Once Upon A Time

Jennifer E Jones - First Female President of Rotary International in 115 Years, speaking at her induction at the annual International Convention, Houston Texas

Once upon a time, a Cinderella was born

And at the stroke of midnight, I would like to believe She will not turn into a Pumpkin.

I am pretty sure many have heard of the Cinderella Fairytale, who as per the general narrative of the time was an unassuming, undiscovered, hard working beauty, as opposed to her less attractive, less hard working and meaner spirited step sisters. She slaved and was totally unappreciated until she found a fairy god person who gave her a chance to go to a ball, but she had to be home by midnight when all the trappings she was given to attend that ball would fall apart, including her carriage ride turning into a pumpkin. As with all fairytales, there is always a happy ending, hers coming in the form of the Prince (wowed by her at the Ball) seeking her out because she inadvertently left a “slipper” in flight to beat the midnight deadline. Slipper in common language is a pretty shoe which she was eventually identified by. I have grossly abridged the tale, but that is because that whole slipper-come-shoe part is particularly poignant for me, given my declared addiction to those adornments. (Reference: Chips, The Shoe Story -Episode No 5).

I am Patricia and I am an addict - of shoes. I am also the author of a blog which claims to be ramblings, musings and jumbled thoughts. I cannot issue that disclaimer enough.

Cinderella has been localised in many ways, and I am charmed particularly by the many songs titled by that name, one of my favourites being by Tanzanian artist Ali Kiba in his hit single first released in 2006.

All the above is context as I am usually apt to set. Fairytales as with African folklore and fables are ways of sharing a deep social construct or lesson - if you look for it.

This blog is my interpretation of the Cinderella story.

So let’s use Cinderella to mean the “fairer sex” - and yes I know, I know, gender is a social construct - but work with me here. If I layer it too much, I will confuse myself. For further clarity, that fairer sex means the female gender. Historically this group has been underrepresented and discriminated against in leadership generally needing to really slog to get anywhere. What’s more they are unrewarded or un recognized to equal measure, which in other words is Cinderella’s day job. The direct result is that this group has in the last few decades become a big part of diversity and inclusion agendas, to correct that historical imbalance.

Then there is the other more favoured, rewarded gender in our societies - who for illustrative purposes I will infer to as the step sisters in the Cinderella Fairytale.

So when the “Cinderellas” in my interpretation get opportunities ie. an opportunity to attend “The Ball”- they shine. But alas, they often have to leave at a particular time, here I will use the example of the infamous “Glass Ceiling” concept.

Increasingly though, these Cinderella’s are learning to beat the clock, and not turn into pumpkins. We are seeing this in the growing number of incredible women leaders taking the centre stage in both business and political leadership .

There are indeed many Cinderella’s in our world - female gender being some, others being any individual who society historically and constructively discriminates against. I chose Women in leadership as my Cinderella’s for purposes of this blog.

The “Prince” i.e leadership positions discovers them without needing to traverse a country to find a foot that fits the shoe, because no shoe is lost, as there was no flight to lose it. Cinderella are refusing to be intimidated, or to be afraid, to run away at the stroke of midnight and yes they are staying to meet the Prince, head on.

I am stretching imaginations to get my point but I hope those of the imaginative nature get me. The rest can assume she must be on something of the mind altering nature. All would be right - because yes I do like to stretch imagination and yes I have been on a mind altering experience as I write this - that being lack of sleep on a very long haul flight!

Leadership is not the only Prince that has eluded Cinderellas in our world. There are other prejudices who in my analogy are the step sisters. We are breaking away from the yoke and toxicity of these step sisters one step at a time, with growing success.

For example, for the better part of the last 30 years I would never acknowledge that I was Miss Kenya, simply because it was a painful experience for me due to the discrimination I faced at that time. The deeply profound societal question was - how would a girl with education and reasonable intelligence chose to do such a thing? Ok the use of the word profound is grossly misused even for illustrative purposes, so I will elaborate. With that prejudiced judgement came inference of the not so moral labels. Indeed if anyone said I either operated, worked in or owned an adult entertainment business it would be seen as plausible as that goes with the territory right? Wrong.

Today we see amazing aspiration and inspiration in all the historically discriminated against industries - entertainment, beauty, fashion, theatre, the arts and politics. Who would have thought that an experience I wished to forget would be something my daughter would aspire to have!

I want to acknowledge that for all the Cinderellas our midnight clock is totally irrelevant and non existent. We are shining at the Ball and it doesn’t matter what those step sisters say or feel when they see us.

Indeed in leadership we are facing midnight, and I would like to believe no one will need to run and the ride will not turn into a pumpkin!