By Emmanuel Adeleke
In furtherance of its leading role in promoting the socio-economic inclusion of women in the society, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s premier and leading financial inclusion services provider, has announced that it is dedicating the month of March to the celebration of women across the world, as it marks the globally celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, 2023.
Kicking off the series of internal activities designed to celebrate women was the Mentoring, Coaching and Sponsorship Pillar Webinar held on Friday, March 3, 2023. The event was organised by the bank’s First Women Network (FWN), an initiative that seeks to address the gender gap and increase the participation of women at all levels within the organisation.
On Wednesday, March 8, 2023, the bank will join the rest of the world to celebrate the 2023 International Women’s Day, themed: “Embrace Equity,” as it convenes its International Women’s Day 2023 event.
As a member of UN Women, First Bank employs the relevant women empowerment tools including the Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Gender Gap Analysis Tool in the process of assessing its performance and provide progress reports that feeds into the WEPs performance indicators.
First Bank has a ratio of about 39% female to 61% male employees, with 32% women in management driving a deliberate policy consistent with the WEPs’ equal opportunity, inclusion and non-discrimination.
In line with this commitment, First Bank is partnering with UN Women on March 15, 2023, and is set to play a key role in a scheduled event driven by UN Women that will showcase young women and men between the ages of 18-35 in Nigeria who are using technological innovations and tools to promote gender equality, women’s empowerment and inclusion. This is in line with the UN International Women’s Day theme for 2023: “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for gender equality.”
The conversation on ‘’Embrace Equity,’’ as well as ‘’DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for gender equality’,’ will be reinforced on Twitter Spaces with notable speakers including the Executive Director of Junior Achievement Nigeria, Foluso Gbadamosi.
Amongst the activities scheduled to round off the women’s month commemoration is the bank’s support of the Heroism of Erelu Ota – a play which aligns with the Bank’s [email protected] goal of supporting the arts and women. Heroism of Erelu Ota is an untold story of a legendary goddess in Ikorodu Kingdom who travels on the sea with a mat, and her ability to see what the enemies of Ikorodu are planning in their town, played a huge role in assisting the people of Ikorodu during the Agbala war.
Speaking ahead of the events, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, First Bank, Folake Ani-Mumuney, said: “We remain committed to diversity and inclusion as well as women empowerment through digital education and the provision of opportunities for women to access digital tools to bridge the gender digital divide and achieve gender equality.
“Therefore, as in previous years, First Bank has dedicated March 2023 as a month set aside to celebrate women and all their remarkable achievements over the years which include their leadership roles and pacesetting standards in Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM). We are deliberate about partnering to ensure more impact, ensuring that we touch as many women as possible in women’s month and beyond.’’
