Eons...women and girls...have been dealt mean cards....
every fragment of society has been vindictive... political, social, economic....you name it.
It has been a long tedious journey...to 'freedom'
let me break it down...
feminist movements dating back to the stone age (I am sorry, too much? yes? )..
let's try this again, feminist movements, namely WID WAD and GAD have over the past years, before most of us were born, fought for equal rights for women and girls.
It all started in the united states, and the gallant women were able to achieve quite a lot in ensuring women were recognized as equal members of society.
from education, to politics to the economic situation..they wanted equality, they fought for recognition.
They were relentless...did not hold back on their demands and broke the 'pans' (any of you get the Agricultural reference? )on gender equality.
Africa
Africa has been a problem area for the recognition of gender issues....a primary barrier is probably the cultural beliefs that have been so problematic to break.
culturally, women in Africa have b been presumed as coming second to the men.
the boy child has a great advantage compare to the female counterparts;
boys will be sent off to school to get an education, as the girl child waits to be married off to the oldest highest bidder... that is discrimination in opportunity.
the girl child is not allocated the opportunity to learn and start off in the path to self dependence and empowerment.
if a girl does break this barrier, thanks to a learned father, or mother...or a social organization coming to her rescue, and goes to school ...you would think her problems have ended right? WRONG!!
let me start with college entry;
institutions of higher learning have a way of alienating girls from selection to courses that are 'presumed' to be suited for boys.....I mean the present statistics of the number of female engineers, doctors, actuary experts, architects..I mean the margins are dreadful..
why? why are engineering lecture halls swamping with male students while the female students are clumped up in social courses (not that social courses are a bad thing) ...but why this significant difference?
I will tell you why..it is because the girl child has been socialized to believing she is inferior to the boys, made to believe she can do no better in an engineering class regardless of whether she has the points to comfortably get admission to a medicine class....
If a girl, that lucky girl....is able to attend college, and pursue the so called 'male courses' she will be met with awe the moment she mentions what degree she is pursuing....
"are you serious?" " why?" "isn't that course a tad too demanding for a girl?"
tell me the last time you heard a boy get taunted with questions when he mentioned he is an Engineering major? Not ever!!!
then comes the employment line; a girl will go through a somewhat discriminatory education system, graduate with the same qualifications as her male counterparts...
BUT...
she will not receive the same amount of pay as a male in the same position as he is...
I mean, is she not doing the same amount of work?
Is she not putting in enough effort?
why the double standards?
how, do we expect women to be fully empowered if we continue to hold back to give them equal opportunities, equal pay for equal work??
It would suck a lot if a decade from now,
we are still struck with awe when a woman runs for presidency
when a girl becomes an astrophysicist
this dumb mentality that seems to seep into even learned generation stinks, it reeks of rot ...
If I had a dollar, for every time a 20 something year old dude told me he would not seek the opinion of his girlfriend before making a decision.....I would be rich....
and that is sickening....not the me getting rich part...
but the fact that this is a learned guy, spewing gibberish.....in this age....
I mean, this is the beauty of it all, the fact that a learned woman could be so open minded into bringing change to a chauvinist society...whereas an equally educated male, reasons like an old chief in colonial Africa.
so maybe...just maybe, it is time to turn tables, how about the boys have a taste of their medicine....let them stay at home while they watch girls go to school, hold jobs...while they, the boys, wait to be auctioned off to toothless grannies in the village.
How about that society??
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