Evelyn Mungai ’s open skies are where we can all learn to fly, achieve and excel.
Book title: From Glass Ceilings to Open Skies Author: Evelyn Mungai Year of publication: 2017 Reviewer: Margaretta wa Gacheru
Evelyn Mungai has achieved so much in a single lifetime, one might forget that she was born in a time when British colonialism was still going strong and opportunities for Africans, especially African women and girls, were less than limited.
Nonetheless, Evelyn came of age just in time to be the first in many fields: First African girl to go to the all-white exclusive Kianda College, first young Kenyan woman to start a small business that would eventually expand to include everything from publishing and property development to starting a college of her own and building a global network of dynamic women leaders, many of whom feature in her new book, From Glass Ceilings to Open Skies.
Evelyn has been first in many other spheres. She was the first female president of the first Rotary Club in Kenya, the first woman to be invited to join Africa Development Bank’s exclusive Business Roundtable, first African woman to address the United States Congress and the first (and only) African woman invited to join the World Islamic Economic Forum.
Yet for all of her firsts, her new book has to be the first time that such a diverse and accomplished mix of Kenyan and non-Kenyan women leaders has appeared in print.
The skeletal structure underpinning the book are speeches that Evelyn has given over the years which have focused on the three themes which also appear in the book, namely women in leadership, women in business and women in mentoring roles and lifestyles.
Her underlying concern in bringing all of these amazing women into her 381-page book is to inspire, especially women and girls, to realise their potential.
Empowerment: be it economic, intellectual, cultural or entrepreneurial; is Evelyn’s overriding concern. It’s also the reason she invited more than 40 women leaders to write about their life journeys.
From Glass Ceilings to Open Skies is really Evelyn’s crowning glory since it confirms what her first contributor, Dr Barbara Weaver Smith, says about women excelling through the cultivation of a “culture of collaboration”, not competition.
For every one of these women is a shining star in her own right — from Ambassador Amina Mohamed, Susan Githuku and Dr Jennifer Riria to Justice Joyce Aluoch, Ingrid Munro and Dr Micere Githae Mugo. All have broken through the glass ceiling and are comfortable soaring in “open skies”, the same as Evelyn is.
There’s irony in the book’s title however since Evelyn herself writes she never personally experienced a glass ceiling.
She never felt constrained by the fact of being a woman. That may be due to her inherent self-confidence or to her having been brought up by highly educated parents who encouraged her to excel.
It might just be that from the start, she’s been fearless, adventurous and open to accepting opportunities that came her way.
Whatever the case, Evelyn’s open skies are where we can all learn to fly, achieve and excel.
That’s what she hopes her book will inspire.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
