Wema Bank is in the eye of the storm after its message shared to support women on the International Women’s Day was deemed inappropriate.
Adopted by the United Nations on March 8, 1977, the day is celebrated all over the world and described as a “focal point in the movement for women’s rights”.
In a message shared across its social media platforms, the bank said, “Today we celebrate the mothers who aren’t raising patriarchal sons, the women bosses supporting female subordinates and the ladies whose voices we can no longer ignore.”
However, in reactions that followed, some women said that the bank blamed them for raising patriarchal men, while others slammed the bank for allegedly not matching words with action in its promise to promote an equal-opportunity business environment.
In her reaction, popular female journalist and feminist, Kiki Mordi accused the bank of insulting women with the message.
She calling for a boycott of the bank’s services, noting that continued patronage amounted to “funding the patriarchy”.
She wrote: “This is a bank that has decided to use its platform to ridicule the one day that has been set aside to celebrate you, a woman. Do they look like they give a shit about equality? Did they care enough to research your day? Do they even know why we celebrate #IWD every year?
“So why are you funding the patriarchy? Until we take decisive actions to stop putting our very limited resources into businesses that refuse to be gender-sensitive, we will keep dancing around in circles. #BoycottWemaBank until they apologise to you. Your money is worth respect.”
The bank has since apologised for the message, explaining that it was misconstrued.
“It seems that our #IWD message has been taken to be insensitive to some of our dear women.
“But our true intention is simply a call for all women to do better in supporting each other, correct the men who don’t see the evils of patriarchy keep our voices high enough as we slay and let all know that the call for gender equality is a collective fight for us all. Once again, happy international women’s day,” Wema Bank said in a follow-up message.
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