I have come to the realization that despite the fact that gender issues and the width of the gender gap in Africa differ from region to region and between cultures, the reasons behind these gender disparities remain essentially the same. Social stereotyping, gender prejudices, patriarchal systems, traditions as well as the fear of male reprisal which are oftentimes protected by legal systems and misguided ideologies, are usually the underlying factors that lie behind gender inequality.
It must thus be noted that most of these factors or elements are aspects of African cultures that define the position of young women in African societies across the world.
I feel that Although African cultural and traditional practices subjecting women to male dominance continuously tend to hinder young African women’s progress in bridging the gender gaps in their societies, given the opportunity, young women in Africa have the capacity to drive the cultural changes that can ultimately redefine their patriarchal societies and therefore their own status.
By becoming aware of their rights and finding ways to speak out against gender injustice at all levels, young women in Africa have an opportunity to move cultures and societies forward and thus change their own status. And although this may prove to be a long term and complex process faced with many difficulties and even danger in some African societies, the idea must still be given strong impetus by the networking and mutual learning between young African women leaders and activists worldwide.
I agree this is important. I also think though that there is a lot of work that needs to happen with young women. The amount of young women who do manage to engage in the kind of spaces where they are exposed, can network and can learn are still too few. The work needs to move beyond these spaces where young women in their diversity amongst themselves also start raising their voices. And as you say, it will take time and it is a process. Onward and forward.
ReplyDeleteA gender balanced society will, in addition to several other things, significantly reduce incidents of gender-based violence against women and young girls as well as empower them to shun abusive relationships and environments.
ReplyDeleteWe are brought up as inferiors to men in all parts of the world. Society has often made us to believe and confirm this position. To the extent that even when we see a powerful woman rising through the bar to the highest decision making position, Society makes us believe that she's like a man! or She must have had sex with a man in a powerful position as a means to get such a position. Ladies, all these are lies. GOD MUST BE A WOMAN! He gave women so must power of which power is a threat to the men so they came up with all sorts of excuses to control our power, one by making us believe that indeed we are inferior to them.
ReplyDeleteNow and Now is the time for us to stand up against this Patriachy society and take control of our power. The power to make decisions on things that affect our lives as women, the power to contribute towards the devlopment and growth of our societies through fully participating in decision making processes. The power to be leaders and not the led.
Ladies we have the power, lets not be frightened, its inherent,God given, we had it from birth. Society wants to take this power away from us, no way, the Sky is the limit and we shall fight on!
We the young women, the ball is in our hands to unlearn all that society wanted to make us believe and confirm to us that we are inferior by virtue of being women. Lets put hands, heads together and we change this world! Ladies, its very possible, IF HE CAN, SHE CAN!
We have a huge challenge to address. There are still many gender stereotypes to unlearn and deconstruct. Gender based violence for instance seems like a hydra -with many heads (or tails?). At the moment in Lagos, Nigeria, we are dealing with a case of the murder of a young female banker by her husband in cold blood. Reports have it that she had just recently assumed the 'breadwinning' role of the family due to the husband's loss of his job. This change of "gender role" seems to have aggravated the man's power.ego issues (of course it's all about 'power') and he resorted to incessant battering of the wife till the day that he finally stuck a knife in her neck and killed her! We have to keep screaming this slogan "Stop, think, next time she will be DEAD!!"
ReplyDeleteBeing Afraid to Speak out when we see practices that we know undermine women and girls or turning a blind to these activities.Also indirectly turn us in to collaborators of these crimes against Us.
ReplyDeleteAs in most cases we are aware of 'the woman next door being abused by her husband' or the 'young girl that is forced to stay at home to watch over the baby' and yet we do nothing in such instances.
Just this week in Sierra Leone a Man tied His children up and was ready to feed them with poison before killing himself.Luckily an unexpected Visitor came into the house. His excuse for doing this was simply i cannot take care of them.So i had to kill them before killing myself.(What utter nonsense! In that case he should have killed himself since he has the onus to take care of his kids anyway)
These kids i am sure had female neighbours and teachers, who must have been seen the signs of abuse.If not but for the timely intervention of the guest.All the slient pleas for help written on the faces of these innocent angels on their way to school would have gone unnoticed and their lives cut short.Just as the life of our Sister in Nigeria.
Please lets' be vigilant and SPEAK OUT: young women leaders!
The African society is male dominated- there are no doubts about that. The pressing issue concerning the above is the fact that even when women are bold enough to contest for various positions they face numerous oppositions in many forms- mockery , sabotage just to mention but a few. in cases where women are elected to political positions, they are expected by the society to make no mistakes or she blocks the chances of other women. I think on the University of Ghana Campus, the safest position for a woman to contest is either the vice president or the secretary, not even the treasure which is traditionally allocated to women. This is because a lady was able to break the cycle sometime back and won the SRC presidential seat with a guy as her running mate. The guy thought after the elections, the lady will coil back and allow him to run the show and when she refused, she was given all sorts of names. The male student community made themselves the judges of good governance and per their evaluation standards, the lady performed poorly. as a result, every other lady that is even bold enough to contest for the position is strongly discouraged, it is assumed that no other lady deserve any chance concerning that post because the one who broke the cycle failed. But you will agree with me that the lady did not perform any worse than her male counterparts, but because she is a FEMALE, she is expected to be faultless.
ReplyDeleteThe society is very unfair to women, so it is about time women of the African continent who have been able to survive the injustices of society in one way or the other SPEAK OUT to protect the younger generation and the generation to come.
The cycle must indeed change. The cycle where women and their issues are relegated to the back must be corrected. The cycle where it is a norm for a woman to build her hopes, dreams and even career around the needs of their men must be changed.
WE CAN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY KEEPING MUTE! WE, THE WOMEN OF AFRICA MUST BE VIGILANT AND SPEAK OUT ON ISSUES THAT AFFECT US.
Franka
I feel so humbled by this Blog by Just like my Child Foundation.
ReplyDeletePROJECT JUSTICE BLOG: FEATURING ROSE NSENGE
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When we discovered that 16 girls at one of our Just Like My Child schools at St. Kizito in rural Uganda had been sexually molested or assaulted by their own teacher, we knew the odds were beyond dismal for any justice. Ugandan officials have acknowledged that ten percent of all girls are sexually assaulted by their own teacher.
And a 2010 Amnesty International report shows, between January and June 2009, there was only a 1.83 per cent conviction rate for rape and a 5.89 per cent conviction rate for defilement cases. Defilement is the all-too-tidy euphemism used in Uganda for sexual molestation.
How do you even begin to inject hope and change into a society with those kind of horrific human rights odds? Among many other strategies, we empower the women and unleash the full legal power of attorneys like Ugandan’s Rose Nsenge, a strong ally in our Project Justice program.
For eight years, Rose has proven that “I’ll do anything to help anybody as long as it’s within my power! When I feel justice has to be done, I’m not going to eat. I’m not going to sleep. I will make sure I follow each task until the very last conclusion. I don’t mind having sleepless nights if, in the end, I get justice.”
Working closely with legal authorities, Rose helped mobilize our St. Kizito community, identified the headmaster who’d assaulted the girls, and got him arrested. After serving some time, he was released for lack of evidence (all-too common in Uganda). But he was run out of the community – for good. As importantly, Rose sees people in the community rising up with their own sense of empowerment. “Now when we return to St. Kizito we ask, ‘Where are the children?’ And they are in school. And the majority of women? They are making decisions and holding positions in the community. They are more vigilant about protecting the children.”
A 29-year-old mother of two, Rose grew up in the slums of Kampala. She became outraged when she saw how she and other children had no voices in her culture, even when they were abused or treated as property. Now, she’s an attorney making waves across Africa. Her husband, also an attorney, supports her professional leadership.
Under our Project Justice umbrella, Rose trains paralegals, police officers, social workers, medical personnel, and families in more than 50 communities in rural Uganda about their rights, the need for justice, and how to seek it. She’s made a name for herself throughout Uganda as a legal lightning rod. Rose was the first attorney on the scene when a horrific human rights abuse from Uganda rocked the globe. It’s beyond the pale, but in 2009 it was discovered that a rural Ugandan man had forced his wife to breastfeed puppies for years.
“My role was to initiate, mobilize, and call for action from fellow women activists to travel and visit the woman, who lived about 100 km away from Kampala. I led a team of about 14 women activists to seek justice for her.”
The man, who felt justified in abusing his wife in this manner because he’d paid a “bride price” for her, was arrested, but not prosecuted.
“I have been following up on this case, trying to see to it that this poor woman gets justice.” Rose says. “Actionaid Uganda got the woman funding, and they managed to build for her a house, however, the man is still at large, and up to now, he has never been charged. The case is currently before The Uganda Human Rights Commission. I will work to see that this woman will get justice one day. I think I was the determination and courage to move this case. It might be a matter of time, days, months, but the woman will get justice one day.”
Disease won’t change, poverty won’t change, and illiteracy won’t change—until access to justice increases.