‘Dearth of Mentoring in Business & Politics’, women’s perspective
“When we are talking about mentoring, I cannot talk about mentoring in my time because I was not mentored, but I said to myself that no matter what happened, I must push my way in and I succeeded. One legacy I got from my mum is that, she taught me to always meet with people.
Politics is a career and it is something that you have to learn, love and know all the intricacies. So, many young women who were originally interested in politics got frustrated and jumped ship. Well, no-one said it was easy.
Mentoring starts from what I call basic education in a woman’s life, in politics. After education, there is issue of capital. If you have your qualification and you come up with the innovation of how to make money, you stand the chance of coming into politics strong. I however advice that one must be spiritually strong and have a large heart.
There is no work that is easy. If women can develop the strength and courage to go into the field, they can be mentored. I have met with a few organisations, trying to raise funds for women and train them to be courageous. There is a common mentality that; because you are not a man, you are not fit to be in politics. That is what I call psychological intimidation.
Women have to be strong to shun all the noise coming from the corner. So, when I am talking to women, I ensure that I highlight those attributes that easily kill women or frighten them. You need to be strong and ignore all the noise.
The most important thing is that; women should learn how to carry one another along. Let us learn to appreciate and help one another. There are many women doing great things that need to be encouraged so that the upcoming ones would also emulate them.
To achieve such progress, the support of the men is also needed. But of course, we know men, especially in politics, do not want women to take over. As women, we also need to support one another. If we want to move forward, we must learn to support each other.”
Source – Vanguard
