This year, Watch Women Win was hosted in partnership with PAGED Initiative, JDL Water Support Charity Organisation, TechHer Nigeria and Give Girls a Chance Initiative.

The theme “Break the Bias” for International Women’s Day 2022, is focused on challenging gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping. To commemorate this theme, we chose to screen the movie Wings for Maggie Ray, which tells the story of an Indiana farm girl who answered her country’s call to duty and ultimately became a flying legend.

This year also included a celebration of women who are excelling in male dominated industries and an exhibition of their work. The women celebrated include:

1. A Construction Carpenter, Hannatu Terry who works in building construction and provides services that range from roofing, decking, lintel and much more. She began her work in the construction industry in 2010 and has been singularly responsible for several house roofing’s across Nigeria. 
2. An Auto Mechanic Engineer, Pricilia Nkechiyere fondly known as Madam Volvo. She is an auto mechanic engineer with a specialization in Volvo cars. She started her practice as an auto mechanic in 1989, and has trained over twenty-five young people in the 33 years that she has been a mechanic. 
3. A Game Designer, Ummi Yakubu, who is a multimedia developer by training and the Creative Director at Griot Studios. As a game designer, her work includes motion sensor games used for tourism and medical rehabilitation, web based games used for advocacy on the impact of healthy eating, and mobile games used for children’s education and emphasizing citizen’s role in civic engagement.
4. Two Upcycle Architects, Bilkisu Garba-Diallo and Oluwafunto Adeh. They founded a company known as The Upcycle Architect (TUPA) to address and find solutions to the solid waste challenges in our society. For these Architects, the environment is a passion for them and they have been able to use TUPA to create awareness on the dangers of Climate change and the important role up-cycling can play in mitigating its effect.

For us at Griot Studios, we believe in the power of storytelling in influencing perceptions and attitudes. Maggie’s story, and the exhibition showcases how job gender barriers can be broken in various industries and serve to encourage more women into typically male-dominated professions. 

The event was featured on ARISE TV. To watch the interview, see video below