Networking is a powerful tool; the power of the pact. Throughout history women have never been allowed to join the table with men nor were they apportioned any share of the social goods until they learn to summon the power of the collective. There are several heroines dotted across the globe for this. Eve realizes that to achieve parity, women must rediscover the power that got them where they are in the first place, and that is coming together through networking.
When women click, the potential is limitless. Women are only limited by their traditional orientation to compete instead of collaborating. But let’s face it, most of us hate networking. Indeed, professional networks are some of the most dormant sites and people feel physically lazy to network professionally. Most of us chose social media because we can choose to be anonymous and actually spend the whole day in our own bubble whilst still actively engaging in that space. The case with professional and physical networking in Africa is actually worse for women because even a professional relationship with a male mentor could be misconstrued to mean other things.
Caroline Castrillon, a career and life coach on why women need to network differently from men in order to get ahead, said that “for women to advance professionally, we need to exploit our one true advantage – a strong female support group. The support system and gender-specific career advice that women can provide other women are crucial to career advancement. Female mentorship in the workplace is more important than ever. Let’s band together so that tomorrow’s female leaders emerge from today’s inner circle”.
Research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst also showed that female mentors are “key influencers” on women’s success when it comes to facing difficult tasks in life like the study of STEM fields. In another article, Shirley Zalis says that “there is a special place in heaven for women who support other women”. According to her, a woman alone has power; collectively, they have an impact. Sociocultural stereotypes and etiquettes have traditionally misled women to interact competitively rather than collaboratively. Shirley says that “we need to reverse the stereotype that women don’t support other women. There is research that shows women in particular benefit from collaboration over competition. Study after study shows women who support women are more successful in business.”
In this age of social media, it is easy to lose oneself in a bubble of the infinite ocean of information for oblivion whilst still achieving nothing purposeful for the lost time. In this prison, we are all guilty and both the young and old are caught alike. This is why the EVE is a great salvation for the Ghanaian Woman, to actually engage her likes in a manner of her choosing, on a single or multiple professional platforms for the advancement of the female Ghanaian.
As a member-driven organization, our aim is to help members become more successful in their professional practice and deliver immediate benefits. Achieving this goal will help us sustain long-term member engagement and contribute to advancing our mission. We believe that the long-term viability and vitality of the organization is dependent on effectively meeting the needs of our professional and social members. By connecting with our local and international organizers, moderators and educators of the various networking groups, staff and other essential stakeholders we will grow our relevance and advance in our mission. To enable us to achieve this, we will emphasize on building partnerships with societies, groups and organizations aligned with our mission. Our focus will be on understanding, creating and delivering values with the intention of growing membership, engagement and satisfaction. groups and organizations aligned with our mission. We believe that our career network groups of our local community supported by our global teams will be more effective in engaging and building relevance among women in Ghana.
