Watch: Breaking the bias with ‘Kintsugi’ – the Japanese art of fixing broken ceramics with gold

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was #BreaktheBias, and W-Suite’s CEO and founder Katie Mohamed saw significance in not only breaking gender biases but finding forward-thinking solutions to mend the hegemony.

‘Kintsugi’ is the Japanese art of fixing broken ceramics with gold.

The idea is that something that is broken can be remade into something even more beautiful than it was originally.

W-Suite took this concept and invited a selection of influential women to a Kintsugi Workshop in Sandton.

“We are not only figuratively breaking the bias, but also rebuilding our own sense of self. A sense of self that exists outside of the bias,” said Mohamed.

Many women in attendance found the workshop incredibly cathartic and were provided with the platform to share their experiences.

Other attendees included businesswoman, Johanna Makgalemele, Brand South Africa ACEO, Sithembile Ntombela, and JSE Head of SME Development Cleola Kunene. In discussion, many women raised the issue of the gender pay gap, including MD of CNBC Africa, Roberta Naicker, who said, “So many of the boards I sit on, I am the only female. And I think we need to ask ourselves, why is that? Do we think that we are not good enough to have a place at that table? Or is it out that we are not being given the opportunity to have a place at that table?”

It is W-Suite’s goal to provide women a seat at the table, and a platform to spark conversations about the gender disparity in the C-Suite. And yet gender biases remain – and the biases create a further hurdle in the economic empowerment of women.

Katie remarked that perception and judgment play a large role in gender inequality.

“If we wear short skirts we are seen as promiscuous. If we wear hijabs we are seen as conservatives and extremists. If we are stay-at-home moms, we’re seen as lazy. And if we’re entrepreneurs, we’re seen as bossy. We can’t win.”

But, as the Kintsugi event symbolically and literally conveyed, women, can start by breaking the biases and reforming a new vision of the socio-economic role they play, and more importantly, an unbiased vision of themselves.