I wasn’t sure what exactly to write about, but then, I was hosted on the UAA Kanvas, and Voila!

I found the Women’s day theme inspiring – Embracing equity. I visited a hidden gem here in Uganda, Aquarius Hotel in Kigo – I liked it – It’s indeed beautiful and I’m not sure why I’m talking about it, (this is not a paid gig) what I’m about to tell you about has nothing to do with it. So I happened to attend an event at the aforementioned establishment when the hot topic came up, not for discussion or debate, the usual, men mocking women and making it sound like a joke – In their defense we laughed, we were a bunch of mature, well mannered ladies I guess who chose in this moment, not to engage it was pointless. I say usual because I’ve seen too many memes on the subject and have on two occasions witnessed men actually making random comments asking women to do things that men are more competent to do like “women empowerment carry the tables or women empowerment women give the men your jackets they are cold.” Those that are truly invested in the subject have read the research and know that it’s not to be laughed about. Sure some people make jokes about being disabled and people laugh, it’s not funny when someone that is NOT disabled does the same. So let’s leave the women empowerment jokes to the women they can make those cause no-one is going to take it personally. When a man tries to make jokes with reference to the discussions about woman empowerment it’s just as good as laughing at someone that is poor because you are rich. So I wrote the above intro before being invited to the UAA Kanvas debate, but I still needed to get it off my chest so lets just treat the two as separate.

To get the conversation going our host made a couple of statements and we were to respond as to whether we thought it was a myth or a fact.

In this blog, I’ll focus on the one that got me thinking. She, the host, stated, “the advertising industry is heavily male-dominated, fact or myth?” We all agreed it was a fact. I took some time to think through it and do research. Dominance is characterised by two main attributes, that is, power and influence. While we have more women taking up roles in the advertising industry there’s still male dominance, by observation I’d say we have 6 men to 4 women working in an ad company in Uganda. In the US, as published by Statista in January 2023 – about 49% recorded women and about 51% men – so we’re seeing growth and uptake of roles in advertising by women. Joel, Maclean, and I had one task at the Kanvas, and though we didn’t agree on everything, we were there to share our stories and encourage a woman in advertising to take up space, to develop her leadership skills and get all the media coverage and attention. So we spoke about courage and learning, personal growth and development. In today’s blog I’d just like to share my key takeouts from this event:

  1. Maclean said: You have to be knowledgeable. I couldn’t have said it better, read a book, attend a course, be the master of your craft because mastery yeilds excellence.
  2. Joel said: You don’t need to be liked, apply yourself and do great things. To this I could relate, it has something to do with the way women are brought up, we are afraid to tap into our masculine energy and be unapologetic. Masculine energy is characterized by DOING and achieving and is molded by logic and reason. The feminine is more intuitive, oriented towards receiving and allowing, and characterized by BEING. When these energies are balanced, we experience a greater sense of harmony and fulfillment.
  3. And I said, in the words of Jim Rhon, work on yourself more than you work on your job. At first it will feel like wasting time, it might even be boring but when you start to see your own growth you’ll be impressed with the person you will have become. (Dominant)