Contemporary Issue
3
Sultan to Sultan
plain
2017-03-24T21:13:01-07:00
As part of International Women’s Day, this article writes about women in the African work force. It starts out with the fact that employment in Africa is always changing. New technologies and globalization increase opportunities, but regional unrest and violence, as well as seasonal differences due to climate change, causes fluctuations. Thus, finding and keeping a job can be difficult. To compensate for this, several African countries have put programs in place to increase the number of women in the work force. These programs encourage women to take charge of their lives by ending discrimination, by treating them fairly under the law, and to by teaching the mentality that a woman can do any job that a man can do. This is leading to women entering fields that were historically male-dominated. One of the important parts of the new programs is the attempts to eradicate violence against females, which has historically been an issue in rural areas. The article then goes on to talk about a hopefully universal goal to eliminate gender inequality by 2030.
Sultan to Sultan relates to this best in the scene where Sheldon was conversing with a British officer when she first arrived in Mombasa, inquiring about porters. The officer stated that the IBEAC was not able to find any porters willing to help her, but then let it slip that the reason for that was Mr. G. S. Mackenzie's dislike for Sheldon. In response to this she said, "'What do the officers of the I. B. E. A. Co. suppose I want of them, that I am not prepared to get without their assistance?'" (Sheldon, 65). This relates to women entering typically male-dominated areas because that is exactly what Sheldon did. She went to Africa and headed an expedition and was the first woman to do so in East Africa. Similarly, African women are doing things in the work force that, historically, only men were a part of.
Article: http://www.ipsnews.net/2017/03/women-in-the-changing-world-of-work-planet-50-50-by-2030/
