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| 'Bullying can break you down': young Lagos women fight the generation gap | 'Bullying can break you down': young Lagos women fight the generation gap |
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| Last Saturday, at one of two weddings I attended, the topic of being a young woman in Lagos came up. Everyone had a story to share. One friend, a communications manager at a reputable global company, related an incident from earlier in the week. Her car was hit by another driver, and when she stepped out of the vehicle to collect his details, he refused to speak to anyone but her husband. Shocked, she laughed and explained that the car was hers. The man ignored her and began talking on his phone. Being in a rush, and after seeing the damage was minimal, she decided to drive off. | Last Saturday, at one of two weddings I attended, the topic of being a young woman in Lagos came up. Everyone had a story to share. One friend, a communications manager at a reputable global company, related an incident from earlier in the week. Her car was hit by another driver, and when she stepped out of the vehicle to collect his details, he refused to speak to anyone but her husband. Shocked, she laughed and explained that the car was hers. The man ignored her and began talking on his phone. Being in a rush, and after seeing the damage was minimal, she decided to drive off. |
| I wasn’t sure what to think. Was this a tactical diversion by the perpetrator, to ensure he did not pay for damages? Or blatant sexism? Regardless, we agreed that being a young woman in Lagos means you are constantly battling for respect. By the end of the conversation, we’d created a ranking: the most respected woman is married with children, followed by a married woman, and lastly a single woman. Single women are thought to be irresponsible, unworldly, unintelligent – and above all, young, in a society that traditionally hasn’t valued youth. | I wasn’t sure what to think. Was this a tactical diversion by the perpetrator, to ensure he did not pay for damages? Or blatant sexism? Regardless, we agreed that being a young woman in Lagos means you are constantly battling for respect. By the end of the conversation, we’d created a ranking: the most respected woman is married with children, followed by a married woman, and lastly a single woman. Single women are thought to be irresponsible, unworldly, unintelligent – and above all, young, in a society that traditionally hasn’t valued youth. |
| And yet things are changing. The creative economy is booming in Lagos, providing opportunities for young people, particularly women, that simply didn’t exist in the creatively moribund 1980s and 1990s, where it was Nollywood or nought. Art, theatre, fashion, dance, film, architecture and DJing have blossomed in Lagos over the last five years. At the Bonhams Africa Now auctions in London in 2015, more than half of the works sold were by Nigerian artists, and they accounted for more than three-quarters of the $1.6m in sales; Ben Enwonwu’s The Mirror Sculptures has sold for more than £360,000. In 2015, 41 films were released in the cinema while hundreds went straight to DVD. In fashion, nobody seems to get enough of Maki Oh: women such as Solange Knowles, Michelle Obama, Lupita Nyong’o and Leelee Sobieski have worn her handmade fabrics. And Lagos Fashion week is a phenomenon, with 63 designers last year. | And yet things are changing. The creative economy is booming in Lagos, providing opportunities for young people, particularly women, that simply didn’t exist in the creatively moribund 1980s and 1990s, where it was Nollywood or nought. Art, theatre, fashion, dance, film, architecture and DJing have blossomed in Lagos over the last five years. At the Bonhams Africa Now auctions in London in 2015, more than half of the works sold were by Nigerian artists, and they accounted for more than three-quarters of the $1.6m in sales; Ben Enwonwu’s The Mirror Sculptures has sold for more than £360,000. In 2015, 41 films were released in the cinema while hundreds went straight to DVD. In fashion, nobody seems to get enough of Maki Oh: women such as Solange Knowles, Michelle Obama, Lupita Nyong’o and Leelee Sobieski have worn her handmade fabrics. And Lagos Fashion week is a phenomenon, with 63 designers last year. |
| At the forefront of these innovative ventures are young creative women, such as Aderenle Sonariwo, founder of Rele Gallery; Omoyemi Akerele, behind Lagos Fashion Week, and Stefanie Theuretzbacher, the architect in charge of display for the LagosPhoto festival. Women run 41% of early-stage businesses and 30% of all registered entrepreneurial businesses in the country. And an astonishing 90% of all gallery owners and curators in Lagos are women. | |
| Nevertheless, the reactions of older Lagosian “creative authorities” to this tidal wave has shown up a massive generation gap. At the 2016 Young Contemporaries exhibition at Rele Gallery, broadcaster Wana Udobang spoke with an older artist. “‘The place is full, that is a great achievement, but full of the wrong people,’ the man said. ‘These young people won’t buy the art.’” She laughs. “It is as though the older generation think young people only take selfies and come to exhibitions to look ‘cool’.” | Nevertheless, the reactions of older Lagosian “creative authorities” to this tidal wave has shown up a massive generation gap. At the 2016 Young Contemporaries exhibition at Rele Gallery, broadcaster Wana Udobang spoke with an older artist. “‘The place is full, that is a great achievement, but full of the wrong people,’ the man said. ‘These young people won’t buy the art.’” She laughs. “It is as though the older generation think young people only take selfies and come to exhibitions to look ‘cool’.” |
| While it is true that they may not be as rich as their elders, the 33 million Nigerian millennials dominate social media, without which nothing much happens in Lagos. They have invested in projects including Mente de Moda, a market for small businesses focused on food, fashion and health; Wecyclers, founded by Bilikiss Adebiyi, which uses a point system to encourage recycling in low-income areas; and Damilola Teidi’s Go My Way, which uses a tech-based carpooling service to tackle Lagos’s horrendous traffic. | While it is true that they may not be as rich as their elders, the 33 million Nigerian millennials dominate social media, without which nothing much happens in Lagos. They have invested in projects including Mente de Moda, a market for small businesses focused on food, fashion and health; Wecyclers, founded by Bilikiss Adebiyi, which uses a point system to encourage recycling in low-income areas; and Damilola Teidi’s Go My Way, which uses a tech-based carpooling service to tackle Lagos’s horrendous traffic. |
| It is no coincidence that women have carved out such an impressive space in tech and creative industries while remaining effectively shut out by the old guard. On average, a Nigerian woman earns 23% less than a man, and 50% of Nigerian women work in just seven occupations, primarily clerical, sales, healthcare, social work and teaching. Men dominate mathematics, science and engineering, manual and production jobs, senior managerial positions (88.5% of board members of listed companies are men) and politics: there are just 14 women out of 360 members of the House of Representatives. | It is no coincidence that women have carved out such an impressive space in tech and creative industries while remaining effectively shut out by the old guard. On average, a Nigerian woman earns 23% less than a man, and 50% of Nigerian women work in just seven occupations, primarily clerical, sales, healthcare, social work and teaching. Men dominate mathematics, science and engineering, manual and production jobs, senior managerial positions (88.5% of board members of listed companies are men) and politics: there are just 14 women out of 360 members of the House of Representatives. |
| Related: 'It’s money lying in the streets': Meet the woman transforming recycling in Lagos | Related: 'It’s money lying in the streets': Meet the woman transforming recycling in Lagos |
| Ageism and sexism conflate. “There is a glass wall, not a ceiling, that one encounters, particularly when it comes to ‘front of house’ activities like client negotiations or dealing with contractors,” says architect Tosin Oshinowo. “The nature of architecture involves cost and risk. People naturally are apprehensive to let a young person, let alone a woman, take on such a task. My competence is always in question. New clients are baffled when meeting us. The irony is that in my industry I think it is more of a challenge to be a young person than to be a woman.” | Ageism and sexism conflate. “There is a glass wall, not a ceiling, that one encounters, particularly when it comes to ‘front of house’ activities like client negotiations or dealing with contractors,” says architect Tosin Oshinowo. “The nature of architecture involves cost and risk. People naturally are apprehensive to let a young person, let alone a woman, take on such a task. My competence is always in question. New clients are baffled when meeting us. The irony is that in my industry I think it is more of a challenge to be a young person than to be a woman.” |
| Showing respect to your elders is a must in Lagosian society, but increasingly so is demonstrating intelligence, know-how, knowledge and skill. “Bullying can break you down,” says Udobang, “so in the end you realise you have to rub peoples egos, which wastes a lot of time … but things get done.” And it’s having an effect. After the dead years of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, creativity was unpopular, a dead-end job compared to being a doctor or a lawyer. Today, people like Wole Soyinka, Fela Kuti, Chinua Achebe and Biyi Bandele are our heroes – role models for the burgeoning talent and businesses that are growing the creative economy in Lagos. | Showing respect to your elders is a must in Lagosian society, but increasingly so is demonstrating intelligence, know-how, knowledge and skill. “Bullying can break you down,” says Udobang, “so in the end you realise you have to rub peoples egos, which wastes a lot of time … but things get done.” And it’s having an effect. After the dead years of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, creativity was unpopular, a dead-end job compared to being a doctor or a lawyer. Today, people like Wole Soyinka, Fela Kuti, Chinua Achebe and Biyi Bandele are our heroes – role models for the burgeoning talent and businesses that are growing the creative economy in Lagos. |
| “Yes we take selfies,” says Udobang. “But we do contribute to the growth of our industries, and things are changing. Older people are realising that the financiers of the [creative] industry align with youth and youth culture, so it’s a situation where they have no choice but to give in. If they want to stay relevant in this space, they can’t afford to be hung up over seniority.” | “Yes we take selfies,” says Udobang. “But we do contribute to the growth of our industries, and things are changing. Older people are realising that the financiers of the [creative] industry align with youth and youth culture, so it’s a situation where they have no choice but to give in. If they want to stay relevant in this space, they can’t afford to be hung up over seniority.” |
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