Celebrated media personalities Adelle Onyango and Sharon Mundia were among invited guests at the ‘She Can’ Awards.
It was a celebration in honor of women by Kotex at the Radisson Blu. This is in line with the ‘#PeriodorNotSheCan’ campaign where Kotex believes that a period should never get in the way of a woman’s progress.
Also read: Janet Mbugua gets raw and real on #SheWorld panel: Addresses balance between work and motherhood
The campaign is meant to celebrate women who have demonstrated passion, motivation and inspired many while they break barriers to achieve their own victory and success.
“It’s a beautiful time to be a woman an incredible time to be an African woman” – Adelle Onyango
Sharon, a mother of one, took issue with the fact that women have been looked down upon since time immemorial.
“So I’ve heard ‘No, you can’t!” quite a bit in my lifetime. For instance, I remember growing up I was given a hard time for wanting to climb trees but the boys had a free pass. Or that I shouldn’t be too aggressive in sports, I should calm down a little.” Sharon Mundia revealed.
“We do have a long way to go and a lot of things to unlearn any message that goes towards building the empowered woman’s narrative are something that I want to be a part of. That women won’t live tethered to someone else’s idea of how powerful or how outspoken or diverse they can be” – Sharon Mundia
She further adds, “Women have been undermined and put into a status quo by being told not to be better than the men i.e. advice on how to make it in this man’s world, how to keep fit, be great but not too great. Be successful, but not outside of a certain scope. Be outspoken, but don’t ruffle feathers etc.”
According to the 2014 report “World survey on the role of women in development” the causes and underlying drivers of unsustainability and gender inequality are deeply interlocked making economic gender equality unachievable for another 170 years. This is despite a study that shows equality for women in the labour force would add $28 trillion to the global economy by 2025.
“It’s a beautiful time to be a woman, an incredible time to be an African woman,” said Adelle, founder of Adelle Onyango Initiative.
She continued, “The incredible achievements of each one of these honorees are a testament to our resilience! Our strength! And our awesomeness! We go through unrelenting discomfort every month; we bleed every month, and guess what? We achieve every month!”
Adelle and Sharon urges women to speak out, louder than before about the issues holding them back, by sharing their unique stories so that every woman will know HER’s is a worthy story.
