While it is evident that women have become apart of the business elite, woman are still viewed as lesser than to their male coworkers. In Africa, much like other countries, women are branded as food and cosmetic workers, with few in notable positions of power. A woman’s role is still stigmatized as being the caretaker, rather than a business leader, simply based on their gender, and the societal concepts affiliated with it. “The potential for women to create and lead businesses that will drive African growth into the next century is massive, but women’s ability to deliver on this potential is tightly constrained by a lack of access to support services, sponsorship from business leaders, and supply chains” (2018). The sexism within the societal structures poses as an extra obstacle that only women must battle with when attempting to gain promotion within the career industry.
Women are deemed lesser than due to the social factors of presuming the woman be less educated, poor, or busy with other caregiving duties. The women of Africa also have added oppression due to regulations within the food and cosmetic industries. “In Nigeria, to gain approval to manufacture food and beauty products, one must jump through hoops to obtain an expensive license from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control” (2018). These bureaucratic obstacles place more difficulty on women to obtain such licenses. Women are set up to fail due to lack of time and resources needed to gain such documentation.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/may/15/africa-female-rising-stars-business-second-class-citizens-afua-osei
Haley McKinney