I’m very happy. I’m the first woman and the first African to lead the organization…But i don’t think it’s about those two attributes. I think it’s about competence,
says Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of World Trade Organization (WTO).
Former Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard has suggested that it is important for women to develop a set of friends and allies, both male and female, prepared to call out gender bias being used against a woman leader.
In relating her fond experience before clinching the plum position as the Head of the global trade institution recently, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), has disclosed that “competence”, not gender or race saw her appointed as the first African and first woman to lead the governing body of the organisation.
Okonjo-Iweala, who resumed office at the World Trade Organisation Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, March 1, 2021, stated this while speaking with former Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the South China Morning Post’s ‘Women of Our Time’ virtual conference, which coincided with this year’s International Women’s Day.
We gathered that both Gillard and Dr. Okonjo-Iweala recently co-authored a book entitled: Women and Leadership: real life real lessons
Recollecting her journey to leading the much troubled WTO, reportedly facing one of the most difficult periods in its history, the 66-year-old Director-General who restated her readiness to hit the ground running said: “My mantra is: we can’t have business as usual in this organisation.” She continues;
“We can’t continue to have debates about serious issues of world trade, where we need to make rules about e-commerce and the digital economy.
“We need to make rules about trade and climate … , and I think I have the skills to bring people and members together.”
Okonjo-Iweala now faces the herculean task of revitalizing the 164-member organisation that has been battered by rising global trade disputes, in particular the US-China trade war.
According to her, “when you have all these challenges in the organisation, people do wonder, how come this is not the right moment for a woman So, there’s a bit of a glass cliff involved in it.”
As part of the current challenges confronting the global trade body, the WTO has also been operating without its Appellate Body, which arbitrates global trade disputes, since December, 2019, after the former US President Donald Trump administration in the United States (US) blocked the appointment of new judges.
The Trump Government was reported to have refused to back Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy, instead opting to favour South Korea’s YooMyung-hee, leading to months of delay until the advent of the new USA President Joe Biden whose administration withdrew the American opposition.
But with all that as history, Okonjo-Iweala is now in the right position to address the long-standing complaints from the US and Europe about subsidies enjoyed by Chinese state firms favored by the government.
“I’m very happy. I’m the first woman and first African (to lead the organisation). Why not? That’s what I tell people. But I don’t think it’s about those two attributes. I think it’s about competence,” she told South China Morning Post’s Women of Our Time Conference.”
She noted that: “With all these problems (within the organization), if you don’t succeed, then certainly you’re going to fall over the cliff. So, I have to focus like a laser beam on getting results. But yes, when you have all these challenges in the organization, people do wonder, how come this is not the right moment for a woman? So, there’s a bit of a glass cliff involved in it.”
Okonjo-Iweala said she had already experienced glass cliff situations – a phenomenon where women are chosen over men for leadership roles in organisations when the chance I like who I am. It is the problem of failure is high – during her of the other person, if they don’t career. like me. I’m black, I’m African,
so keep going.”
“By now, my skin is really thick. What makes you have a thick skin is knowing why you’re there. You’re there to get something accomplished . . . so that’s what I used to tell myself.
“Don’t let them rattle you. Because you have some skills that can help people in your country and you have to apply them,” she stated.
Okonjo-Iweala further said: “My advice to people is that sexism is not your problem; it is the problem of the sexist. Racism is not your problem. You are who you are.