Series: Inspiring leaders South Sudan's telecoms minister is the kind of woman young women should aspire to be - rather than Rihanna
Jess Matthias Guardian Professional, Friday 6 December 2013 07.00 GMT Last week, I met a woman with a challenge greater than most. Her name is Hon. Rebecca Joshua Okwaci, minister for telecoms and postal services in South Sudan - and she has a pivotal role in building the future of the world's newest country. Having won independence just two years ago, South Sudan has a major challenge on its hands. Thanks to a decade of bitter conflict, women suffered violence and hardship on a level unimaginable to most people living in the UK. Yet, now the new state is - in Okwaci's words - "alive and kicking", the future for women in South Sudan is looking up. One of the main drivers for the African economy is connectivity. In South Sudan, this important area is being driven by a woman. Luckily, Okwaci is no stranger to challenge. A journalist by profession, she is also a prolific peace campaigner and advocate of women's roles in peace; she has founded several peace organisations, is secretary general of Women Action for Development in South Sudan and produces radio programmes targeting women at Sudan Radio Service. The only female member of the Association for Media Development in Southern Sudan. Okwaci also instigated the first ever peace-building programmes in the Shilluk Kingdom - now South Sudan. Okwaci is now working towards a 35% representation of women within South Sudan's government. In any developed country, this ambition would be worthy of national acclaim. For a country in which 90% of women are illiterate, domestic violence has been called an epidemic, and women's health remains among the world's worst, these are goals beyond the realms of the average imagination. South Sudan's business environment is a far cry from that of the UK. While we undoubtedly have mountains to climb before we can boast gender equality, compared with the women of South Sudan, we are blessed. Okwaci's challenge is wildly different to that of businesswomen in the UK yet we can take inspiration from what she is achieving. My point is that women like Okwaci should be shouted about to our aspiring young businesswomen. Instead, there is a small selection of women thrust in front of us by mainstream media. These women are packaged up into ready-made "role models" for young, impressionable women to idolise. This selection is depressingly bland, and tends to centre around reality TV or pop music. A recent survey found Beyoncé, Cheryl Cole, Kim Kardashian and Rihanna to be in the top five female role models for 16 to 17-year-old girls. The only one that was not a popstar or reality TV participant was Michelle Obama - famous because of her husband. While I don't doubt that the aforementioned have done well for themselves, they represent a dull picture of inspiration for our future generation; they are easy and unimaginative choices - people we are told to admire. What does it take to be a role model? To me, it's having someone that you can learn from and take inspiration from for your own life and career. In Okwaci's case there are many lessons to learn. If you feel people should get together to support an area of society, invent a pressure group that does just that. If you want to get something heard, talk about it on the radio. If you think women should have a bigger share of running the country, step up and help run it. Vince Cable said at the recent Women of the Future Summit, "to drive economic recovery, we must turn to women". It's nice of him to say that. However, if women are to take a leading role in shaping the future of the UK, perhaps we don't need to wait for permission from the secretary of state or turn to the media-approved female role models. A celebrity whose latest achievement is a tattoo on a famous body part isn't going to cut it. Perhaps if more people made the effort to seek out their own role models, the business world in the UK would present a more dynamic, fair and rewarding environment for women. Jess Matthias is deputy director at international communications consultancy Wordville _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list [email protected] http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
