Her Daily News

The Namibian Businesswoman of the Year 2007 prize was awarded to Rhiana Potgieter, owner of the Shadonai Beauty School. This article on AllAfrica.com stated the awards were given during a banquet on Friday, October 12. Also taking home awards were Helene Vosloo, winning the category of Community and Government, and Margaret Bennett, winner of the Private and Corporate Sector category.

In the announcement of the nominees, Desere Lundon-Muller stated the Businesswoman of the Year program was started 12 years ago to honor the “women whose achievements, commitment and vision have made them leaders in their chosen fields of endeavour.” Telecom Namibia and Castle Brewing Namibia are sponsors for the event, and the Namibia Economist newspaper serves as the organizer.

In an interview with the Namibia Economist, Potgieter said she started the school with just five students and no accreditation. Today, she has 20 full-time and 40 part-time students, and is accredited through the Namibian Training Authority as well as international organizations. “I definitely have an enormous impact on their lives and this is the biggest responsibility of all,” she says.

Women in Namibia are beginning to gain more equal status in some areas, but those living in rural regions still face many hardships and discrimination. In A Physical Educator’s Perspective of Namibia, Africa, Bonnie J. Reimann explores the major issues still affecting women’s rights. The greatest of these issues continues to be HIV/AIDS, with the number of young women living with the disease estimated to be more than twice that of young men. In addition, many widows find themselves suddenly having their property taken away by male family members after the death of a husband. This fact sheet on women’s rights in Namibia may shed some light into this situation faced by agricultural, rural women:

Namibia is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The Constitution of Namibia guarantees equal rights for women and provides for affirmative action to redress past imbalances. However, the Constitution also states that all laws in force at independence remain in force until repealed or amended by Parliament, and that customary and common laws also remain valid, as long as they do not conflict with the Constitution or statutory laws. Thus many discriminatory laws that affect rural women remain intact, including those that limit women’s control over property and access to land over property and access to land and credit.

Reimann stated, “This lowered economic status can encourage high-risk behavior such as engaging in unsafe sex for money, housing or food for women and their children. It becomes evident that the cycle of poverty, HIV/Aids transmission, and gender disparity will be difficult to break.” During her visit to Namibia, she also toured the education programs offered to girls to women in the country. While there are some quality programs in place, the women of Namibia need access to much more. Strong business leaders like Potgieter and the other winners offer the hope that perhaps the gender disparity explored by Reimann, although difficult, can be overcome.

To read how other international women are overcoming oppression, check out Afghanistan City Helping Women Own Businesses.

women, businesswomen, Namibia, Namibian women, women’s rights

Beth Turnage from Astrology Explored is my guest writer for today. She has a lot of experience in the corporate world, and has offered to give advice on handling problems in the work place. Her first post is on the bully boss and the steps to take in dealing with one.

The Bully Boss

You don’t know what happened. Your work was respected. Then Mr. X was brought in to manage your department. Suddendly, nothing you do is good enough. Worse yet, Mr. X uses your work as an example of what not to do and does so publicly. As the knot grows in your stomach as you go to work each day, so does Mr. X’s attack on your work. He might even start making “jokes” at your expense and your co-workers laugh; some of them nervously, but they laugh. Then they start questioning your work, though you’ve worked with them for years. You notice the people you thought were your friends aren’t speaking to you much anymore. You aren’t imagining things. You are a victim. A victim of a bully boss.

Bully bosses pick their victims from the people who won’t challenge them, either because the victims are professional enough to respect the position even though they don’t respect the person or because he or she senses you are the weakest link in the chain. Either way, for them, they have more to gain by humiliating you than not. Whatever sick reason motivates them, it is your career that is being damaged and your health is that is being affected. You need to do something, but what?

First, take stock of your internal allies at work. Have you cultivated the respect of the people above your boss, or are you a face in the crowd?

How big is your company.? A bigger company has more to lose in terms if faced with the problems caused by a bully boss. Retention of good employees is an expensive proposition.. A smaller company, with less to lose, or managed by an owner, might not have enough knowlege of whats at stake to handle the problem effectively.

What are the avenues for complaints, and how effective have they’ve been in the past? Human Resource departments are there to protect the company’s interests, not yours. A complaint filed with the Human Resources Department should only be made as a last strategic move before legal action is taken. An open door policy with higher ups can be useful if approached correctly.

Have other people complained about this person before you? If you are the first person to complain about the bully, the complaint will be labeled as a “personality conflict.”, if you are the fifth, a pattern emerges.

What do you have to lose? Can you leave this job without a substantial loss of benefits? Are you able to find another job in your field? Let’s face it, if your company does such a poor job of hiring and monitoring their management, what else are they messing up?

What to do?

Consider your options. The final resort, legal action, hurts you as much as it hurts the company. It labels you as a “troublemaker” whether or not it is true, and it can hurt your chances for future employment.

Sometimes it is easiest and best to find another job. If you want to stay and fight for your job, you need to be careful in the steps you take.

Your strategy might include:

Having a private chat with your boss and let him know that you want to do whatever it takes to improve your performance. Ask for specific suggestions and write them down as as he speaks. Document the conversation in a tone that suggests you are only interested in a being a better employee. Do not expect the boss to improve his behavior.

Document specific instances of abuse, including who witnesses to the abuse.

Have another talk with the boss expressing your concern that no matter what you do, you don’t seem to meet his expectations. Ask again for a list of specific suggestions to improve your perfomance. Document the conversation.

Document the next instance of abuse.

The next step is to step up and go to the higher ups. This is tricky and it may not work, so this action is to be taken with knowlege that there is risk attached to this strategy, up to and including the possibility of losing your job. However, don’t hesitate. Studies show that most people targeted by a bully end up losing their jobs anyway.

Do not go to your boss’ boss. He or she has something to lose if his or her brillant hire doesn’t work out. Go to the boss’ boss’ boss and have a low key chat, which you will also document. Say how much you like working at the company, and you thought you’ve done well, but lately your performance is not satisfying the new boss. Despite your solicitations for advice, you are unable to get enough instruction from the new boss to satisfy his expectations. You express that you only want to perform well at work, and you are willing to do what it takes to perform well at your job. Ask him for specific suggestions. At this point the boss will usher you out of the office and wonder what the heck is going on in Mr. X’s department and that he better to speak to Y to find out. Or not. In any case what comes down next determines your course of action, but you are well prepared to take the next step should things do not improve for you at work.

And that step is hire a lawyer.

Helpful links about bullies in the workplace:

http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19950901-000021.html
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/bully-boss1.asp

Please join us again for Beth’s next topic: The Difference Between Being Picked On and Having Your Perfomance Evaluated.

women, working women, workplace, work problems, problem boss, work strategies

Afgha.com has reported that five women-owned stores in the city of Mazar-e Sharif are doing well. The women’s affairs department helped the women set up their retail shops, something almost unheard of in Afghanistan.

The success of these lady-owned and operated business led to the provincial governor laying the foundation stone for the Women’s Garden, a planned shopping center for 200 more stores. Men as well as women will be allowed to shop there, though it was pointed out that, “officials say their behaviour will be closely monitored.” As expected, there have been some disagreements among religious leaders over the rights of these females, but there are many local clerics who see it as a positive step.

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The American Stock Exchange(R) (Amex(R)) announced today that the Executive Committee of the Amex Board of Governors has appointed Patricia Rado, former Controller of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., to chair a new independent task force to examine recent system issues at the Exchange. Ms. Rado is an independent governor of the Amex Board as well as the chair of its Audit Committee.

Ms. Rado has been authorized to lead an independent task force that will conduct comprehensive reviews of technology issues underlying recent service interruptions. The task force is committed to identifying and resolving any issues that may otherwise lead to future disruption of market operations. The task force will report its findings and recommendations to the Amex Board.

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