“We gather today for our annual meeting where Women are “honored, Women are celebrated, Women are in the spotlight, and it is through my humble voice that, once again, the voices of the Women of SIC are expressed”.” Don’t get us wrong, don’t condemn us right away! This is just “an excerpt from the speech by the president of the SIC Women’s Club”. By delving into a careful reading of Ms. Elise Christel Messi’s words, we can only “be moved by a speech of recognition delivered on March 8, 2025”. “In this vein, as every year, we must acknowledge the “immense work you do to help us succeed, and I will never fail to point it out when the opportunity arises, because we clearly see it: from recruitment currently being finalized, to participation in training seminars for the purpose of strengthening professional skills, to appointments to high-level positions, the Women of SIC are not relegated to the rank of ‘left behind’”,” proclaims Ms. Elise Christel Messi.
Ms. Elise Christel MESSI
Focusing on the “immediate situation and updating the job allocation software at SIC, she cannot help but mention Mesdames Julienne Kombou Fossi, Rose Dada née Sipowo, and Solange Djeumi née Ngougnou”. And looking towards the long term, the president of the SIC Women’s Club hopes for a future populated by “more women in decision-making positions at SIC: “We are demanding today more space on the podium and that our demands prosper so that we can build our Company together and align ourselves with national requirements for gender equality”.”
From the top management’s perspective, one would have to be very suspicious to doubt the usefulness of celebrating International Women’s Day. Furthermore, “as far as SIC is concerned, most of the actions taken over the years have fostered the active participation of women as equal partners to men in achieving our company’s development”, according to the General Manager, Dr. Ahmadou Sardaouna. The latter, taking advantage of the occasion, sheds light on a broad topic for everyone. Indeed, he points out that, at SIC, “for equal skills, compensation and benefits are the same for men and women. No gender-based discrimination has been observed in the implementation of the collective agreement that came into force in January 2024 and was endorsed by the SIC Board of Directors. As part of the implementation of the recruitment plan validated by the same body, the gender approach is taken into account among the selection criteria in accordance with the provisions of Article 25, paragraph 2 of Decree No. 2019/320 of June 19, 2019, specifying the modalities of application of Laws No. 2017/010 and 2017/011 of July 12, 2017, concerning the general status of public establishments and public enterprises. In the same vein, female candidacies are encouraged during the elections of Staff Delegates, and to date, female figures participate in various meetings aimed at sustaining a healthy social climate”.
On this subject, speaking of SIC, the figures are even more telling. “13 women hold positions as heads of department, including 3 sector heads, and 18 as office heads. It goes without saying that we could soon witness an increasing prominence of women, especially those knocking on SIC’s doors with engineering profiles, across all specialties. Furthermore, no discrimination is observed in the staff capacity building process in accordance with SIC’s training plan. Regarding workforce and career management, progressive efforts are being made to ensure a certain balance, as SIC has 74 women (compared to 145 men), including 8 executives (4 deputy directors, one assistant director, and one director), 48 supervisors, and 18 employees. This means that women hold a significant place in the company’s development, even if much remains to be done,” declares Dr. Ahmadou Sardaouna.
