Being A Woman

I was fine with being a woman, I was not raised in a family that treated women as a class below. In fact, our family takes good care of its women, and by that, I not only mean spoiled to the heavens but in the same breath afforded the freedom to aim high and push ourselves to our limits. Until one day, a big boss (he passed away already) refused to sign my designation as Assistant Regional Director, even only in Officer-In-Charge capacity. I thought he simply did not know me that well to give his blessing. I learned later that he did not welcome the idea of a 'woman' being in such post, moreso, in field operations.

Admittedly, at that time, I felt inadequate. But I was confident I could learn fast, and I could do the job. This was bolstered by the fact that my Regional Director then, who was my immediate superior, was generous in sharing his vast knowledge and experience on our operations. He practically taught me everything I know today. So my designation was signed only after an intimidating call, from whom, I will not divulge lest I be accused of namedropping. Haha. 

I was the only woman then in our national conferences, but my counterparts from the other regions did not mind. In fact, I promptly became their go-to-girl. We would all have coffee after hours, and smoked our lungs dry, and they all were so kind as to share with me their stories and learnings as field implementors and managers. I drew from those conversations important insights, well, some funny, some valid. I sat on the same street pavements as they did during breaks in conferences, all of us just wanting to take a breather from the endless numbers we were forced to gaze at and mull over. I even laughed as loud as all of the men. I was one of the boys, so to speak. 

These days, there are more women in key posts in our organization. Not all of us are brilliant, nor excellent on-the-ground implementors and managers. Yet I am sure that we are all movers. We do not let anything just pass by, we make sure we give all our best shot. We may have mediocre performances based on the numbers upon which our capabilities are measured against, but we are a strong bunch of people. Formidable. I was described that way once, and I would like to use that to describe my collagues as well. Imagine a person, with the God-given ability to birth, to breastfeed, to rear kids, to be a wife, and do all that with a managerial post, not in any bureacracy, but in DAR. It is either we are all crazy to have hung on to whatever kind of rope thrown at us and persisted on climbing the freaking mountains formed by rocks of distrust, 'cluelessness' and politics, or we are simply formidable. I will bet on the second. I am quite sure he who refused to sign my papers years ago is looking down from the heavens on all or us, a reluctant smile on his face.