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For
me, saying that ‘women live in men’s world’ sounds like selfish and
inconsiderate speech... but you have to
agree with me that it is a statement accepted by most men. My eyes are now
widely open to the damages this statement has caused. I am sure rapists will
laugh and say it is our world, leaving the woman or girl to weep and bleed.
It is men’s
world...
You've
heard the expression a thousand times, the number of
people chorusing these words in a society depends on the extent of gender
inequality in that society, the gender inequality issues that is more rampant
in Africa as a result of some ethics,
culture and religion etc. has always favored
the men. I don’t want to bore you with the details here but do you know that
some churches will never allow women to mount the altar let alone becoming a
pastor? It is also safe to say it is men’s world in such churches.
What prompted
me to ask this question is as a result of my visit to ‘ogbete’ market in Enugu,
Nigeria. It is a very big market in the eastern part of Nigeria. You are
probably thinking if the men have dominated this market place too… hmmm not
really, market place of such is still the women’s world, just patiently read
on. Ogbete market accommodates far more than five thousand buyers and sellers
in a day and women are in their majority.
I was to
meet with the market leaders and discuss with them prior to my community
awareness on health issues, I had prepared myself for the meeting so much that
I had to learn some few dialect I couldn’t speak, I had the picture of the
normal set of market leaders- some old women of Enugu indigene and probably
illiterates..
Here comes
the D-day, in my formal outfit at Ogbete market, I started wondering when I got
to the market office and was directed to the secretary, the storey building
looks like I was in a semi - cooperate office, beyond just a market office. If
you have visited a typical Nigerian market then you will understand the sharp
contrast between the market and the office though I do not have issues with the
building. My perception of some old
women as market executives was absolutely wrong! Majority of the market
executives I saw that day were men, did I even meet women? NO, I can’t say if
they are all men governing the market but I can say that the five executives I met
were men. Also, the chairman, the personal assistant and the secretary were
men!
This left
me to one conclusion, the authorities and leaders of the market are men so women’s
voice might not be heard or faintly heard in a place that should be called
women’s comfort zone. Someone once said that to be happy, we must admit women
and men are not equal. Are these women happy that they don’t have a say even in
their own domain? Is it absolutely normal? I am just thinking and waiting for
your opinion but I don’t want to believe I am making the big deal out of it.
Hello, I want to share with you a comment i received on linkedin after sharing my post with Global Public Health group on linkedin. Les H. is a Community Health Development Specialist who obviously read the message and came up with a conclusion that lack of education and poverty has rendered most women powerless which I believe its an important factor to consider. Les came up with a good strategy to adopt in community interventions which I believe it is worth sharing.
ReplyDeleteBelow is a copy of His message. Thanks
Abiola,
Prepare yourself to teach schools for girls and literacy programs for women. Collect books and distribute them even if they can't read so they'll have something to remind them. There are programs in rural areas with cellphones for women who want to start home businesses and they can be used for teaching them to read by using text messaging from a teacher.
Literacy is the first step. Poverty is the ultimate challenge and economics is the next step; but the first step is literacy. It's a bold question to ask. Thank you for being so direct.
Half of the world's population 3.5 billion are women. They are each unique so don't even try to guess what they want for them. If enough women got together by doing very simple but bold and non-violent things, they could change their village or city in a month. They have an incredible power and many or most seem to have a "mother-wit" (which is a true form of intelligence) that we men don't have.
I can't write to you on the blog because I don't subscribe to any of the required options. You may however copy and post this in my name if you feel it would be useful to get the discussion going.
Lester