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The world is now looking forward to the silver jubilee of the Fourth Women World Conference, which was held in Beijing in 1995. Although it was preceded by three other women’s conferences which had come up with important strategies concerning the empowerment of women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action was more geared towards gender mainstreaming as a process and a strategy and gender equality as the goal. It raised the stakes for a better world and held higher promises for all those who wished to see the end of marginalization, inequality and discrimination against women.

In this wake comes this book written as a woman’s experience as she struggled to ensure gender is mainstreamed in the processes, systems, policies and culture of the African Development Bank. The book reveals in a passionately censorious manner the poor work environment for gender mainstreaming in an institution where it was supposed to thrive and the dilemma posed by disparaging “jokes” making it difficult for the author, who is a gender specialist to make things work.

Mainstreaming Gender, not only in the African Development Bank but also in many organizations, can be tricky and difficult due to many factors, one being the patriarchal system and culture woven tightly in the minds of the very people, mostly men who have the role of making things happen. The book shows clearly how the misunderstanding or misinterpretation of terms can bring negative connotations in a well-intended matter. The term feminism/feminist agenda has been controversial in many places. While feminism is about the range of economic, social, political and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish and achieve the equality of the sexes, some people find this term biased and cannot see how it is aligned with the term gender. Such negativity has brought about hardship in trying to promote gender equality as is shown plainly in the book.

While the book discusses and analyses the controversy in gender mainstreaming, it also touches on patriarchy and the neo-liberal economic policies as twining concepts underpinning the context in which gender equality policies and progress are being executed.  While reading what seems to be a story in a lone tussle, a spark of disbelief comes forth on matters, which one would not have expected in an organization with a Vision Statement explicitly prioritizing gender. The stereotypes of assigning meagre financial, human and other resources in the promotion of the gender equality goal is one of such issues and has been detected in many places where gender is just a cosmetic term.

Although there are positive indications of how gender policies were initiated to the level of recognition at the international level, yet in practice the real mainstreaming is not that evident, so much so that the gender specialist seems to be suffocating while trying to push and pull strings in trying to make her work meaningful.

The author has come out as a voice on issues over which there is silence in many places. And, as she correctly claims, this has been possible because of what she has lived – a combatant disposition due her earlier life experience.

The second part of the book named “the struggle for women’s rights begins with me” portrays the personal encounter in which she had to fight for justice and in the process gets dismissed from her job. It raises some questions of how many women would be courageous enough to follow up on their rights when infringed upon by a very powerful man to the extent of facing an administrative tribunal to seek justice. The last part is a gleam of bright light with a very radiant title ‘from a walk of shame to a walk of grace’. At last justice was done to the individual who has decided to provide the whole account of what the institution and the top leadership takes gender and feminism to mean as well as the ethical conflicts, accountability and governance issues. Reading this narration will make all those who are evaluating 25 years of the Beijing Platform of Action sink and think deeper, not by searching the documents in organizations but by looking beyond, in a qualitative manner how such documents are being lived and implemented. The road to gender mainstreaming is meandering but moving uphill following this account which is but one voice of an assertive gender expert whose efforts must be praised.

Dr. Helen Kijo Bisimba
Human Rights Activist
Initiative Dignity Alert

Dar es Salaam – Tanzania

We may know that women’s development seems to have stalled, across rural Africa and beyond and also in the global organizations that are formally committed to rectifying this situation. Here we find out how this happens. This book provides an enlightening study of an attempted organizational change and the powerful resistance to it.
 
Although I was shocked at the obstruction Laeticia Mukurasi encountered, I also felt a growing wonder at the skill, ingenuity, persistence and courage of one woman who took on the challenge of ensuring that the Africa Development Bank’s funding could actually be effective to empower women. She was well qualified for the role that she was assigned: she grew up in rural Tanzania and learned about women’s oppression at first hand, both at home and at work. I was privileged to meet her in Dar es Salaam and subsequently work with her providing training for women senior managers in the East African civil services. Laeticia qualified from Sussex University with an M.A in Gender and Development, honed her knowledge and skills working for the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Fund for women at the Dar es Salaam Country Office in Tanzania. Then she won her dream job: gender specialist at the African Development Bank in 1998. At first, she was the only gender specialist, later becoming Chief Gender Specialist. This book is the story of her twelve years in that role.
 

The relevance of this book extends beyond African development – yet we learn a lot about the lives of rural African women as we accompany Laeticia on field trips and into the nuts and bolts of specific development projects. It goes beyond a critical look behind the scenes of a multilateral development finance institution – yet the workings and power relationships of that male-dominated institution come alive in the stories told by the author about her working life and the incessant undermining of her professional position. Mukurasi knows how to work with the bureaucratic structure of the Bank and proposes the changes required in the Bank’s governance structure to ensure accountability to women and gender equality results. The book provides an illuminating case study of organizational change which should be required reading in a discipline which often misrecognizes the depth and complexity of resistance to change through subtle webs of power.

Perhaps more transformative than all of the above themes is the story of a woman who would not give up, of a woman who refused to let her ethical commitment to improving the lives of oppressed women be compromised, whatever the price. They did not know what they were up against, those who took her on – those who assumed that she, like most of the ranks of “jobs-worths”, could be tamed into the status quo. The President certainly did not expect to be challenged. But:

As an advocate for women rights, it would be amiss to let the President’s behaviour pass unchallenged. I see that the fight for women’s rights starts with me.  How can I defend the rights of others if I cannot defend my own? I wrote to the President requesting for clarification of his statements and informed him that I find his characterization of my person and my work not only intimidating but also detrimental to my performance.

She knows the likely consequences – she is, after all, an African woman:

I know that questioning the actions of the President runs counter to the dominant culture of deference to an authority figure. Moreover, for a woman to confront such a powerful man will be perceived as culturally inappropriate and a contravention of the unwritten code that requires women to be respectful and submissive to men. In my letter, I am careful to adopt a factual approach, tactful yet uncompromising on issues of principle.

The book’s denouement is epic. The President orders Mukurasi’s dismissal. He expects her to go quietly. She decides to sue, ‘a case of David and Goliath’, a case unprecedented in its outcome. We need more Laeticia’s at the African Development Bank.

Wendy Hollway
Emeritus Professor of Psychology

Open University – UK

Reading A Triumph For Women’s Right Her African Story facilitates a deep understanding of why documenting our stories is more important today than it was in the past.
 
The writer, who is known as a prolific writer on gender issues has authored and co-authored several books and articles in which she criticizes how men use their power against women.
 
In this book, the author, Laeticia Mukurasi narrates how she struggled to bring about an understanding to her bosses at the African Development Bank with whom she worked for twelve good years, that her work was meant to “promote gender equality and women empowerment issues in the bank”
Unfortunately, this notion did not augur well with her bosses who saw her as a feminist pursuing a feminist agenda and not s gender agenda in the bank.
The twelve-year journey was, therefore, a living testimony to the struggles long and bitter many women are forced to go through in many organizations. Reading on, it is evident women have still a long way to go before they can realize equity in rights, access for resources and power, and of course for dignity and respect.
The book brings to the fore how some men didn’t have an understanding about women’s year in 1975, decade doe women in 1985 and Beijing Platform for action in 1995, women were ridiculed and given a blanket name of “Beijing”.
The author puts succulently how, knowing she was working with a very crucial financial institution that would make a difference to the majority of women in Africa, it was important to fight tooth and nail to raise her voice as a gender specialist in fulfillment of African women’s expectations, needs and aspirations.
I recommend reading the book to discover the author’s unique experience in the women’s struggle. It inspires, resonates strength, agility and confidence. Her lone voice may be a voice in the wilderness, but if we combine our voices with hers we shall be instituting what Malcom Gladwell said, “The tipping Point”. And this will definitely make a difference.
Eddah Sanga
Journalist, Human and Women Rights Activist. 

As the Author narrates her own experiences as the Gender Specialist of one of the most powerful institutions, The Africa Development Bank, she also carries the readers through a history of the development of  women rights in Africa from the time of the Beijing declaration.

One cannot ignore the competencies and passion that the author had for gender mainstreaming which makes the book an authority in the gender mainstreaming arena.

For a young feminist with a profound interest in gender mainstreaming this book is a manual to understanding why despite all the declarations and agreements meant to bring about gender equality, despite nations being signatories to instruments that are meant to bring about gender equality and institutions having gender policies and other instruments, gender equality has not been realized even in leading organizations.

The author has explored the root causes of gender inequalities, pointing out the lack of true intentions and both political and will power  by individuals, leaders  and institutions to bring about  gender equality but rather paint a picture that shows adherence only to be seen as part of the efforts and sometimes as a way of attracting funding.

In this book you will feel the author frustration, and at times anger, which most gender specialists experience as they try to implement their mandate in male dominated work places. She  has voiced her concerns on the issues of misinformation or zero information among people on gender equality and gender mainstreaming which makes the job of Gender Specialist a daily struggle of power with leaders and even colleagues as their job is  seen by many as that of a trouble maker whose only intentions are to disturb the status quo which needs to be disturbed anyway.
It is a clear indication that despite all the strides made in gender equality from the Beijing gender agenda there is still a lot to be done to achieve true gender equality both in the society and in our institutions. This has been the biggest challenge faced by gender specialists in most organizations and it’s not news that most of female feminists are always titled as angry women or angry activists hence their job is not given the right weight in terms of resources and not treated as a core part of most  organizations.

The book has also showcased how failure to implement gender equality at big institutions end up affecting women up to the grassroots. In narrating her own ordeal the author speaks for a lot of women who faces discrimination at the work place but only a few find the courage to speak up because of the pre- existing biases and unfair treatment standards that are set in many institutions despite having gender policies which in reality are only shelved instruments. She also shows how not placing gender equality at the center of our institutions rob women the right to access to different services which are already available for them.

This is not just a book about laeticia struggle as a gender specialist at the African Development Bank but rather an analysis of how far we have come in implementing the gender agenda . It is not a throw of tantrums by an angry woman but a well researched and well put account on gender mainstreaming and the problems faced by women at the workplace  everyday with proposed solutions and ways to accelerate the process by starting having true intentions and political will to do the same.

It is a must read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding in the subject of gender mainstreaming

Anabahati Mlay
Female Future Programme Coordinator- Association of Tanzania Employers.
Laeticia, congratulations for bringing to the surface your plight while working at the African Development Bank. Hopefully many women, and men for that matter, will draw lessons and be encouraged to fight for their rights. The book sets out the challenges you encountered while trying to accomplish your dream, that of being an “agent” for the rights of women in Africa. Having perused through your book, the battle you were fighting had several dimensions, namely:
 
1.0   Male chauvinism – those who didn’t believe that the gender equality agenda was indeed realizable – and these were those who called you names – “Mrs. Beijing is here…. So you are on mission to equalize us! Trivialization … so you want women to be on top of us, etc etc.   
 
2.0   Male hypocrisy or two-facedness the likes of which are exposed by George Zimbizi – those who by virtue of their positions are forced to stand on platforms to hypocritically advocate for gender equality but no intention of implementing the same.
 
3.0   Male dominance – as you point out, one gender specialist against an “almost totally male senior management team…” – being under male bosses your work was rendered almost invisible”. Besides out of the 450 professionals (10 percent females; 90 percent Male) in the Bank you were the only person dedicated to gender work in the early days of your joining the Bank
 
4.0   Management structures were not accommodative enough for the Gender agenda to be visible within the Bank’s Management. Although on paper, gender and environment were supposed to be two priority cross-cutting issues! For some reason environment overshadowed gender!!!
 
5.0   The Bank systems had not “mainstreamed the gender agenda in its structures” – there were no serious efforts to mainstream gender issues in the Bank’s system – the Women In Development Unit (WID) was abolished at one point in time (and was reinstated upon your appointment). 
 
No resources were allocated to implement catalytic gender affairs, the Bank’s Operational Manual provided authoritative guidance on the notorious gender paragraph!    
 
Notwithstanding all the odds as mentioned above, you personally attempted to make things happen – for evolving strategies for establishing gender institutional presence, voice and visibility. Unfortunately, some of the men whom you had expected to assist you as “gender advocates” – a male colleague who was to be part of the team to Zambia, was not comfortable to play that role, although ultimately, he was one of your allies or rather the converted!!!
 
Your strategy was, I believe, to groom as many as possible of the converted, not only to support your move, but also to assist in bringing change or rather mind-set change about the gender agenda in the Bank. Unfortunately, it seems the converted were not that many!!
 
 Then one keeps wondering about the “gender agenda concept”. It is not that much complex to understand and digest, particularly for persons with an African background, then why was there such a fierce resistance to support the concept? This raises several questions? Was it that the style used – by the promoters of the agenda (the gender specialists) – to bring about change, was causing resentment among most professionals? Did professional staff, in particular, feel that the approach used was rather “commanding/imposed” on them.  Were there personality clashes? Or what was it?   
 
 Having gone through your book, I am rather lost – was the “Gender agenda” imposed to the Bank? Why was the resistance emanating from the very top levels of management? Let alone male colleagues, what about the females – who seem were silent on the issue!!! Why?
 
 The President was not sure which agenda you were pursuing “feminist agenda” or a “gender agenda” – your response to this was brilliant BUT had the top management to wait for so long to realize that the Bank was not on course as far as the Gender agenda issue was concerned?
 
 Last but not least, is about good governance – effective management structures – of the Bank.  As you assert in the book, the Bank President was both the CEO and the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Thus, not only did he supervise the implementation of the Bank’s operations, he also chaired the sessions that assessed how the Bank’s operations were executed. Specifically, and in as far as Laeticia’s case is concerned, the Staff Rules – particularly the summary on summary dismissal in part reads:
 
 “Summary dismissal shall be imposed only upon determination by the President that the staff member concerned is guilty of serious misconduct…”
 
  It was the President, who was being accused, and it was the same President who was supposed to determine  if the staff had committed serious misconduct– under that state of affairs, there is a conflict of interest and it would be difficult, if not impossible to exercise a fair trial.  And it is possible that under those circumstances the President behaved as if he was not accountable to anyone. That amounts to abuse of power.
 
 As for the Bank’s Administrative Tribunal, it is commendable that it was fair in its deliberations and ultimately its judgment. This notwithstanding, the comment that “Goliath was down” is not rational, given the circumstances under which the proceedings were conducted.
Nicholas H. Mbwanji
Labour Market Specialist
InterFINi Consultants Limited

As the author narrates her experience as a Gender Specialist at the African Development Bank, you get the feel of how gender is belittled as a woman’s issue and not as a human right. The mocking and sneers she endured as she struggled to bring the relevance of gender issues in the organisations was clear that the gender positions at the bank was just a ruse to entice European donors. 

As a young gender specialist, I found that I relate on many the author’s experiences, specifically the frustration of having no budget allocation for gender activities and how gender is not given the importance or recognition it deserves.  The author has certainly showcased what many gender specialist’s experience. I applaud the author’s competencies on gender and development, her resilience and determination to continue to rise against all odds.

Albeit the international instruments and declarations on gender equality, we cannot achieve the goal of reaching gender equality in the near future as the responsible flag bearers of development are not willing to hoist gender as an agenda and removing the many misconceptions on gender brought about by pre-existing biases.  We need to re-evaluate our strategies, ensure that gender we bring men on board: gender advocacy doesn’t only concern women.

For anyone interested in knowing more on gender issues, I definitely recommend this book, it guides and addresses on how to tackle the challenges brought about promoting, advocating and implementing interventions on gender equality. This book serves as an intergenerational dialogue and Ms. Laeticia has certainly handed over the gender equality baton to all feminists and gender activists for many generations to come.

Chiku Semfuko
Gender Focal Point, ILO East Africa.