Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala reported for her historic duty at the Geneva office of the World Trade Organisation on Monday with a trademark fashion statement: decked in African wax fabric.
Pictures posted online showed the first African woman to head the WTO, arriving the office in a three-piece ankara ensemble.
She was received by officials of the organisation.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala arrives Geneva office of WTO today
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stepping up to the WTO office
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala with officials of WTO
The two-time former Nigerian finance minister started work, with a distractive controversy generated by a Dutch newspaper, which had derogatorily referred to her as the ‘grandmother new chief of WTO’.
The paper was heavily criticised for the sexism and racism by UN Women Leaders and the 124 Ambassadors in Geneva.
The paper was forced to apologise.
Okonjo-Iweala tweeted the apology on Monday and thanked all the people who had petitioned the paper.
“I’m thankful to all my sisters, UN Women Leaders and the 124 Ambassadors in Geneva who signed the petition on calling out the racist & sexist remarks in this newspaper. It is important & timely that they’ve apologized”, she wrote.
We need to call out this behavior when it happens. This is precisely what my book Women & Leadership coauthored with @JuliaGillard talks about – the stereotypes women face when they take on leadership positions’, she added.
