"These appointments send a positive message to member countries and partners," said new Corporate Human Resources Management head Gemina Archer-Davies.

Three women have been selected to fill senior-level positions at the African Development Bank, AfDB president Donald Kaberuka announced on May 14th.

Cecilia Akintomide will serve as the first-ever female Secretary-General of the bank, while Hela Cheikhrouhou will head the New Energy, Environment and Climate Change department. Gemina Archer-Davies will direct the Corporate Human Resources Management branch.

"I am delighted to make these appointments to key senior positions and to increase the number of women at senior levels," Kaberuka said. Women account for 45% of AfDB staff but are found in less than 20% of top-level positions.

"All three appointments are well merited," he added. "I very much hope that they will be role models for the many younger staff who I know have great potential."

Akintomide, from Nigeria, emphasised that the appointments were made on the basis of professional experience and not gender, and praised the Tunis-based bank for its decision.

"The African continent is going through big changes and the African Development Bank absolutely shares this position," she added.

Archer-Davis, a Sierra Leonean, said their promotion sets an important example.

"These appointments send a positive message to member countries and partners, encouraging them to value competencies and achieve equality between genders," she said.

Cheikhrouhou - a Tunisia native, educated in Montreal - vowed to incorporate green practices with economic development.

"I am very happy and excited to start working with our colleagues, to come up as soon as possible with appropriate solutions for a development that respects nature."

Civil society actors throughout the Maghreb hailed the decision to appoint more women to high-level offices.

"Every woman in a decision-making position is a victory over those who see a woman as an imperfect being. Every woman in a decision-making position in the bodies and organisations of the African continent is a window of colourful dreams we open onto wealthier countries and on a more just life," said Moroccan journalist Salma Jelassi.

Moroccan MP Saloua Kerkri-Belkeziz lauded the appointments as "a major step forward for Africa", and she hopes they will be an inspiration for Morocco to appoint more women into economics and finance management positions.

Women in Morocco "are not, in general, trusted at the level of technical and economic responsibilities", added economist Fadoua Bekkali, who hoped the AfDB decision would change the local mind-set.

Salika bent Mohammed, who works in accounting and management in Mauritania, approved of the bank's staffing decision. She believed the new promotions will lead to "good results that will serve our African continent".

"Many leaders on the continent have started to notice women's great potential. We know this very well in Mauritania, because our Minister of Foreign Affairs is a woman."

Bochra Belhaj Hmida, former president of the Tunisian Association of Democratic Women, had mixed feelings about the appointments.

"Of course this is a positive step towards gender equality and the encouragement of women to access decision-making positions," she said. "So congratulations to them and to us!"

But appointing women to high-level jobs should not be a newsworthy event, Belhaj Hmida said. To her, it is a "confirmation that there is still more work to be done before achieving equality".

"Stressing that appointments are 'due' is nothing but a proof that there is a continuous need to provide justification in order for women to have their rights - and that is not normal," she added.

The president of the Algerian Association of Banks and Financial Institutions said that gender differences no longer matter in his industry.

"Women hold in general key positions in high-tech banking" in Algeria, Abderrahmane Benkhalfa said. "Of the 40,000 agents who represent the Algerian banking and financial systems, women hold the most sensitive positions" in payment systems, talent management and the treasury.

"It is then normal that they are leading financial institutions," he added.

Source: magharebia.com