In this interview with Grace Moronfulu – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Thought Leader and Director at Carbonado Consultancy – we speak about growing up in Nigeria, being the country’s first female cartoonist, facing double disadvantage in the British state sector, launching a successful career as a single mom and fighting for women’s equality.
Did you have any female role models when you were a child?
My childhood was quite challenging. My parents got divorced and my mum brought us up on her own. When I was young, I didn’t see any female role models, not one, not even my own mother at the time. I think you can only look for role models when you are serene and have time to relax and look around. But when you are struggling for survival, that’s what you focus on. For me my childhood was about survival.
Can you tell me more about it?
I grew up in the UK but from the age of 11 I went back to Nigeria with my mom and three small siblings. My mom was not prepared for this return. It was brutal and without any sentiment. I was put in a good boarding school where I had a rather bleak experience. I felt ostracized and was bullied a lot.
It must have been so hard! Were there any people in your boarding school who made your life more joyful?
I made a few friends who made life bearable and I am still friends with them today. We had a fantastic African-American librarian at the school. She brought with her a wide range of books, including books on feminism and that’s when my eyes opened. I was shocked to read that men and women were not seen as equal creatures by the society. I remember feeling horrified.
Thanks to these books I learned about amazing achievements of women around the globe, in the arts, science and technology. I also read about African suffragettes, such as Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. In 1940’s, Mrs. Kuti educated women and led big protests to advocate for women’s right to vote and for a better representation of women in local governing bodies.
After graduation you went to study at the Polytechnic College in Ibadan. Was your study experience better there?
My great passion and skills were around fine art. I went to study at the Polytechnic as my mum could not afford the fees for the University of Ife. I was one of a handful of female students who studied sculpture at the time. It was considered a ‘male course’ because it included wood carving and casting in cement. I also made some money be being a cartoonist for a local newspaper called the Tribune. I was the first female cartoonist in Nigeria. I hid behind a male pseudonym at the time.
Congratulations on being the first female cartoonist in your country! What was it like being a female student at this college?
Being a female student in Nigeria was tough. I was fortunate to be a tomboy so I attracted very little attention. So many female students were very vulnerable to sexual predatory lecturers. Female and some male students constantly had to avoid becoming a prey to somebody who had an advantage.
Were lecturers making suggestions to you?
Oh, more than that! I remember when the head of department who was supposed to give me the final certificate told me that before I get the certificate we should go out for a meal. I knew exactly what he meant: sex. I went to my uncle at the time and he rounded up a group of twenty people to accompany me to collect my certificate with me. The head of department was embarrassed and annoyed. That’s one of my worst memories of Nigeria. Like most places in the world, predators take advantage of less fortunate and privileged and to survive that you had to be on alert all the time. Nigeria was not a place for me to just relax and enjoy the sun.
Has the situation changed?
Nigerian women have been very brave in calling out sexual abuse and rape by its true name. Women were often blamed for the abuse under the pretext that young women and girls instigate their own abuse for better grades. It’s great to see that these types of injustices are now being challenged and sexually abusive predators in higher education are being named, shamed and sacked.
Were there any teachers that encouraged you?
I had several inspiring art teachers who encouraged me to develop my talent. The kind of inspiration I lacked was clear direction on how to make my dreams at the time a reality. I only started to be able to take a deep breath in my thirties and reflect on who is inspiring me. As a child I had little direction. I acted on instinct.
Unfortunately, it’s very common that young people lack guidance from role models or mentors.
If you don’t have anyone who would explain these things to you, you just don’t know. We often take so much for granted. No one ever told me I could have a career. I didn’t know what a career was, I thought people got jobs. So after returning to the UK, I got a job at the Crown Prosecution Service (a government agency that prosecutes criminal cases) and stayed there for 35 years. During my tenure I became multi-skilled and educated in project management, internal audit, training and development, yet was totally unaware of having a profession within the service.
When did it change?
I was lucky to meet some people. There was a radiant lady who walked into the office once and I asked her if she would mind looking at my job application form. She took a red pen and showed me errors and I was shocked. It was a turning point in my career because no one ever had taken time to show me anything. That’s when I realized there is another path. Luckily at that time I also got a new manager who talked about career path. That was exciting!
What were the beginnings at the Crown Prosecution Service like?
I loved working for the CPS. I developed a personal passion for the communities we serve, the victims, witnesses and defendants. Our communities were vulnerable in their engagement with our services. I took it as personal responsibility to help people through the complexity of the criminal justice system. And, on top of this, the work was complex and varied. We dealt with people with no car insurance all the way through to brutal murders. I truly valued my time in the CPS.
But it certainly was not all roses. In the early 1990’s, the CPS was accused and accepted it had been racist in the way it treated its staff and prosecuted its cases. Over a 20-year period it underwent a complete renaissance, and transformed itself into one of the most inclusive organisations in the UK. I used to describe it as the biggest jewel in the civil service crown.
In what way was the CPS treatment racist?
Working during the 1990’s was very hard. I was always doing extra work but it was never appreciated by my managers at the time. In fact, one year I had evidence to show that I did 80% of work for the whole team and I was devastated that it hadn’t been acknowledged. I appealed and they gave me an outstanding performance, but I never got any apology. That’s when I realized something wasn’t quite right at work.
Why do you think they didn’t appreciate your efforts?
In those days racism, discrimination and prejudice were not every day vocabulary. I was young and could not understand why I was being treated differently to other colleagues. The race of my colleagues didn’t even enter my head.
I just felt very traumatized at work. In the mornings, when getting ready for work I would often have unexplained shaking fits, or sometimes in the evening when I got home I would find myself retching uncontrollably. Now I realize it was a physical manifestation of the trauma I was experiencing. Many women experience similar hostility at work and it was recognized as the ‘double disadvantage’– being a woman and coming from an ethnic minority.
I haven’t heard of double disadvantage. Can you tell me more about it?
The double disadvantage emerged as part of the civil service reform agenda in the early 2000’s. The study, called ‘A Double Disadvantage? Minority Ethic Woman in Trade Unions’, revealed that many workplaces are scarred by racist harassment and bullying, low pay and isolation for female employees, the exclusion of black women from positions of power, verbal abuse of minority ethnic workers and a gulf between the rhetoric of equal opportunities and the reality of employees’ lives.
People would not openly say to me that I wasn’t given promotion because I was Black and female, but they would find every other reason in the book, like ‘I was not quite ready’ or ‘Let’s review your progress in the next quarter’. In the meantime, more inexperienced white colleagues with poor work output were progressed while you had to stay put at your grade and do all the work.
Even today it’s reported that ethnic minority employees are recruited for skills alone and not potential, which points to the consistent difficulties people have trying to progress their careers. That’s why Nigerians are one of the most educated people because they know that skills and knowledge gives you an edge for employment opportunities.
What did you think about these people?
I have always been relatively ambivalent towards the behavior of racist individuals in the workplace. I can understand their motivation, fears and vulnerability and I do not take it too personally. Human beings behave badly. Even Nigeria deported illegal migrants from the country in 1983 in an inhumane way. Generally speaking, Nigerians always adapt and progress across the world because they find ways around psychological barriers. We see racism as a barrier to get over but not a barrier that is going to stop us.
It’s very interesting to hear about the Nigerian mentality.
Living in Nigeria for the period I did was transformational. You know, in Africa, there are no Black people, they are just people. But when you come here, you are told you are Black, and you are restricted by other people’s perceptions. I personally find the label of ‘black’ disgusting. Owning such a heavily negative word seems very strange to me. My experience is Nigerian first, African second, not ‘black’. Labels are very powerful. I always refer to ethnic majority immigrants into the UK as ‘Expatriates’. I totally disagree with any collusion into the denigration of human dignity.
You were involved in setting up the National Black Crown Prosecution Organization. What did this organization do?
The NBCPA was set up as one of the recommendations of the Sylvia Denman report into racism in the CPS in 2001. The NBCPA supported staff at the Crown Prosecution Service who felt discriminated because of their race, sex, class or nationality to build more confidence and address their problems directly with HR directors. Before that you had to go through layers of management. We had members of different nationalities, religions and backgrounds.
Our membership at the time included Irish, Scottish, Jewish and other colleagues who felt they experienced a ‘black’ experience from the organization. I will never forget a senior lawyer who had a Polish surname and he said that when he goes to court, he is mocked by his colleagues and on a daily basis asked “Why are you going in this room? The boiler room is downstairs.” Indicating that he should be a plumber because of his Polish name.
Coming from the Czech Republic, I know exactly what you mean. We’re also being looked down on by Western countries as if we were something less. If a British company were hiring a copywriter, they would rather choose a German copywriter than a Czech one no matter how much experience or talent you have.
When I speak with people about racism I always try to explain to them that our experience is not unique. Sometimes we feel like mindless hostility is happening just to us, but it happens to different people for different reasons. Emotionally, the consequences are the same.
While you were at the CPS in London, you had your first son at the age of 25. How did it change your life?
I was married at the time but my husband was not allowed into the UK. It made me a was a single mom through circumstance. At the time, I realized I needed more money so I started focusing on my career and getting promotions. I progressed into project management job where I had to travel across the UK. I found a male au-pair from Poland for my son who was four at that time. I remember asking my little boy at the time: “Do you want me to stay at home and take you to school? Or do you want me to go and make money so we can have nice holidays and I can buy you things?” He said he wanted me to go to work. He’s 34 now. He was a catalyst to my determination to push my career forward.
What did you do when he was sick?
He couldn’t be sick. Unless he was dying or bleeding from all the orifice, he was going to school (laughter). Now I have two other sons with my partner and he often says “Oh look, he’s not feeling well.” And I’m like “What? He’s standing. If he’s not collapsed in a heap and blood is not coming out of his ears, he has to go.” (laughter)
That’s funny! And it shows how difficult it is to be a single mom or any mum really who has to handle motherhood and career. Grace, are you a feminist?
Yes!
Why is feminism important to you?
It’s important for me that young girls and women understand that they have value and power no matter what the society says. Because if you are naïve, it’s easy to be a victim. Feminism is part of that protection and awareness.
In what way are women expressing their power these days?
At this point people are realizing that women have power if they don’t have children. For millennia, women’s sacrificing for others has been undervalued and women are saying they are not going to do that anymore and suddenly, there is a hysteric response to that. The UK went from making fun of South Korea to realizing their birth rate has dropped to an all-time low as well.
Women are not having children because they are devalued at home and disrespected in the workplace for having kids. The only thing we can do is be like men and not prioritize others. “Why don’t you just resign if you can’t stay until 9pm? It’s okay, I’ll stay tonight but I’m not going to have any kids.”
When a woman chooses to have a child, she should be given a 50,000 GBP as a starter, and kissed on the feet by government officials.
I have always found it shocking how both childfree women and women with children are criticized and unappreciated by the society.
A lot of people say women have come a long way but we still have far way to go in terms of attitudes towards girls and boys. We have had small cosmetic changes but people’s attitudes towards women haven’t changed much. And the fact that things could slide back to the 1400’s very quickly is terrifying.
In Afghanistan, women aren’t allowed to study or work. Women are just doing their basic function – cooking and having babies. It’s ironic how Western nation media state “Isn’t it terrible what’s happening in Afghanistan?” In reality, this is the far right direction of travel. This level of female degradation is what young men say they want to see here so they can reassert their ‘male dominance’. We are taking our freedoms here for granted. We don’t value what we’ve got. We need to protect the progress women have made.
I understand why some men don’t want to give away their privileges, but I don’t understand why certain women who benefit from the fruits of feminism and could use their high positions in the government or business to promote women’s rights do the exact opposite and instead crack down on women’s empowerment. Any clue?
We live in a competitive world and many of these women have sacrificed a lot to get where they are and they think everybody should go through the trauma. For example, Margaret Thatcher was a successful politician noted for not doing much to help women.
Many women will soon find out that feminism is about human dignity and it’s got nothing to do with your role in the household. It’s acknowledging the value you bring and treating people with respect.
What feelings do you associate with being a feminist?
I feel a sense of strength, pride and gratitude. There is a lot of power in femineity.
Have you been observing any interesting trends?
It’s amazing that there are more female heads of state coming through from Barbados, Mexico, Peru, and Tanzania. I hope this will be an increasing future trend.
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Thanks for the interview, Grace. Keep fighting the battle and raising awareness!