Editorial:Int'l Women's Day: Deconstructing The Odds Against 21st Century Women

As the world commemorates the 2022  international day for women today, Tuesday March 8th, 2022, with the theme "gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow " once again there is on offer another opportunity to scale- up the progress made so far in the quest for gender equality and the gaps with a view to proffering ways to end the sad commentary in human history.

Undoubtedly, at the opening of the 19th century when in the  Western world, the quest for upholding the rights of women had received appreciable attention, the lot of the female folk in Nigeria was to say the least horrible and damning.

The West had at least offered women opportunity to acquire education. This done it was therefore only a matter of time for women to emerge as leaders in various fields and this was exactly what happened.

But in Africa, even at the turn of the century, women were still dehumanized by administrations, various obnoxious systems, in some cases religion and individuals.

The highest and most dehumanizing portion of the abuse served the girl child then and which still exists in the chequered minds of some people and cultures is the consideration of  females as  lesser human beings.   And this gave room to the abuses that would eventually follow.

Top on the list was the denial of education to the girl child. So there are several stories of how a man would  prefer to educate his male children while the females languished in ignorance. Sadly and most unfortunately many unscrupulous, unthinking human beings are yet to thrash this level of foolishness into the abyss.

One wonders the kind or  level of evidence such unimpressive beings want to establish the essence of training females. For parents who dared to be different and did what society thought as odd by giving their children quality education, the result have been unbelievable. We have for the most witnessed the emancipation that education has afforded women who enjoyed this advantage. From the international, national to the local scenes, whether it is in politics, business, academics, arts and science or any field for that matter, women have proved the point that it is the smartest thing to do if they enjoy equal consideration with their male counterparts in the aspects of education.

Beyond excelling in various fields, educated women have become assets in social engineering. They have ensured that their voices are heard through advocacies against injustice and in fact injustice against the main subjects that are principals in their subjugation- the males.

Education has truly empowered women. Many have acquired economic freedom as a result of the education they have acquired. Women have headed financial institutions, ran mega nongovernmental organizations and other blue chip.companies successfully, all as a result of the power provided by education. 

Women have added value to family life as a result of the empowerment they now have, courtesy of the education they received. Nothing can be truer that the  aphorism that " if you train a woman, you train an entire nation" We are witnesses to the several men and children who are beneficiaries of the skills a woman acquired in her journey through life and academics.

Social portrayals  of the women folk has also become significantly positive. Women are no longer viewed in many circumstances as a breed with less thinking faculty. Their opinions are considered and this may not be unconnected with the respect they have  earned in their various fields of endeavour.

The gains made so far not withstanding, the Eyes newspapers believes that it is not Uhuru yet as cases of abuse occur in several instances against women.

It is the opinion of the Eyes newspaper that if the females are to eventually stand at par with their male counterparts in the years ahead, a conscious effort has to be made to get every community to redouble their efforts in female education. Government should in fact take the lead as it is the case in parts of Northern Nigeria where girls and their parents are given incentives to encourage their daughters to enroll and attend school.

 Also, there is need to heighten the campaign against the abuse of women occasioned by unwholesome traditional practices either in the inheritance of property as bequeathal or poor treatment at the death of their spouse.

The government at the states and local government levels should domesticate a law that will protect women from all forms of abuses. 

Above all, the Eyes newspapers hold the view that women can do more in creating the right environment that will dignify them. As it  has happened in a few states, including Akwa Ibom, empowering programmes and workshops have been held for the girl child. The wife of the Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Mrs Martha Emmanuel particularly comes for commendation on this with her programmes that personally takes her to schools across the state to preach the message of dignity to the girl child. This kind of empowering package, the Eyes newspapers believes is germane to building growing girls with the right culture, habits and behaviors necessary to make them continue to think and act right; so they can get the respect of men and the community  at large.