Gender preference is a major consideration in some sectors especially one that is dominated by a particular gender over the other. A case in point is the Nigeria Printing Industry which has an unwritten preference for a Male Print Executive as the first choice of sex in determining who to employ.
Though reasons such as emotional capacity/ stability, skill-set, and family orientation have been variously adduced for Male Print Executive preference, it has been discovered especially in the developed world that the Female counterparts – when given equal opportunity – sometimes perform better than their colleagues. Hence, the saying that: “What a man can do, a woman can do better” may not be hundred percent applicable in this industry, observers believe when printing press owners give the female gender equal opportunity to aid capacity development, there will be unprecedented and positive turn-around of the company.
While discussing with female managers of printing presses, WHERE To Print also discovered that most times, women in the printing industry have been denied of some of their rights to training and exposure programmes in the industry that can assist them in improving themselves and the organizations they serve. According to one female manager – Mrs. Bunmi Ajiye of Mova Industrial Designs LTD, Abuja – there is an urgent need for Printing Press Owners to accord the same human development training scheme they have in place to the Female Executives as well rather than their Male counterpart alone; “Female Print Executives should also be sent on training and exhibitions as this will broaden their horizon and help them build themselves internally while contributing more to the success of the organization they work for” she submits.
She noted further that; “attending (print) training programs, workshops, seminars and exhibitions will better equip the participant of such function and teach them on new and better ways of doing print to cut costs and increase revenue/ profit to the company”. Not only that, WHERE To Print believes that with the rate of unemployment in the country, a trained female employee is better able to graduate to be an entrepreneur in future that can eventually employ more people – and train them. And the cycle continues with multiplier effects on the overall economy aside reducing the unemployment rate in the country.
