In a heated argument, James Onen, aka Fatboy, clashed with his co-host Olive Najjuma over the aims of Feminism, and whether women have not acquired the rights to education and employment they sought.
The two expressed divergent views about employment and the equality of women in workplaces. Whereas Fatboy thought women were having equal and even more access to education and employment, Olive demonstrated that the rights are only theoretical.
She referred to top business positions being held by men, women getting lesser salaries when doing the same jobs as men even if they have the same experience, and women being taken advantage of in terms of salary negotiation by being paid less than they deserve.
Fatboy questioned why feminists lobby for support from governments and Institutions about the need to access the same opportunities if they seek agency.
“To me, any kind of lobbying whether it comes based on gender or race, it implies weakness on the part of people that are lobbying because if women are equally talented, equally capable, and equally productive, why are you seeking employment in such companies? Start your own companies where you can pay yourselves however much you want,” he said.
Olive Najjuma asked Fatboy why as a business owner, he worked and waited for 20 years before he could start his own company.
Fatboy said that he made a personal decision to work for that time under circumstances he was comfortable with. He explained that if he earned lesser than he could elsewhere, it would be his fault for accepting the terms but not the employee's.
Olive said, “I asked the question because you don't wake up and start a business. You first accumulate the experience and the technical know-how before you start and that is what women are doing. We are not just going to start businesses with zero experience, but as we work, we need to be fairly paid.”
She further added, “and you know why we are lobbying? It is because we are in a patriarchal society where men have always worked. We just joined the workforce, and when we did, we had to lobby to even get a right to formal work. In the past, our mothers and grandmothers were housewives. Now we are at the table, and we are asking for more because we deserve it.”
However, Fatboy mentioned that payment terms should be an individual demand instead of a movement because employers state their terms that some accept and others will not. He said it is a personal problem if one does not have full knowledge about the salary they should get when negotiating with their employer.
Still, Olive believed that movements such as Feminism enlighten women about such because while some women may know how to negotiate for what they deserve, others may not.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, and Sarah every weekday from 6 am to 10 am on RX Radio.