The women's leadership training is three days in and going rather well. Having never attended such a training but having had questionable group learning experiences in the past, I've been trying to keep an open mind. The trainers are both American and African and the group of 30 ladies, as mentioned, come from most parts of the world - either native or ex-pat. Course work includes doing a 360 leadership/management assessment from your colleagues (done pre-training), a Myers-Briggs test, learning about emotional intelligence and tomorrow will be team day. We've been told to wear comfortable clothes...open mind, open mind.
Like most things, it's the people that count and they have been very interesting and friendly. Being here, reminds me that I've been extremely lucky to have never experienced gender-bias, partly from having worked and studied in female dominated fields and having had supportive male supervisors. Among this group, that is not the norm. Most of them come from patriarchal societies where getting a passport, bank loan or other significant action requires a husband's, father's or brother's approval. And they are often the only senior woman in their work where they frequently face defiance from male colleagues. They handle all this plus manage a family (with domestic help) which makes them admirable and successful now matter how you look at it.
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| Our group photo under the baobab tree. |
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