In a 2024 study of Kenyan women that focused on how they navigated the workplace environments heavily influenced by the Structural Adjustment Programs of the 1990s and 2000s, I found that the women experienced career and life paths largely shaped by male relatives, and rampant sexual harassment in the workplace. The study also found that women had great difficulty acquiring leadership positions despite their high academic achievements. Nevertheless, most of the women in the study not only survived these seemingly untenable conditions, but they also thrived. Instead of “leaning in,” they “dug in” by working hard, biding their time, pioneering new ideas, radically changing careers and continually furthering their education. I am seeking co-panelists involved in scholarship relating to women in Africa who have created space for themselves to lead, or who have identified and seized opportunities to be active leaders in the corporate workplace, government, civil society, community, Arts spaces, virtual spaces and in other areas where they have traditionally been shut out. “Leadership” should be read broadly, encompassing those who have seized opportunities for formal leadership and (mostly) those who are redefining old concepts (doing old things in new ways), those who have create niche cottage industries (the “side hustle”) and those involved in activism and disruptions aimed at social change.
Please send your abstract to Shiko Gathuo at sgathuo@worcester.edu by the recommended date of March 20.
Co-panelists in my 2024 panel (Chicago) are welcome to submit their updated work.
