If there is one thing I’m proud of doing this year, it is improving my friendship circle to include women in a diverse range. I built friendships with mothers and women who are older than me and in different life paths.
Words cannot explain how refreshing it has been to get perspectives from women who are more experienced and are intentional about carving their own success stories.
One of the friendships I made this year led me to ask questions on how mothers generally can be supported in the workforce to ensure that they earn what they are due.
My friend is a 32 year old mum who is an IT professional who can code too and has experience working with financial technology companies. She has a seven year old son who she was pregnant with while in university. Although she had planned to marry his father, a couple of factors such as his being abusive, led her not to marry him.
What I find interesting is her conviction and outlook towards life. She just told me plainly that she saw no other option except the option of getting her degree and working to improve herself and give her child a better life.
Based in Lagos, her child currently lives in Abuja with her mother and my friend said her son recently told her thank you for everything for all that she is doing.
I have provided this backdrop to illustrate how with the right support, women and especially mothers, would not shortchange themselves or settle for less when it comes to workplaces and especially when it comes to issues of pay.
Although Western countries have stronger data on the fact that women are indeed paid lower than men, in African countries, the data is not as strong.
That said, there are a few factors that can lead to women receiving lower pay than men. The first one that meets the eye, is the way women may not know how to negotiate salaries and even when they negotiate salaries, experience their desired salary range being cut down. Because how dare a woman want to earn well when she is not a “provider?”.
The second one are the roles that domestic labour, childcare and inadequate support during motherhood play in taking up the necessary time needed to build a career.
A woman who has to rush home to cook and take care of kids, who cannot commit time to company events, who does not have strong support systems at home, is less likely to be considered for a promotion.
On the other hand, even when mothers put in the work and are visibly active in company growth, they are less likely to be considered for promotions because children are seen as those that will take time. However, when men get married and have children, they are considered responsible enough to see a promotion and salary raise. This phenomenon is called the motherhood penalty in workplaces.
But why does any of this exist? Why is it that much of society holds strongly to the belief that men are providers even when women are everywhere running businesses and even being sole breadwinners of households? Why are women encouraged to have children and yet literally pushed out of the workforce and punished when they have children?
What is the long term effect on women’s mental health and even productivity when they realise that they are being paid lesser than male colleagues who they even work more than?
Speaking with Yemisi, a writer and marketing specialist, she highlighted how unequal pay can arise from policies that do not properly cater to pregnant women’s needs in the workplace.
In her words: “I don’t have personal experiences of the gender pay gap BUT I have heard about something in light of this. The answer is ‘maternity leave’. That’s why sometimes you see that pregnancy is frowned upon in some workplaces. Things like period sick days and having to grant maternity leave is why a lot of companies are not fair to women. Or would prefer to take on men. This is because there’s never a need for a break [as a man] that is mandated past your annual leave.”
Yemisi went on to admit that it’s a “damned if you, damned if you don’t” situation because society as a whole is still harsh towards women who do not have children.
When asked to share her experiences regarding unequal pay, Clara* shared how she discovered she was being underpaid and how she worked around that.
To quote her: “I got a contract position from some men that paid weekly. It was supposed to be done at 580$ per week. I was fine with it and I agreed. Before the contract started, they told me that due to complaints from the main client they wouldn’t be able to do the main amount. I agreed and they brought me down to 400$ per week.
Like two weeks later they came and said the client was complaining and they brought me down again to 335$. I was sad but money is money. In all this, the workload kept increasing and at some point I was no longer sleeping to be able to keep up. Anyways fast forward 34 weeks and I’m talking to the main client. She lost her child and I was just trying to pay my condolences.
She kept referring to this project being a bad deal for her as she doesn’t make any money from the profit margins. I was livid and accused her of being too greedy considering the fact that she’s cut me down multiple times. She was shocked. Showed me evidence of paying 1000$ every week.
I was shell shocked. God I couldn’t eat. Turns out the middle men were ripping the both of us off. I called them out and all hell broke loose. They tried to shout at me for going to talk to the direct client without their permission. I told them to fuck off. We argued. The woman said she’s had enough. She now pays me directly. The end.”
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In an ideal society, women should not have to experience their efforts, pay and productivity being downgraded courtesy of things like motherhood.
It is therefore imperative that women as a group fight gender roles that state that men are the providers.
Gender roles do not benefit women and only erase the hard work and efforts of women who provide for their families in the midst of crippling difficulty.
*Name changed to protect identity.
Angel Nduka-Nwosu is a writer, journalist and editor. She moonlights occasionally as a podcaster on As Angel Was Sayin’. Catch her on all socials @asangelwassayin.