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MARY-ANNE AFOLABI (MRS), teaches at Kaduna State University (KASU). An indigene of Delta State, she is married and blessed with two children. She spoke with MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM on her experience as a working woman and commented on society’s perception of an educated woman who has to work to earn money rather than be a full-time housewife. Excerpts:

Art & Style: What influenced your decision to go into teaching for a career?

Since my childhood I’ve loved teaching as a profession. My father was a headmaster. And I feel teaching is inbuilt in me. I loved impacting knowledge right from my days in secondary school through to the university. Teaching is to me, an obvious career choice. What influenced my choice of a career in teaching was my husband. He told me when I was about to enter the university that he wanted me to be a lecturer because I was good at teaching. It was my husband that made the ultimate choice.

When did you start your career in teaching?

I started my career when I was a (NYSC), corper at Kaduna Polytechnic. That was in 2005 and since then I have been a lecturer. I would say I’m young in the profession because I’ve spent only three years teaching.

What would you say regarding these years you’ve spent imparting knowledge to others?

It’s been hectic; it’s been demanding but entertaining.

Demanding in what sense?

Demanding in the sense that, I’m a married woman, and a mother of two. It’s demanding, because I have to meet the demands at both the home front and job front.

And how have you been able to cope?

I’m being able to cope because of the support of my husband and my kids. It’s encouraging and he is always there to support and encourage me. My family members generally are there for me, because since they encourage me they are always there to help me in the home front because I’m not always there.

What can you say are the major challenges you face as a female lecturer?

The challenge I face is that most men don’t like their wives to lecture or work generally because of fear of adultery. It’s one of the challenges I face. Men always come after me. I’m a very beautiful woman anyway. So it’s not their fault. It’s really not their fault, but that is one of the challenges I face. Another challenge is that, as a lecturer you have to really read a lot, you know students ask a lot of questions and the type of students I deal with. I deal with mass communicators in the making. And definately they have very interesting questions to ask everyday we meet. So I have to be abreast of everything that is happening.

How do you tackle these challenges?

I’m able to tackle these challenges through reading widely, listening to news and making sure that I don’t miss things that happen in my society. I make sure that I know what is happening around me. And I also try to know my students too. I try to bring them closer, I have old and young students. I like lecturer- students relationship, I don’t just want to be a lecturer that is just at the top. You know in those days lecturers are seen as Gods where students can’t even go close to them or air their views.

But I have come to realize that, my lecturers when I was in school were humble,I hardly fail their courses, because they are humble and they bring people close to them, so we were able to express our feelings. So I adopted that method because I felt it’s a very effective method.

You say you try to know your students. Could you shed more light on that?

I don’t believe it is right that after lecturing, my students we all part ways and it ends there. There is a saying that we meet to part and we part to meet. I like knowing my students after class hours. Some of them have problems. Some don’t perform well in class not because they are not brilliant or they are not intelligent,but because there is nobody to assist them. Even as adults there is nobody they can consult or there is no shoulder to cry on. There is nobody to give a helping hand. So I like knowing my students one on one; knowing their problems knowing their incapabilities and things like that.

What is the nature of the relationship between you and your male colleagues?

Some see me as a threat because I’m a woman. And they feel that a woman’s place is in the home. Especially my male colleagues because, they see me as a woman that is ready to grow higher to aspire more, that is ready to learn,they see me as a woman that is humble. Despite the fact that I’m a woman and married, I still give them their respect. So far ,my colleagues have been wonderful, they have been very wonderful. I have never had any problem with any of them.

What about your students?

My relationship with my students always is fine.I create an atmosphere for cordial relationship. It’s not that my students created it. You know naturally, until you stay with the students for a very long time that is when that cordial relationships begins. But from the very first time I walked into a class room especially with the advent of GSM. Immediately I walked into a class room I just wrote my name and my phone number on the board. That is room for cordiality.

You know, I gave them that free access to me. That made them very free with me from the beginning I saw them. And I also introduced myself to them, who I am, my state, my status so that at least they know I’m married. They don’t even need to gossip about me. Because from the beginning I gave them full details of who I am, so I think my relation with my students is always cordial,since I initiated it right from the begining.

What are the problems you sometimes have to contend with?

As a lecturer, one of the challenges is going to school. As a family woman, a mother and as a wife, it’s not easy. Right now, I’ve applied for my master’s degree course but I wasn’t given a direct master’s cousre, I was given a post-graduate diploma in mass communication at Bayero University, Kano. It has not been easy, leaving the kids, you know, traveling from Kaduna to Kano has not been easy for me. That is one of the challenges that I have to tackle because I want to be a lecturer and indeed a very good one. So I have to conquer that challenge.

Have you had any disappointments?

None. I had always wanted to become a lecturer. There is no regret at all.Wherever I see my students I feel happy. I don’t see them as a threat. I don’t allow any room for disrespect. No room for insult or embarrassment. I’m enjoying the job. To me it’s a job for a woman. Especially my kind of profession which gives me room to interact with others.

Talking about your specialty which is mass communication ,one would like to know why you are in the classroom instead of practising as a journalist?

I decided to lecture instead of practising because I knew that most men didn’t like their wives to become journalists. They felt that anytime of the day a journalist would be called upon to do a particular job and my husband felt that it wouldn’t be convenient for him. So he decided that he would allow me to lecturer since he knew that I have that teaching capability and skill, and I also love it. I think I prefer lecturing, imparting knowledge. I know journalists too do impart knowledge, but lecturing is different. Lecturing is inter-personal but practising journalism is a little different. It has to do with one talking to a very large audience and you wouldn’t even know them. But in lecturing it is inter-personal, you meet people one on one. So I think I prefer lecturing to practising mass communication.

How important do you think it is for a woman to work?

In a society like Nigeria it’s very important for a woman to work because of our cultural background, our cultural beliefs and values. Most time when a woman is widowed, when her husbands dies,she always finds it very difficult to cope, if she wasn’t working from the beginning. Because most times the husband’s family would just come and take away all his properties and it would look as if she is just starting from the scratch. So for me as woman, I advise every woman even if it is selling pure water, do something for yourself. So that when it happens, though we pray that it doesn’t happen at a very early stage. We all would die some day. It’s inevitable, but if at a place when your husband dies and leaves you with the children, how would you cope? Besides, it gives the woman the sense of belonging when she works. Not just sitting down at home lazying about, doing nothing. At least she can also help her husband at home. May be when the husband loses his job or his business is not going well, she could also lend a helping hand by not depending solely on the husband.

There is the negative perception that some men have toward working class women. Does that bother you?

A man that has a negative perception of a woman that works has no respect for for women generally. It depends on the kind of job anyway. And it depends on the kind of woman also, everyone is entitled to his own opinion. Men that actually don’t like women that work they may have their reasons but the bottom line is a woman has gone to school and a man has also gone to school. A man wants to work a woman too wants to work that is the bottom line. If a woman is willing to work and she has a husband that is willing to help her to give her a helping hand I think there is nothing to it. She should be allowed to express herself in her field of study.

As an educationist what is your opinion on girl-child education, particularly in he north?

I was born here in the north and I feel girl child education is very important. Because when you educate a girl child you educate a nation. If she is educated she will never allow her children to be uneducated. But a man who is educated and gets married to an uneducated wife of course the wife is the one that takes care of the home front and she would not see any importance of education. But if a woman is educated definitely she would encourage the husband no matter the cost of education to make sure that their children go to school. So it’s very important for a girl child to go to school.

What message do you have for women who are now getting ready to pick up a career or those who are there at home doing nothing?

My advice for women that really want to choose a career is that, one, they should be humble and beside they should seek the consent of their husbands. If they are married. Without the consent of your husband or support most times taking up a career it’s not easy because you wouldn’t have that support from home. You are facing challenges at home and work. It wouldn’t be good. And as a woman that is not married, taking up a career is very important at least even before getting married, your husband knows you have a career. That means you are enjoying something before he comes to meet you.. So I think taking up a career is better for a woman than sitting down idle. They said an idle man is a devil’s workshop, so it’s good for a woman not to be idle.