Nancy Lidubwi

Ms Lidubwi (BA and MSc) has worked for Bawso, a pan-Wales charity for almost eight years in different roles as a support worker, head of training, and service user engagement. She is currently the Violence Against Women Policy Manager.

Here she talks with Professor Roiyah Saltus about social activism, her contributions to gender equality over the decades, and her growing research links with USW.

You have worked in the third sector for close to 30 years around women empowerment, gender equality and diversity. What led you to this work and what three achievements are you especially proud of?

I became keen on women’s affairs from early on in life by observing the little things around me as I grew up which shaped my interest in women’s issues. The issues around me gravitated around outright gender discrimination and exclusion in accessing services, taking part in community conversations that were all-male affairs, and strict gender roles that were followed without questioning.

Choice of subject in school and career choices were also gender prescribed. For example, girls were encouraged to study the ‘easy’ subjects and get into hospitality, nursing, and what was then known as secretarial colleges, while boys were the clever ones and encouraged to become doctors, lawyers, scientists etc.

In my work life, I came face-to-face with more challenges that women and girls faced. My early employment was in one of the largest refugee camps of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It was Kakuma camp in the northern part of Kenya. Women and children were the most affected and displaced from their homes by war in their countries. I saw agony in the little children’s eyes, despair in mothers, a life disrupted, a future unknown.

The issue of gender inequality is an unending and persistent global issue. Millions of poor women work hard in their countries whether in emerging economies or developing world or otherwise, yet they struggle to access financial products. Microfinance institutions tell us all about the good products they have and initiatives to eradicate poverty. This is a mirage. I have worked with women who run small businesses and seen how strict and prohibitive requirements set by microfinance institutions openly exclude women who in this case are already classified as people who live below the poverty line. Those who access finances are more likely to fall into debt traps than those who run their small businesses that can hardly generate a day’s wage or livelihood for the family.

The poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) of the 90s affected more women and children than any other gender. Gender equality is a subject that can not fit on a piece of A4 paper or one conversation. It is an area that needs honest conversations across governments and other partners.

I am proud of the small steps I have achieved in pushing gender equality in my own way, through the organisations I have worked with. I have seen women empowered in different ways, whether through access to critical information that helps them to make informed decisions for example around reproductive health, marriage, education, and careers etc.

I hold candid conversations with women who are part of communities that practice female genital mutilation (FGM). I live and interact with these women and communities, and I have seen and helped to facilitate great changes. I have seen these conversations move to the younger generation (both girls and boys), but especially girls who are at risk of undergoing FGM and being married off early, providing them with the information they need to seek help and support.

You currently work for Bawso, a pan-Wales voluntary organisation providing specialist services to victims and people affected by Domestic Abuse and all forms of violence; including Female Genital Mutilation, Forced Marriage, Honour-based violence and Human Trafficking. What led you to work with Bawso and what has been, what you consider to be, the top highlight of your time with Bawso so far?

Bawso is a fantastic organisation to work with, I wouldn’t be anywhere else. Bawso is home for me, a place that has given me a purpose in life but also an opportunity to serve women and children in an area that is close to my heart. My own values in life are aligned with Bawso’s values and so it’s a perfect match for me. Bawso is about the vulnerable women we support. Strong women with unbelievable resilience who have found themselves in families and communities that I can say still follow practices that disadvantage women in many areas of life.

My top highlight is being able to see women, victims of violence, walk out of Bawso with their shoulders high and a smile on their faces, more resilient, determined, go to college and pursue their aspirations in life but most importantly, confident and ready to protect themselves and their children from future or further abuse.The capacity-building programme and ethos that Bawso has in place for survivors is most important.

You have been advocating for the rights of women and children and providing support that improves the lives of women and girls providing positive outcomes for them for decades. From what I can gather that means you are – among other things - an activist! The need to proactively, consciously and overtly push against social injustice in many ways speaks to the Welsh Government’s anti-racist agenda. What key lessons can organisations such as USW learn about the role and value of activism in working to become anti-racist?

Activism is about the person on whose behalf one is advocating. It is not about an institution looking good on paper in terms of its all-inclusive policies or anti-racist policies but being aware of the small things and the big things that we say, we do, the comments we make, and the subtle practices that cannot be seen or challenged. The Welsh Government has taken a commendable step to make Wales an anti-racist nation and it is everyone’s responsibility to live up to this ambitious plan, which is not a difficult ask.

USW staff interact on a daily basis with students and workers from diverse backgrounds and have a responsibility to create conducive environments that encourage everyone to excel, to ask questions, and challenge decisions without the fear of intimidation, or losing their jobs or failing their exams. There’s a need for the university to create opportunities for fair hearings of cases of racism and provide constructive feedback within a given short timeframe.