International Women

Yesterday I attended an event organised by the International Women Association here in Kampala. This got me thinking... why international women, not expat women... as it happens most of the members are expats, in fact lots of them are the wifes to this or that ambassador in town. In any case I do prefer the term international women, or at least I do identify with that one more than 'expat wife', after all my husband is not really a 'full-on' expat here.

Most of the women I met are truly accomplished, but not in the sense of how Mr Darcy was talking about 'accomplished' ladies in Pride and Prejudice, but in the more contemporary sense of professional women, with solid careers behind them, probably ladies who are taking a career break like me or who have moved following their husbands and are not working for any given reason while being here.

In any case, I like more 'international women' because it encompasses a wider proportion of our population... I think that more than international women we are truly global citizens... like this lady who is British by origin but was raised in India, met her husband in India and then they have lived in many countries in the last years including Kenya, Congo, Nigeria, Uganda 3 times across 3 decades. She has come back to Africa following her husband, who had already retired, but decided was missing work too much... she is not the only one in that scenario by the way.

That got me thinking too about how would this be if the situation was reversed... I know often men say that they would be more than happy to stay at home while their wives progressed in their careers. Well, I have lived in UK for almost 10 years and have only seen a handful of such men. And then, coming to Africa, what I see is even less of it! Of course there will be men like that, but at the moment, in the circle where I move, there is none. I have nothing against though, believe me...

Later on we went for a lunch of Spanish ladies at the Serena Kampala and we were talking about this with the other ladies; about how we as women 'measure' ourselves by our careers, but also around our families, our roles in society... we think men value themselves more strongly around work. I don't mean to say that family and society are not important to men, but work is often a very strong priority in their lives.

In any case, I actually thought that it is very lucky that a whole bunch of women of such talent and potential have come together to create organisations like the International Women Association (IWA), because this is not only about meeting other ladies for coffee (which would be good and valid enough by itself), but also about going out and taking an active role in a country that we are all calling 'home' even if for a few months or a few years.

And it is great to see women taking action... women are the core of family and by extension society... I am not the only one to say that, especially in Africa!

Have a nice weekend.