AMANDA OKYERE, how do we bring bias about Women in Politics into the Light? – Owula Mangortey asks

I am a Citizen.

I noted the fervour with which my highly respected Madam Amanda Okyere, the NDC Suhum Constituency Parliamentary Candidate recently articulated her desire for a stop to all forms of discrimination against women (especially in the Suhum area).

An excellent oratory by Awenye Amanda as she is affectionately called by my Kordiabe relatives in the “Ada community” of Nankesie in the Suhum Constituency.

How do we stop discrimination against women (especially Women in Politics)?

How do we bring bias about Women in Politics into the Light?

Like it or not, every one harbours some form of unconscious prejudice about Women in Politics.

You may think it is a local Suhum or Ghana characteristic. But wait till you read the shocking revelation by Jennifer Allyn, a leading light in the USA.

You may know Jennifer Allyn. Right? Awenye Amanda might have met Allyn during the former’s participation in the International Leadership Program organized by the US State Department Bureau of Education and Culture.

Who will think that Jennifer Allyn will ever embrace the notion that a woman’s place is at home?

Check her credentials: She earned a Master’s degree from Havard Kennedy School, served as an HR Consultant to Fortune 500 companies and led diversity efforts for PricewaterCoopers LLP. She won a Feminists Press award, sits on women’s leadership awards and is the primary breadwinner for her family.

So, it stands to reason that when this accomplished female professional sees the term career (whether of a Diplomat or Lawyer or Politician or Teacher or Lawmaker or Judge) she will think of women as often as men.

Surprisingly, she does not.

An assessment Allyn took called the Implicit Association Test (IAT)- a respected tool designed to uncover hidden biases about everything from age to height to gender to skin colour to race- revealed that somewhere in her subconscious (deeply buried that she is not aware), Allyn associates women with families and men with careers!

Stunned by the IAT results, Allyn said something that is applicable to our local Suhum environment.

She said, “I was raised in a family where my father was the breadwinner and my mother the caregiver.”

She continued, “it is a pretty good jolt when you realize that no matter what your conscious mind may think, there are other dynamics at play.”

Awenye Amanda: What are the “other dynamics” which impact Women in Politics?

They may be the biases that we embrace on an unconscious level. That is, deep prejudices or steroetypes.

In our local situation, these biases might have been imparted by upbringing, culture, religion, tradition, local media that influence views about Women in Politics and our behaviour towards them.

If I may ask, what is it at Suhum that makes girls stay in the kitchen and boys study and/or play? What is it that makes girls hawk anything whilst boys read their books? What is it that makes boys in primary schools “red section” leaders and girls deputy “red section” leaders? What is it that makes boys in mixed Senior High Schools contest elections to become school senior prefects and girls contest to become girls’ prefects and deputy school senior prefects?

How do we know we have biases about Women in Politics?

Lest we think we are immune to having hidden biases, we should try taking an IAT at http://implicit.harvard.edu/impicit. We are likely to be surprised by the results.

Zabeen Hirji of the Royal Bank of Canada who oversaw a 2013 forum on hidden bias for 300 corporate and community leaders famously said:

“Most people have (biases). Once we accepted that…it allowed us to talk about these issues in a nonjudgmental way. What is bad is not trying to understand what your unconscious biases are.”

How do we deal with all the biases against Women in Politics?

The trick is to obtain enough insight to prevent the biases affecting how we treat Women in Politics.

In a 2013 paper titled “Outsmarting our Brains: Overcoming Hidden Biases to Harness Diversity’s True Potential,” Ernst & Young provided the following useful tips for dealing with biased behaviour:

(1). Increase purposeful mentoring and coaching. Sponsor people who are not like you.

(2). Be proactive about recognizing people’s different capabilities, and help prepare them to take on challenging assignments.

(3). Consider who might consistently feel like an outsider, and take steps to actively address the situation.

(4). Set reasonable parameters around the nature and amount of help which all candidates will be evaluated.

(5). Attend professional affinity group meetings and inclusiveness events to increase your understanding of diversity.

(6). Evaluate your actions daily.

(7). Seek out regular feedback on your own behaviors and actions from trusted yet objective colleagues (who will tell you exactly as it is).

Awenye Amanda Okyere, recognizing the pervasive effects that hidden bias can have on Women in Politics, can we do something about it?

It is my well considered position that getting our Women in Politics started off on the right foot and keeping them striding confidently forward is crucial to the peace, development, progress and prosperity of our nation.

Owula Mangortey
Odumase-Dodowa
10th March, 2020