Mar. 23, 2018 "Woman drives high speed into Kenya's male-dominiated minibus industry": Today I found this article by Nita Bhalla in the Globe and Mail:
NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Growing up in Nairobi’s Mathare slum, Sarafina Mumbi could easily have ended up like many teenage girls living there - dropping out of school, pregnant, or even married off.
But walking to school every day, she developed a fascination with the noisy, brightly painted matatus – the local minibuses that recklessly ferry commuters through the city’s congested roads - which kept the 15-year-old focused on her future.
Eight years on, Mumbi is not only living her dream designing graffiti-style artwork on matatus, she is shattering traditional gender roles as one of a few women to break into Kenya’s male-dominated matatu sector.
“I don’t know what inspired me. Maybe the music blaring out, or the conductors jumping in and out while the matatu is still moving, or colorful sides of the vehicles,” said Mumbi, 23, who goes by the professional name Tsarah Arts.
“I never thought it unusual, but I knew people wouldn’t agree. I didn’t even tell my mother I wanted to be in the matatu business. She would have been against it. I told her I wanted to be a doctor.”
But, like most women shattering the glass ceiling in their respective fields, Mumbi admits it was not easy.
“Every day I am reminded of my gender. There is always some man there to make some kind of comment about me being a woman,” said Mumbi in a black baseball cap, sitting outside a rundown community center in Mathare.
“But I will stay in this business. I have to and want to. Despite this harassment, I still want to do this. Each day, I get stronger and stronger.”
Kenya’s economy has grown on average by 5 percent annually over the last decade, but the benefits have not been equally shared - and women and girls remain disadvantaged socially, economically and politically.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), women make up only a third of the 2.5 million people employed in the formal sector.
And while women provide 80 percent of Kenya’s farm labor, says KNBS, they own only 1 percent of agricultural land.
Female poverty is worsened by violence and empowerment is hindered by traditional practices such as polygamy, child marriage and female genital mutilation, says UN Women.
One in five women are married before 18 and almost 40 percent of girls and women have been beaten or sexually assaulted by their partners or husbands, it says.
With such odds stacked against women, it is not surprising that men dominate Kenya’s vibrant and profitable matatu sector.
Some 70 percent of Nairobi’s 4 million people cram into matatus which daily bump and bounce along its pot-holed roads.
But competition is stiff - and to attract passengers, matatu owners can invest thousands of dollars in fancy artwork, custom spoilers, flashing lights, heavy base speakers and even on-board entertainment such as flat-screen televisions.
The minibuses sport designs celebrating Premier League football clubs such as Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea and portraits of artists, from Ariana Grande to Bob Marley.
But the testosterone-driven sector is almost totally void of women - with matatu owners, drivers, conductors, mechanics and even designers virtually all men.
LEERS AND JEERS
Mumbi knew getting a job in the matatu industry would not be easy. Initially she was either scoffed at, or rejected outright.
But in 2014, she got a break when a matatu artist agreed to take her on as an apprentice - teaching her everything from scrubbing the sides of old vehicles to spray painting them with eye-catching designs.
Mumbi has since designed more than 15 matatus – earning between 100,000 to 400,000 Kenyan shillings ($991 to $3,964) per vehicle.
However she routinely faces hurdles.
“When I go into a garage to work, the men call the others and tell them ‘Come and see this woman painting the matatu’. It’s annoying as they stand and watch me the whole day,” she said.
“Some matatu owners take advantage. When I finish the work and go to collect my payment, they start saying inappropriate things and touching me. I end up running away and I never get the full payment.”
Yet Mumbi remains undeterred and says girls often come up to her and tell her that they too want to work in the matatu industry.
“I encourage other women to join the industry despite all these problems. Every job has its positive and negatives - you just have to be tough and believe in yourself,” she said.
My opinion: I was like this is good. When I read the part of men watching a woman painting, it reminded me of a This is Us episode. Kevin (Justin Hartley) is doing construction work and 3 women are sitting and watching him. That was kind of funny to watch.
I'm just saying that there are gender reversals that happen too.
Mar. 26, 2018 "In the #MeToo era, ethics training gains new sense of urgency": Today I found this article by Erik Heinrich in the Globe and Mail:
A 22-year-old woman in her first real job is dealing with a drunk boss's overt advances at a corporate retreat. What sort of leadership challenge does this present for her direct supervisor, a 28-year-old man who is stuck in between?
A female programmer likes to wear earbuds while working. A senior executive interprets this behaviour as a possible sign of isolation and lack of fit with co-workers. At the same time he's worried that his organization may have a "bro culture" that will drive away talented women, so he avoids discussing his concerns with the new programmer. Is this the right decision?
Both of the above are case studies being developed by Chris MacDonald, associate professor and director of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre at Ryerson University in Toronto, and Leanne Nicolle, former executive director of the Canadian Olympic Foundation.
Her allegations of sexual harassment two years ago led to the resignation of Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut.
Her allegations of sexual harassment two years ago led to the resignation of Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut.
"The point of these case studies is to open eyes and to stimulate discussion," says Dr. MacDonald, a former philosophy professor who is also chair of the department of law and business at the Ted Rogers School of Management.
"I think business schools need to be talking about how you foster a culture of respect in the workplace. It's not easy because anything I teach my students over a 12-week course can be obliterated after two weeks of working in a toxic environment."
"I think business schools need to be talking about how you foster a culture of respect in the workplace. It's not easy because anything I teach my students over a 12-week course can be obliterated after two weeks of working in a toxic environment."
Questions of ethics and morality have been discussed at business schools for decades, but in the past year that conversation has taken on a new urgency and intensity, fired up by social media.
Some business schools, such as Ryerson, are using this as an opportunity to reshape their curriculums. This can mean taking case studies straight from the headlines and dropping them into the classroom, including #MeToo and the bro culture that continues to dominate some industries, including Silicon Valley's tech sector and Silicon Valley North in the Toronto-Waterloo corridor. (One definition of bro or jock culture is carrying fraternity attitudes with you into adult life.)
Will the result of these curriculum changes be more ethical leaders and a meaningful reduction in the number of scandals that dominate the news? Whether it's revelations about accounting fraud at Enron and WorldCom, the subprime mortgage crisis that nearly bankrupted Wall Street, the listeriosis crisis at Maple Leaf Foods or allegations of harassment by entertainment bosses such as Hollywood's Harvey Weinstein or Albert Schultz at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto, the list is long.
"I'm optimistic that there will be meaningful change in the workplace, though I'm afraid it will be spotty and will take decades," says Dr. MacDonald at Ryerson. "A lot will happen with the co-curricular stuff business schools do, including guest speakers and workshops."
Students are also taking an active role, with clubs organizing seminars on topics ranging from gender equality to working better with First Nations communities, adds Dr. MacDonald.
At Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ont., professors and students react in real time to issues that are current and socially relevant.
"A compelling example is our focus on leader character as a result of the global financial crisis of 2008," says Gerard Seijts, executive director of Ivey's Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership. "Character was least talked about and understood, both in organizations and business schools."
The Institute for Leadership writes cases with a character component and designs courses with titles such as Leadership Under Fire. It also helps present guest speakers who at times have more to say about their failures than successes.
The list includes Nick Leeson, the derivatives trader who caused the collapse of Barings Bank, Andy Fastow, former chief financial officer of Enron complicit in his company's fraud, and Monica Lewinsky, who was subjected to severe cyberbullying after her affair with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
Will an emphasis on character and ethics come at the expense of core business skills traditionally taught at business schools, like finance and marketing? And more broadly at the expense of the bottom line and shareholder return?
"I believe character-related issues should be embedded or discussed in all courses," says Dr. Seijts.
That's an attitude shared by University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business in Vancouver, which established the Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics in 2015 with the aim of providing an international voice on the subject of ethics and business practices.
Last year it moved a course in ethics and sustainability to the front of its full-time MBA program. "We made this change to provide students with a broad foundation for understanding the positive and negative impacts business can have economically, socially and environmentally," says Darren Dahl, director of the Robert H. Lee Graduate School at UBC Sauder.
A course in Indigenous business is being added to the full-time MBA program starting next academic year.
"The 21- and 22-year-olds in business school today are very different from 30 years ago," says Dr. Dahl, who is also a professor of marketing and behavioural science.
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