Sistas doing it by themselves

It is also a time of the year when we hear so much about how downtrodden women are, how we are still looked down on by men and passed over for promotion in favour of our male (not always as competent) counterparts.

To women still singing this tune, my advice is “put on your big girl panties and take your place in an equal society”.

If you are still sitting around feeling sorry for your downtrodden self, then perhaps you deserve to be at the bottom of the corporate feeding chain.

Let’s just, for one minute, pretend that women have in fact made their indelible mark on this country and in our work places and have a look at some of the women we in Springs can look up to as examples of women who have taken their place both in our society and the world at large.

Arguably one of the most powerful government officials in any country is the governor of the reserve bank.

Well guess what, in our fair country, that title goes to the lovely Ms Gill Marcus, a woman who holds in her hands the power to determine a great deal about how you are able to spend your salary each month.

She can, at two-month intervals, decide what your car or bond interest rate will be or how much interest pensioners will earn on their investments and therefore how much they have to live on each month.

Will she offer those in debt some respite with a drop in the lending rate?

Will she offer pensioners some much-needed good news with a hike in the rate?

These are questions we ask ourselves every time the Monetary Policy Committee meets, with people on both sides of the coin hoping for opposing answers.

Ms Marcus certainly has the power to influence your life in a very tangible manner and she didn’t get into that position by wringing her hands and playing the poor little lady card, oppressed and down trodden by any man.

Closer to home I can name myriad strong women influencing your life in Springs every day, but two immediately spring to mind and as quintessential all-rounders, Springs should be boasting about these remarkable women.

Anita van Greef was recently appointed as the general manager of the Eastern Gauteng Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EGCCI).

She has been running the chamber for nine months since the previous incumbent (a man who lasted less than a year) took his leave of the EGCCI.

At a recent South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry meeting held in Springs which was aimed at getting members from the Chambers around Ekurhuleni together to discuss matters of mutual importance, it was Anita’s chamber that fielded six representatives.

There were only 10 people at the meeting.

While not running the chamber single-handedly, she is certainly helping to spearhead amazing progress in Springs starting with regular meetings with Ace Phiri, Springs Customer Care Centre manager, to bring issues around the city, for which the metro is responsible, to his attention and to ensure that these issues are addressed and corrected.

To her credit she has had great success in her dealing with Phiri and the city has already benefited greatly from her endeavours.

The second woman is proud mother, powerful business woman and EGCCI mover and shaker, Mary Reynolds, who has proven that a woman can be both a boardroom powerhouse and a caring parent.

While Mary’s son has fled the nest – being a fully grown man with his own life in Cape Town, she has been a beacon of this community her entire adult life (except for the year she defected to Brakpan to teach but with all she does for Springs I think we can forgive her this transgression).

While heading a successful travel company, servicing clients across the country, she is also a powerhouse within the community, ensuring a number of beneficial changes have been effected in the city.

Finally I believe that Caxton East Rand is a sterling example of women taking the power and creating change for the better.

The group consists of 13 newspapers overseen by eight editors.

Seven of these are women.

In addition one of the three branch managers is a woman and our general manager, a courageous and brilliant leader is also a woman.

From an editorial standpoint that pits nine women against three men in the top jobs.

So my question to the ninnies moaning about being held under men’s control or being forced to play second fiddle is, “what are you doing to take your place in the world?”

Because if you are still languishing in a man’s shadow, you may have only yourself to blame.

For those of you still unconvinced of the power of women, look at these fab inventions, courtesy of women:

n 1812 – Tabitha Babbitt – circular saw.

n 1845 – Sarah Mather – submarine lamp and telescope.

n 1872 – Josephine Cochran – dishwasher.

n 1875 – Ellen Fitz – globes.

n 1881 – Mary Walton – elevated railway.

n 1882 – Maria Beaseley – life raft.

n 1887 – Anna Connelly – fire escape.

n 1899 – Letitia Geer – medical syringe.

n 1900 – Florence Parpart – street-cleaning machine.

n 1903 – Mary Anderson – windscreen wipers.

n 1904 – Margaret Knight – rotary engine.

n 1917 – Ida Forbes – electric hot water heater.

n 1917 – El Dorado Jones – engine muffler.

n 1930 – Ruth Wakefield – chocolate-chip cookies.

n 1952 – Virginia Apgar Apgar – test which evaluates a baby’s health at birth.

n 1966 – Stephanie Kwolek – Kevlar, a steel-like fibre used in radial tyres, crash helmets and bulletproof vests.