One of the more pleasing, relatively recent developments in the local business community has been the emergence of ambitious Guyanese women businesswomen, mostly young and mostly owners of small businesses, who appear determined not just to make a mark in the world of business but to make an impact in disciplines that are not only competitive on the local market but can also, over time, get the attention of markets in the region and even further afield. Here, one might add, that the effort of government and our Business Support Organizations (BSO’s) to help our women access potentially lucrative external markets has been, up until now, weak and ineffective.
Most of these women, it has to be said, have only taken a tilt at entrepreneurship in recent times. Many of them have, hitherto, qualified themselves in otter worthwhile pursuits though they are engrossed in marketing their brands through Farmers’ Markets, Product Displays and other forms of product marketing which are gradually attracting the attention of ‘audiences’ that are curious about the new products that range from health and beauty ‘elixirs’ to items of food and condiments manufactured in many instances to pleasingly high levels. Many of them, incidentally are mothers of young children, a circumstance that adds considerably to their lists of responsibilities.
Significantly, these women are increasingly embracing the view that there is something to be said for collaborating, working in numbers, sharing ideas and pooling resources in pursuit of common goals. Evidence of this is manifested at the various product display and marketing events where women often share a single display space (table) and where, frequently, they ‘small’ themselves up into huddles to discuss strategies that might be put into practice in order to resolve challenges that commonly affect the group. It amounts to a kind of something-is-in-it-for -each-of-us approach that appears to be working for the groups as a whole.
One of the reasons for what is now a growing tendency for women in business to create umbrella organizations that are separate and apart from the mainstream Business Support Organizations (BSO’s) has to do with the fact that women continue to have little say in the decision-making processes in the BSO’s. By extension, they have no great say in the decisions that are made by and for the mainstream business community. It is the overwhelmingly male-dominated ‘heavy hitters’ in the business community that make those decisions. Put differently, the mainstream business decisions that are made in Guyana including those that impact the private sector as a whole are made, overwhelmingly, in huddles of men. Further, it is by no means to the credit of government that, given their overarching responsibility for ensuring equality of opportunity in terms of access to opportunities in business, government has, over time, neglected to weigh in assertively on this issue. Indeed, while he is preoccupied – as appears to be the case – with matters of investment and business opportunities it would do the image of his administration a power of good the President were to take a public stand on the importance of balancing the scales of influence in the BSO’s between men and women. This way, we might see a greater number of gender-equaling decisions being made in and for women in business.
If nothing changes, and quickly, the gender divide is terms of influence in the sphere on business is bound to become more glaring given the country’s seeming shift towards and oil-driven economy and an attendant Local Content agenda which, on the basis of the available evidence, will further widen the gender gap in terms of access to opportunities in a market-driven economy.
All of this will probably not be accepted by institutions like the Private Sector Commission (PSC) which would have us believe that the kind of tokenism reminiscent of the axiom underscored in the 1973 American movie The Spook Who Sat By The door amounts to anything more than a patronizing acknowledgement that women exist after all.
One makes this point having witnessed the double standard of affording what ‘the boys in business’ consider to be ‘the due’ of women as reflected patently patronizing ‘awards’ offered by the BSO’s which do little if anything to contribute to the capacity of their female recipients to grow.
In truth, there can be no question than that men are, overwhelmingly, the key ‘movers and shakers’ in the Guyana business community. More than that such gestures as have been proffered to cause it to seem that a more ample place is being made at the decision-making table for women reek of an over-bearing affectation that has drifted into the realm of unadulterated hypocrisy.
