March 8 of every year is set aside by the United Nations (UN) as International Women’s Day to celebrate achievements of women in many fields such as social, political and economic and also draw attention to the problems that women face to scale and achieve those feats. The campaign theme of this year’s special day of women is: Choose to challenge with hashtag #chooseTochallenge.
“A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.
“We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.
“From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge,” according to international women’s day.com.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his message dwelt on the role women played during the Covid 19 pandemic which is not over yet.
“Seventy per cent of frontline health and care workers are women – many from racially and ethnically marginalised groups and at the bottom of the economic ladder.
“Yet even as women have played critical roles during the pandemic, we have seen a roll-back in hard-won advances in women’s rights. This regression harms women and girls above all – but it also harms everyone and all our work for peace and prosperity,” he said.
The Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlabo-Ngcuka in a message, said, “No country prospers without the engagement of women,” and called for women’s representation that reflects all women and their diversity and abilities and across all cultural, social, economic and political situations.
Those women that have achieved a lot or attained very high positions are role models and younger women could look up to them and believe that they too could become like them.
However, this Day draws attention to the suffering of women, particularly those in kidnappers’ den, the widows left by bandits and terrorists, those at the Internally Displaced camps who have been forced to become beggars of sort.
Let’s not also forget victims of domestic violence, which reports say increased during the lockdown last year due to the Covid 19, as well as victims of sexual abuse during the same period.
In any case, sexual abuse or harassment is a menace that is always with us, and if I hear of any scandal involving a big figure in a western country where women come out and make allegations, I wonder if this were to happen in Nigeria how many such men would be exposed!
In the US, the Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo is being accused by six women (so far) of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour.
Before Nigerian women become emboldened and throw shame and stigma out the door, I hope men who are our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons should treat women with the decency they deserve as mothers, sisters, wives and daughters.
Such men that exploit women either for grades, employment, contract or whatever ironically or wickedly, if you will, protect their daughters and other female relations like a mother hen.
Women are still forced to stay in unwanted marriage because of poverty basically. The husband does not bring food home and the wife has nothing, and if she dares the husband, he may beat her or abuse her or threaten her with divorce! For example, “ Sai in tura ki gida,” or “Zaki tafi gida” Meaning, ”I will send you home,” or “you will go home.” And this fear is enough for many women to toe the line so to speak, and ‘accept’ the marriage.
For some if they leave, their parents are in the same dare situation and cannot take care of them, especially if they come with their children which is an additional burden. Still some parents would prevail on their daughters to endure the hardship and stay.
Women might have come a long way, but the problems women face are still enormous, and for choosing to challenge these types of abuses women may gradually become hopeful that they are not meant to be abused, demeaned and degraded by simply being women.
