Investing in women makes good business sense because diverse and inclusive workplaces are essential in meeting the needs of today’s diverse clients, communities and other key stakeholders.
As a part of Women’s History Month, there is need for organization to invest in the female workers as they do for the male.
An investment in a diverse, more inclusive workplace ensures diversity of thought, broader ideas, greater creativity and innovation and pushing organisations to the next level. Organisations looking to improve gender equity within their companies should intentionally work to recruit, develop, and promote women at all levels within their companies.
Dangote Industries Limited recognised the significant role women play in advancing thriving economies. It is why the company continues to invest every day in helping women make meaningful contributions within the company and in their communities at large.
Executive director, Commercial, NASCON Allied Industries, Fatima Aliko-Dangote, revealed that the Dangote Group has invested in innovative technologies and processes to achieve gender equality and empowerment of all women in the organisation.
Besides, Fatima disclosed that women are playing pivotal roles in the success story of the Dangote Group. To drive transformative change, she said the company is implementing the policy of continuous improvement in its production processes with state-of-the-art production facilities, which are already being managed by women.
Speaking while opening the International Women’s Day Conference in Lagos and Dangote Cement Plc, Obajana Plant, she noted that the company, through its Learning Management System (LMS), offers employees a variety of resources and opportunities that help them advance their professional and personal development.
According to her, these learning and development offerings cover vast focus areas and are provided via on-the-job, classroom, and online learning platforms, to both permanent and temporary employees across all cadres, in the Group’s Nigerian and Pan-African operations.
“At the plants, we have the Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) for online analysis, robotic laboratory, and fully automated central control room system equipped with Human Machine Interface technology (HMI) and innovative solutions to drive resource efficiency, process optimisation and mitigate the environmental footprints of our products while delivering quality products that meet the needs of our esteemed customers,” she added.
Aliko-Dangote explained that Dangote Women’s Network through this year’s theme has provided a unique opportunity to holistically examine the theme of innovation and technology from a gender perspective.
Ways To Invest In Women At Workplace
Consider Women’s Other Identities
As an employer, you need to understand the obstacles that your employees face in order to create policies that directly address their needs. First, start by surveying your existing employees and doing some research to understand the needs of the women in your target audience.
Offer Various Forms Of Flexibility Create policies that acknowledge people have families and lives outside of work. For example, flexible hours allow parents to have more flexibility when they drop off and pick up kids from school or day care. Remote-work flexibility allows a parent to work from home when their kid is sick and home from school for the day.
Make Changes To Your Office Space
Organisations should try to understand every employee’s unique situation and also have accommodated office spaces to be welcoming for new mothers, like with a private breastfeeding room and quiet areas.
Hire More Women Of Colour
To make the workplace more friendly toward women, it is important for companies to hire more women of different tribes. This further opens the door for diversity and creates a more open-minded company culture that supports and celebrates the differences in employees.
Provide Special Leave
Aside from vacation and sick leave, offer a type of ‘motherhood leave’ (or parenthood leave) that will give the employee an option to rest, catch up on important tasks, be a parent/spouse and have a sound mind to work the next day.
Invest In Education Around Women’s Issues In The Workplace
Investing in proactive and continuing education centered around the various inequities women still face in the workforce and workplace is a healthy start. For example, holding short seminars throughout the year to educate everyone on what the gender or race pay gap actually is, the history and how to acknowledge and correct biases in one’s daily work is essential.
