, with as much excitement, “You look goo...

 The webinar started with an opening speech by me which resounded the essence and the relevance of International Women’s Day that is being celebrated globally. Afterward, the moderator, Ibere Chims took over by introducing the speakers. The first speaker, Adebanke Ilori, spoke on the harmful practices that limit women, especially in the Nigerian context. She made several illustrations on practices embedded in the cultural framework in our society that limit women. She highlighted some important scenarios in the corporate world where these cultural biases still exist. An example she cited is instances where women are always called upon to serve tea in the room during meetings. She mentioned female privileges, and this really resonated with me. Oftentimes, I have had discussions with some ladies who say that they do not really understand the fuss about women's empowerment. To them, women have it all. She addressed this misconception by saying that some people are blind to the realiti...

  The International Women’s Day is a day set aside by the United Nations to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It is also a day where people come together to call for action to be taken towards ensuring gender equality in our communities, places of leadership, and in every aspect and sector of our economies. This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #ChooseToChallenge. This theme is inspired by the fact that a challenged world is an alert world. And when we choose to challenge, we are able to inspire and effect tremendous change. This is why we are calling women, men, and people everywhere to challenge gender bias and all the negative stereotypes against women. We can do that by challenging the status quo and changing our perception towards women. As people who seek change, we need to question the agelong stereotypes, societal norms, and archaic cultural beliefs that have held women back. We need to rewrite those unwritten laws and r...

  Many centuries ago, women were seen as people who could not make decisions for themselves hence they could not lead or take initiative. Although lots of people believed it, a lot of women proved that train of thought wrong by how they were able to make a difference, lead a revolution, make discoveries, or spark societal change. Today, many people have fast embraced the concept of female leadership. Although it is still not as widely seen as we would want it to be, we have really come a long way. Things are a lot better than they were many decades ago. As a woman navigating the workplace and learning to lead in whatever capacity I can, I have had a lot of encouragement from people around me. Here are a few tips that have helped me in my journey: 1. Think equality: I have found out that navigating the workplace with the mindset that you are equal to your male colleagues makes leadership a lot easier. Thinking equality gives you a feeling that you belong here and so you give it your...

I have always posted fiction on my blog but today I will be sharing a true-life story. A male friend of mine would like me to share the story of his mum with the belief that women will learn from the story. While reading it, I could not hold back my tears. I had to ask my friend if the story was real. He responded, "120 percent" I never imagined my friend had gone through that because of his personality. I was one of those children who loved late night snacking; consequently, my odd-hour craving made me believe my mother never slept. This is because every night when I woke up and went to the kitchen for a quick bite, she was always there baking to meet up with her side hustle of snacks supply to various vendors on campus every morning. Besides her catering business, she also had her studies and administrative duties at a federal university, where she worked. Not to mention the domestic duties she had to tend to for her husband and four kids, who were still in primary school. ...