The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has called for the review of company policies and work conditions to protect women in work places across Nigeria.
Head, Branding and Communication of the company, Angela Olarewaju, said this in Ilorin, Kwara State during this year’s Discussing Issues Surrounding Career Opportunities for Women (DISCO).
The programme themed breaking the glass ceiling is in partnership with USAID and aimed to promote gender equality and empowering women folk to have equal job opportunities with the men.
According to her, company policies has made it difficult for pregnant women to get job or get pregnant working, adding that it has led to several job loss for women in the country.
“Based on a lot of company policies, it is hard for pregnant woman go get a job or you are supposed to have some period before you can get pregnant.”
“As a gender equality pioneer, IBEDC is working with USAID and part of what we have done is to review our condition of service and policies to accommodate women. This should be the norm across board.
“Even if you are pregnant, you can apply and get a job in IEBDC once you scale the interview and other processes. When you get pregnant on the job, there is nothing to worry about. Nobody is going to say anything to you. There is an equal opportunity for employment.
“This is important because we have a very diverse workforce and need to make sure that the women are empowered. We also have the biggest DISCO by geography in the south west and some parts of the north.
“The discussion now is centred around women and how they can progress and evolve to fulfill their true potentials”.
In his remark, Regional Head of IBEDC, Engr. Christopher Lawal, said the company has established metrics and signed an MOU to measure the impact with agenda of what to achieve.
“So we have milestones which include before and after survey. When we started, we have the data and we can now compare in terms of staff strength of women in all the organizations with us, those in senior management position, among others,” he submitted.
The programme was attended by women from other organizations and companies and resource female personalities from the academia.
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