The Chief Executive Officer of NCBA Rwanda, Lina Mukashyaka Higiro, highlighted the importance of promoting not only women’s voices, choices, and power, but also integrating mental health awareness and support into all empowerment initiatives. She made the remarks on July 20 during a side event of the Women Deliver Conference 2023, where new research on women empowerment through mental health was launched. The event was organised in partnership with Prospera Global and Kate Spade New York. Higiro noted that women are expected to shoulder the responsibility of being caregivers for their families, extended families, and children, with societal norms dictating that they must be fully present in these roles. She asserted that such pressures, when coupled with the perception that expressing emotions makes women appear weak, further add to the mental strain endured by women in finance and beyond. While promoting open discussions about physical health has become more common, Higiro stressed the need to tackle mental health with the same level of transparency and urgency. She further outlined how NCBA initiated a programme to address mental health concerns by offering free services and providing access to diverse counsellors. “It has helped us change culture, and our engagement levels are up,” she said. In a world where one in 10 women experiences sexual harassment at work, and eight per cent are forced to stop working due to pregnancy, Higiro called for leaders to be responsible and take action. “As leaders and individuals, the responsibility to prioritise women’s mental health lies with all of us. Only by taking this crucial step can we pave the way for a more equitable and supportive environment for women in finance and beyond,” she said. Higiro concluded her speech by urging the audience to reflect on the study’s findings, emphasising that trauma is an inherent part of many women’s lives. Elisha London, Founder and CEO of Prospera Global, an organisation that conducted the research, presented the key findings. She said they found that women experience more stressors simply by being women in the world of today. Of all practitioners who were surveyed, 90 per cent agree. The study also found that mental health is foundational to women’s empowerment, given that 97 per cent of practitioners who were surveyed agree that investing in mental health improves the sustainability of empowerment outcomes. London further presented that 61 per cent of the practitioners agree that mental health is not adequately integrated into gender equality and empowerment work, adding that funding is the largest barrier to progress, given that 82 per cent of gender organisations don’t receive any funding for mental health work, although 55 per cent of them now integrate mental health. She emphasised that practitioners need support for their own mental health, explaining that women’s empowerment advocates and practitioners are twice as likely to experience burnout. The research also unveiled that the women’s empowerment community agrees by 96 per cent that women have the right to good mental health.
