Networking key to paving women’s way up career ladder

On May 13, 2018, the world celebrated Mother’s Day with messages of admiration and praise for strong women who manage the remarkable feat of juggling their roles at work and home.

Its not in doubt that raising children takes up considerable time and energy, often at the expense of career growth for many women. Not surprisingly, very few women can be found in top corporate positions globally well into the 21st century.

As countless studies have documented, the further up the corporate ladder one goes, the fewer women you will see. Women are underrepresented at all levels of business, from first-level managers to CEOs. While progress has certainly been made over the last several decades, the glass ceiling is still stubbornly holding strong.

Despite the fact that many efforts that have been made by policymakers to increase the representation of women in decision-making positions, very few Kenyan women hold top leadership positions in the workplace.

According to the 2017 Diversity and inclusion report from the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM), women representation in boards of companies listed on the NSE stands at 21 per cent.

Although this number is a slight improvement from the 18 per cent recorded in 2015 and is even better than some developed countries like Germany, whose representation stands at 17 per cent, it is clear that the barriers are still holding back many Kenyan women who dream of making it to business leadership positions.

According to a survey by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics titled “Women and Men in Kenya”, traditional ideas about the roles of girls and women restrict women’s contributions to Kenya’s economy growth.

These ideas hold women back from contributing to important development goals; especially in the areas of manufacturing.

Further results show women with wage employment in manufacturing stands at 49,000 compared to that of men at 252,000.

The question therefore stands: what can women do to break this ceiling? How can we as women help each other climb up the corporate ladder and press for progress?

From my own experience, one of the best ways to push for progress is to create more opportunities to network. Strengthening our networks as women, can go a long way in achieving the progress we want. The benefits are numerous.

READ: Women still far behind men in formal jobs, says study

Networking not only expands business opportunities within company walls and externally, it similarly creates a space where professional boundaries are softened by personality, often paving the way for women to be more effective in driving initiatives forward in the workplace.

Networking is a great opportunity to accentuate your good work and your forte. It holds the possibility of help at every stage of your work and ensures that the good work that you do is shared with folks who matter, without you appearing to be trumpeting about it.

However, we should always remember that the objective of networking is not selling, but creating long term relationships that are mutually beneficial.

What you do as a result of networking is the building of contacts which are meant for aspects such as learning, skill-building, idea-generation and elevator-pitching. It also allows us women to find role models and business leads not available inside our offices or area of work.

We thus need to find ways to network. A great place to start is at our workplace. Building internal women’s networking groups and acknowledging gender issues within a company can propel awareness, improve the working environment and boost employee confidence.

Rita Kavashe, managing director, Isuzu East Africa.