Breaking the glass ceiling for women through FM

The furore and outrage, mostly by women, surrounding the recent rejection by the Senate in passing the Gender and Equal Opportunities bill turned my attention once more to gender issues in Nigeria and how everyone ostensibly supports the empowerment of women given the acknowledged fact that women lack behind men in almost all sectors.

However, anytime there is a proposal to make institutional changes to make it happen, great resistance comes to the fore.  I think partly because there is a feeling that giving women additional advantages might make men disadvantaged, or alternatively, our experiences with the federal character principle, a noble idea that has been used inappropriately in a lot of instances because of the cankerworm of corruption, has made a number of us understandably leery of any other affirmation action policy or law of the government.

As it is unlikely that we will have radical institutional changes led by our Senate and House of Representatives soon to bridge the gaps between women and men, it has then become imperative to turn to different strategies on how we can achieve this within the private sector – the sector where even though women have made considerable progress, has the most inequalities.

As indicated before in one of my previous articles, facilities management remains a stronghold (probably one of the last) of male professionals.  Apart from cleaning, most of the other basic functions and tasks associated with FM are often associated with men – plumbing, carpentry, building maintenance, security, electrical works etc.  It is very unusual to see a woman plumber (I have actually never seen one in all my years as a practitioner and growing up in Nigeria).  This is, obviously, not because women cannot be plumbers, after all, plumbing is just another skill that can be learned, but because of social norms that discourage women and young girls from taking on plumbing and the other ‘male’ professions as what they can do and excel in. So, obviously if FM is one of the last strongholds of male dominated professions, it makes a lot of sense that it is within the FM profession that a lot of changes can be made within the private sector to change the status quo.

What then can FM companies do to begin to bridge the gender gap?  The first and most obvious place to start will be to start recruiting women in non-traditional professions or working with service providers that actively promote women’s participation in professions not typically associated with women.  While this might not be simple as you can only use what you have, it can prompt companies to start being pro-active and actually start identifying and training young women to be plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc.  Apart from the obvious impact of having a more diversified workforce, which is then able to better respond to the needs of diverse clientele, made up of men and women and not just men, it also opens up new opportunities for women in terms of career options which may lead to increased income.

Another way FM companies can open up opportunities for women is to consciously recruit women in all areas of operations and not just as HR or marketing specialists.  An effort should be made to make the companies  equal opportunities’ employers – actively seeking women’s networks to make them apply for positions, head-hunting and providing incentives, possibly lowering interview scores for women as we know that by the time people get to interview stages, they often qualify to do the job and can be subjective.  This way, more women are recruited on lower scores but with same level of qualifications so that standards are not compromised.

By promoting women, especially young women, FM companies will not only begin to shatter stereotypes about what women can or cannot do in Nigeria, but also contribute to increased career opportunities for women that may increase their income, enabling more support for families and ultimately decreasing poverty in Nigeria.