Ashoka
On Wednesday 23rd June, Ashoka East Africa had the pleasure of hosting a reflective dialogue on cultural diversity looking at inclusion from three levels: family, community, workplace and national leadership. The session offered insights on why cultural inclusivity is critical in driving Ashoka’s vision of the “Everyone a Changemaker (EACH)” world. This session was led by, Saruni and Wanjiru, (members of The Ashoka East African team) who let us in on their ideas of how this can be achieved in various spaces and at Ashoka.
Our culture and upbringing often inform us of our decisions and choices. But are all cultural practices and beliefs progressive and beneficial? And what implications do they have on diversity, equity and inclusion, especially from a gender perspective? During the 60-minute session, we were able to unpack the answers to these questions.
The dialogue began with a discussion on Culture, which in its broadest sense is cultivated behaviour; that is the totality of a person's learned accumulated experience, which is socially transmitted, through social learning. The conversation started by explaining the cultural meanings of our names. In the African perspective, names tend to carry a narrative- its meaning being a journey of who this person presumably is, packed into a few letters structured together. For Saruni, hers was ‘a place of refuge’, as for Wanjiru, hers meant ‘the dark one’. There's no doubt that when names are handed down from one generation to the next, there are beliefs and meanings attached to them. This often acts as a north star for the person who gets it, but should it be that way? Is it better for one to get a name with no meaning so that they can chart a path and purpose for themselves?
What Cultural diversity and inclusion means to women
Living in a multicultural world also means that we get to borrow lessons and practices from other communities. Especially as the world gets smaller and more relatable through the age of the internet and social media platforms, we can familiarize ourselves with what is considered the ‘norm’ and what isn’t. Saruni noted that the Maasai community, being pastoralists, were able to interact with various communities, and this heavily impacted the position the women held and still hold in the community. Through their interactions with other cultures, the Maa women were able to uproot practices that were rooted down in elevating patriarchy in the community. This enabled the girls and women to have a say in what happened to their bodies through accessing knowledge for their collective benefit. Wanjiru also mentioned that these interactions impacted the naming system within the Kikuyu community. Through such interactions, many harmful cultural practices like female genital mutilation (FGM) have had light shed on them, and this has contributed to communities withdrawing their support and in turn, being a benefit to women and the community as a whole.
What Gender and Cultural Inclusion looks like in different Institutions.
Saruni and Jedidah identified how inclusion plays out for women through the family, community, workplace and the national level perspective. They also pointed out where cultural practices or beliefs play a part in these.
It was noted that there is still a huge gender disparity within our communities, especially in the African context where patriarchy is the name of the game. To achieve equity in the various social institutions, decisions need to be accorded to both genders. Allowing women in decision-making discussions especially if it affects them, makes them advocates for themselves, their peers and largely their community. Having a diverse team in the workplace, where both genders are represented equally, is paramount in ensuring diversity of thought processes and ideas. This creates a wholesome productive environment for all those involved. Lastly, at the national level, what needs to be done is having more women in high-ranking places to bring about balance in decision-making.
To some extent, the global community is taking strides to get there. For example, in Kenya, the 1/3 Gender Rule Bill was enforced in the Kenyan Constitution (2010) to ensure a relatively equal representation of gender in the workforce. However, some issues have come about due to this ‘step forward. A rise in Gender tokenism was born through this rule. This is where women are placed in positions of power to meet a ‘quota’ where they could have a chance to influence change but due to the gender disparity in high levels of leadership, they become the minority rule and often, their voices are left unheard. This greatly causes an imbalance, not only in the workforce, but it trickles down to the mindsets of even the most vulnerable groups who are left at a disadvantage by these disparities. For change to occur in the different institutions, one requires the support of a community of thought leaders who are aligned to a common goal to inspire and actualize the change process. Unfortunately, so many women have been muffled and left out in such spaces due to the patriarchal environment, they’re placed in, where they would have otherwise been an asset and brought about a win-win situation for all those involved.
Building blocks to achieving diversity, equity and inclusivity in a team?
How can we go past all these hurdles to achieve diversity, equity and inclusion? Saruni and Wanjiru both agreed that the fundamental building block is empathy. When we see past people's gender, tribe, and sexuality, we can listen to their ideas with an unbiased ear. To ensure that children practice empathy from an early age, it is important to incorporate it in the learning curriculum so that they can practice it early and learn how to learn from real-life experiences.
Through education, open dialogue and interaction, we can identify, relate and further understand issues facing gender and find conclusive solutions to rectify them. The DEI learning lunches help support the above agenda and enable Ashoka as an organization to move one step closer in ensuring that everyone is included and supported to be changemakers, therefore, cementing the EACH narrative.
Conclusion
Even though strides have been made in improving the position of women in decision making, we still see a gap in women representation in positions of power in governments, corporations and society. We, however, as Ashoka are bridging this gap to ensure there is inclusion in every aspect.
EACH allows everyone, regardless of gender, sex, age, community and culture to be a part of creating change within a community. As one of the leading organizations embracing DEI, and fostering EACH, we are aware of the challenges facing Gender and Culture and are actively recognizing, learning and putting in the effort to ensure that Ashoka is a safe space for all. Tangible efforts, such as the DEI learning lunches are what bring us closer to the ideal where Culture, Diversity and Gender is a ubiquitous advantage to every organization.
Co-authored by: Louisa Saruni Konchellah & Jedidah Wanjiru Muthui