Women are targets of repression and hostility, leading a life of aloofness— silenced, subdued and restricted. Their rights are trampled upon by the masculine gender. Not that these women committed some grievous offences but it’s all because they are ‘women’.
The aim of having a gender equality law is a collective responsibility, but for reasons, I wrote about in an earlier piece the ladies are expected to drive this cause. Any right-thinking man should support it for the simple fact that we are all humans.
Both genders are uniquely created to be complementary and an understanding of this fundamental truth is as much a catalyst for mutual respect as it is vital for a satisfying relationship.
Some issues prevailing under the bleeding climate of the African atmosphere should be discussed with strong sense of judgement and absolute defences. As certain as it must be portrayed, people of the black continent are interestingly capable of taking issues of primal or subtle origin to a defaulting extreme. However, feminism is not one of such matters; for it has already drifted to an extreme in some quarters. My decrepit neighbour greeted my door first thing on a foggy Saturday morning with a screaming knock. I stumbled out of bed, frowning in distaste. I swung my wooden door open and the feeble man dashed inside, clung to my brown pillow and pressed his naked back against my plastered wall. “Please shut that door”, he pleaded. In the haste of a sneeze, I had latched the creaking wooden door and positioned myself upon my rickety bed to listen to my sobbing neighbor. “what is it that is after you?”. I wasn’t prepared for the outburst that greeted my ears. “The sum total”, as the old mathematics teacher that rides a bicycle to Umuda community secondary school every morning will always put was that his masculine wife that bore him four sons and two daughters fed him with KO punches that very morning for forgetting to do the laundry while she was at work. I hate to drift from the narrative at hand, however it is pertinent to understand what this brittle topic really means to amount to effective handling by the Nigerian liberalists. The context of feminism in Nigeria has drifted from its initial alignment to a situation much oppressing than necessary. Our western liberal counterparts have corroded this issue and we as Africans or rather Nigerians have failed to understand its grave implications. Of course, it is absolute injurious and unsuitable of a human being to look down upon another due to the basis of gender. Every feminine person owns a right to be heard, voted, respected and unrestricted. Moreover, it is relevant that we address a spade as a spade and not a hoe. The Nigerian culture from the very threshold has respected and adored the divine sacredness of the feminine gender. This respect well spreads across the diverse nationalities, ethnic groups, tribes and languages that make up this heterogeneous entity called Nigeria. Take for instance the female warlord of the ancient Hausa empire Amina Mohamud born in 1533 and died in 1610. She was the legendary warrior queen of old city state Zazzu who led her people and the state to its greatest expansion ever and attained great prosperity for her people whilst attracting respect from Zazzu’s neighbors. Also in the climes of the west of the Yorubas existed mighty women of substance and enviable standing. The Oromopoto which was a title for a female Alaafin of Oyo and the Iyalode which was also a respectable title that a female chieftain merited as regards her visible accomplishments was attained freely by brave and industrious women that defiled subjugation. The Igbo people of eastern Nigerian also paid amazing respect to their Ada who coordinated the family and was at most times considered sacred. Her words never fell to the ground for she was considered wiser than all. The goddess of the land called “Ani” was a god considered female and was accorded great respect within some parts in Igbo land. However, to be truthful feminism spreads further than the endowment of titles and positions into well, how the society views a woman. The collapse of maleficent male domination in almost all spheres of feminine breeding is a prerequisite for effective feminine emancipation. Of course, the effects of feminism in our dear country spreads fluttering wings as women have decided to take the bull by its horns to offer their great uniqueness in exchange for their pride of place in the society, frequently described as a “man’s world” … Since the start of the 19th century, women’s struggle against gender based violence has taken a path that must be heeded and it is being headed currently. The rise of brave and prosperous Nigerian women such as our very own Okonjo Iweala, Chimamnda Ngozi Adichie and Abosede George-Ogan to mention only but an insignificant fraction, are changing the narrative and lending a voice back to the women of the society. From the foregoing, it is much apparent that Nigerian feminism is gathering momentum. It is however essential that this truth be consumed. The average Nigerian man is not entirely devoted to stepping on the average Nigerian woman and her rights. Most Nigerian men too are feminists and have contributed greatly to the involvement of women in public opinion and politics. Attention however must be paid to the breeding of both male and female children on the grassroots level. Most traditions in Nigeria have bestowed the young boy child the powers of sexual and psychological male domination, most social practices have also inculcated the privative traits of prevalence over the Nigerian girl child. This ignorant trends of course have recreated fluctuating concerns about the relevance of a female in the scheme of things. Thereby inventing rapists, violent spouses, serial killers and child marriage contractors. Furthermore, if education, skill acquisition amongnst other factors are made available for the average girl child. It will be foreseeable that the fortunes of the Nigerian girl child will take a spin for good and amend the wrong notions of society about women and feminism. Inasmuch as it would be expected of our women to understand the fragile standing of an average African man who possesses the blind view that nature has him placed upon the crux of gender leadership. Like my frail neighbor in the story above, feminism might also cut across genders and not be solely perceived as inclined to one gender. The central matter of feminism is that men are dominating in the context of matters that determines how society is run and decision making. It must be known that strengths must be appreciated on both genders and weakness on them as well compliments the strength of both. In this view and in the light of obvious truths, the Nigerian woman must not bear arms against her partner gender to defend what must be. The real battle does not hook upon a certain gender but on the manner society perceives the functions and essentialities of both genders, this sad façade must be addressed
Jogging down the memory lane, the history of the world from women’s point of view is one that is filled with the relegation of women even to the background. While men played active roles and got their names stamped all over the books of history. Women have historically been denied access to equal economic, social, political privileges and opportunities, and as a result are under-represented in the political, economic and social spheres of history. I believe it is based on this that women all over the world began to raise their voices against patriarchy and inequality. Judging from a cursory glance, women all over the world have struggled continuously with various forms of misogyny and different levels of discrimination. The recognition of historical and global discrimination against women prompted the United Nations Organization (UNO) to declare 1975-1985 as “Decade for Women”. This declaration was made to raise global awareness on the status of women and mobilize the world community to eliminate discrimination against women so that women may attain equal economic, social, political and legal status with their male counterparts. A Hidden Trend I believe the term feminism can be used to describe a political, cultural or economic movement which may be aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. In fact, the Cambridge online dictionary defines it as; “the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state”. But the reality is that ‘feminism’ can be used both as a belief and as a movement. As a belief, it assumes the equality of the sexes economically, politically and socially. And as a movement it advocates for the establishments of those beliefs. This is quite amazing! Feminism in Africa has evolved through time. Women like Moremi of Ife and Queen Amina of Zaria who refused to let patriarchal societies limit them from achieving greatness are proofs to the fact that feminism is hardly a borrowed concept but merely a borrowed word. In the nineteenth century, conscious traces of the ideology were found in the activities of the women living in pre-modern and colonial Nigerian societies. Some of these women and their activities includes Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti: She was a Nigerian feminist, political leader and the leading advocate of women’s rights in her country during the first half of the 20th century. She was one of the delegates who negotiated Nigeria’s independence with the British government. Also, Margaret Ekpo was a Nigerian women’s rights activist and social mobilizer. She was one of the pioneer female politicians in the country, and a leading member of a class of traditional Nigerian women activists. By the end of the decade she had organized a Market Women Association in Aba to unionize market women in the city and thus use it as a platform to fight for the economic rights of women, economic protections and the expansionary political rights of women. There are also many other women activities such as Molara Ogundipe, Alimotu Pelewura amongst many others. A Critical Appraisal Women’s Rights I strongly believe women’s rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls of many societies worldwide, and this has formed the basis of the women’s rights movement in this 21st century. Some of these rights include but are not restricted to: the right to education, the right to vote, the right to hold public offices, the right to equal wage pay etc. While some of these rights have been institutionalised and legalized in some parts of the world, others have been ignored and cause a major strain on the lives of some affected women. Women’s Rights even when institutionalised have suffered violations through culture and traditional sentiment which has result in acts such as: Female Genital Mutilation: This is the practice, of partially or totally removing the external genitalia of girls and young women for non-medical reasons. Forced childhood marriage: This is the appalling practice of forcing female children into marriage which exposes them to both sexual and domestic violence from a very young age. Sexual harassment at school and work: Sexual harassment describes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, or other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature including rape and defilement. Gender Discrimination I remember an author once said that discrimination is “the effect of statute or established practice which confers particular privileges on a class arbitrarily selected from a large number of persons, all of whom stand in the same relation to the privileges, or a class arbitrarily selected from a large number of persons, all of whom stand in the same relation to the privileges granted and between whom and those not favoured no reasonable distinction can be found. I believe discrimination occurs when a particular class of people are treated differently in an inferior manner than the rest of the people. I strongly believe this is considered a casual factor of violence against women. Over the years there have been a development of feminist organisations with the purpose of empowering women and overturning patriarchy. A few of these groups includes Women in Nigeria (WIN), Niger Delta Women’s Movement for Peace and Development (NDWPD), The Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) amongst others. Challenges Facing Feminism and Women Rights Activists in Nigeria today Let us be clear, Inspite of the various hurdles crossed and achievements attained by Nigerian women, there exists various challenges faced by groups or individuals who try to push for women empowerment and gender equality. I am a firm believer that some of these challenges are as a result of factors predominant in the society which we live in and are thus difficult to overcome. The Nigerian government can be said to be a major challenge faced by women rights activists in Nigeria. With the government being male dominated, there is a large indifference to issues concerning women and even when activists push such issues forward, they are regarded flippantly by the government and its arms. Consequently, laws that should help favour women usually take long before being enforced even after being pushed relentlessly by activists. Sometimes when the laws are passed, enforcement is also a major issue. It is important to note that even though there are laws prohibiting the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), this practice is still widely carried out in rural communities. Another problem that I believed to be faced by feminists and their organisations is the society’s perception of feminism. Due to the cultural and religious foundation of the Nigerian society which is dominantly patriarchal, feminists are seen as loose women and trouble makers seeking to usurp the balance in the society. Amongst the feminists themselves and within these organisations there are issues of double standards. Due to the negative press surrounding feminism, we have feminists who would rather not publicly declare their stance. There are feminists who
To one who is not deeply rooted in societal issues and certain knowledge, feminism is synonymous to “hatred for men”.(1) A friend of mine once posted on his social media timeline advising women that would not want a broken home to stay far away from the cankerworms parading as feminists. To him, feminists are; home breakers, rebels, haters of men and people that does not accept the idea of being bonded in marriage with a man. But is that the true meaning of feminism? No. It is a common misconception. The idea of feminism has been misconstrued as the idea of switching the power structure so the male folks would be at the bottom and the skirts* would be at the helm. This misconception boils down to one particular impression made by a set of people. Some certain individuals who identifies themselves as feminists but their works are in no way in terms with the concept of feminism are actually the causes of this misconception. The correct term for this set of people is misandry. Misandry is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against men or boys(2). Misandry manifests in so many ways such as; sexual objectification of men, denigration of men, sexual discrimination of men and display of certain levels of domestic violence against men(3). This has nothing to do with feminism and those into this should never be allowed to soil the efforts made by true feminists to influence the course of gender roles and gender inequality. Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish and achieve political, economic, personal and social equality of sexes(4). Feminists are committed to creating an equal educational and professional opportunities just as the men have. Feminism have helped scrapped the practice that has seen women participate less in the social and political affairs of our country, Nigeria. True feminism has opened the eyes of Nigerians to better understand gender roles and equality. In the days of old, leadership was all left for the men while women were abused countless times and ignored in the societal decision-making process. This is gradually waning out as men and women of goodwill are making their voices heard in the quest to disassemble the patriarchal structure. The patriarchal structure is the belief that women should have husbands that should solely take care of them, that women are overly weak and emotional and that the domestic duties are better left for the women. The patriarchal structure is not only a disadvantage to the females only as it also connotes that a man can never be overly emotional or weak, that a man can never be sexually harassed or assaulted and that men can not take care of children as a woman would. I once had an argument with a girl who insisted that men instituted the particular structure intentionally and that it should be reversed so men could feel how it feels. I was able to convince her that although that might seem to be true, that the patriarchal structure is partly due to evolution. During the stone ages, the major works done then required great mechanical strength. People with greater strengths were made to cut stones, shape and sharpen weapons and hunt for foods while the women stayed home tending the younger ones. But with the advancement of technology and everything made relatively easier, the structure has to be wiped out completely so the women could take more part in the decision making and governing of our society. That is feminism in a nutshell. Feminism is aimed at disassembling the patriarchal structure unlike misandry that aims at reversing the structure. The movement, feminism, in Nigeria has gone a long way and does not look to stop. The idea od feminism has been able to create a balance between gender roles and equality in Nigeria although more efforts are needed and the general public needs to come to terms with the concept of feminism. Feminism also does not come without its own challenges. One of the challenges rocking the boat of the movement, nonetheless, is the misconception of the idea. Like I said earlier on, misandrists have been mixed up with those fighting the just cause and this has reportedly caused pollution. People under the guise of feminism have said and written unimaginable things against persons of the opposite gender and has done nothing impactful but turning the idea into a gender war. These bad eggs are seen on all social media platforms spreading hate and contempt. For this movement of feminism to succeed, people of this intention should be totally ignored and earmarked as enemies of the struggle. Another challenge being faced by this movement in Nigeria is the belief that it is gender based and made for female folks only. Some men in Nigeria are seeing it as a feminine gender thing and while in an actual sense it is a movement for all sexes to be free and equal. Elissa Nolte who works for “Women and Gender Studies” in their publication named “What does Feminism mean to you?” said, “ Feminism isn’t just women’s issues. It helps fight racism/classism/ablism/ageism/patriarchy/homophobia/etc., and everyone can be a feminist, regardless of race, gender, class, religion, ability, etc.” For this movement to make headway in Nigeria, all hands should be on deck and men should not be left out of this struggle to put an end to the patriarchal structure as it is still a disadvantage to them as much as it is to the women. Achieving an even and classless society where both genders are treated equally and respected is work for all the citizens of our country and should be seen as a collective duty. I therefore urge all citizens, government parastatals, Non Governmental Organisations and private institutions to embrace the campaign against sexual discrimination. References: 1: Feminism vs Misandry by Vijetha Sreerama . 2: Merriam Webster English Dictionary: Definition of misandry. 3: Feminism vs Misandry by Vijetha Sreerama. 4: Merriam Webster English dictionary: Definition of feminism. *Skirts* – Figurative word for women/females. Prince Chime wrote in from chimeprince2018@gmail.com
He was a walking refutation of that dogmatic statement, Mens sana in corpore sano. His was a sound mind in an unsound body. He proved the eternal paradox of things. He cashed in on his disabilities. He picked up the lemons that Fate had sent him and started a lemonade-stand.~ Elbert Hubbard The above excerpt in a 1915 obituary entitled The King of Jesters was penned and published for dwarf actor Marshall Pinckney Wilder. It praised Wilder’s optimistic attitude and achievements in the face of his disabilities. The saying subsequently precipitated the popular saying; “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Last month, Uti Nwachukwu and Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo popularly known as D’banj were in the news over rape accusations by one Ms Kambili Korie and another Ms Seyitan Babatayo respectively. The allegations came as the brutal rape and murder of 22-year-old microbiology student Vera Uwaila catapulted the rape menace to the front burner of our national discourse once again. Uti quickly refuted the allegations against him and clearly exposed the handle as a bot via a series of tweets. D’banj, on the other hand, remained silent for days preferring to speak through surrogates and acolytes. D’banj’s choice is understandable to a reasonable extent for celebrities who have a reputation to protect. While Uti’s accuser quickly disappeared on confrontation D’banj’s matter lingered and even festered. I believe things could have been handled much better if he had an adroiter Public Relations team. But first lets quickly peruse the issue as it were. Following the allegation by Ms Seyitan, some of D’banj’s supporters claimed he wasn’t in the country on the said date. However, that supposed alibi was busted and it became clear that Seyitan wasn’t a fibber after all. Now skipping the distraction of the social media confabulation and arrest story, let us examine the last two updates on the matter. By slamming his accuser with a 1.5 billion libel suit, not a few out there got the impression that having failed to intimidate her with the police, D’banj decided to silence his accuser with this move. Of course, we can argue that he is entitled to this, after all, I just admitted that he has a reputation to protect. However, for a celebrity, proving your innocence through litigation is often a long journey which could unearth more unnecessary but damaging details. Whatsmore the fact that neither camp categorically denied the $100 story by Franklin (the artiste’s former manager) suggests that the exchange indeed happened. If we agree on this then we are left with three plausibilities from the blurry details of what transpired in the hotel room. It is either we go with Seyitan’s story that she was forced against her will to have sex or believe that they had consensual sex and Ms Seyitan was subsequently ‘settled’ with an amount she considered rather paltry (many Nigerians would have deduced this from Franklin’s interview). Then there is a remote possibility that it is all a fabrication as the artiste claims. Some slammed Seyitan and queried the timing of her allegation as an attempt to blackmail D’banj before his planned 40th birthday celebration. Perceivably, Seitan could have leveraged on the wave of the moment to do this but let’s not forget that she did raise her concerns on the very day as confirmed by Franklin. In any case, D’banj failed to turn bad press into something positive because regardless of the divergent narratives and possibilities it is either he is guilty or innocent of the allegation. If he is culpable, he could have nipped the matter in the bud with a masterstroke. Firstly, he could have privately apologised to his wife and Seyitan for the trauma he caused them. Then his PR team would arrange a live video where he will apologise to Nigerians and vow to spearhead the crusade against sexual harassment. Conversely, he could have spoken out ab initio with evidence to prove his innocence and followed it up with litigation while at the same time declaring publicly (via a video) his intention to champion the anti-rape campaign. Instances abound where celebs have turned bad publicity into something positive. Think Justin Bieber who recently shut down an accuser by producing evidence to show that he was elsewhere on the said date or Sia who took to the social media to release her nude pics when a blackmailer threatened to do that. You can imagine the goodwill D’banj will garner by leading the womenfolk - who are pivotal in the entertainment industry - in a cause that is dear to them. Either way, he would be killing two birds with one stone. And for those who would say that would be covering up a crime or that it would be a cheap price to pay if he is guilty. Well, Nigerians are forbearing and magnanimous people. We just can’t help it because that’s who we are. I am also assuming of course, that D’banj has been a good husband since there is no narrative to suggest the contrary. So I see no reason why we can’t forgive him. In 2018, when the #MeToo movement swept through the western world, exposing widespread sexual abuse among powerful men and drowning prominent names like Harvey Weinstein, I had questioned why it had little effect in Nigeria. Given the increasing wave of feminism particularly in our social media space the muted response from our celebrities suggested that Nigerian ‘big boys’ despite the persistent allegations of misogyny are better behaved and do no go around “groping” or assaulting ladies. But of course, we know this assumption is not only false but ridiculous because even though data on the number of reported cases is very limited, a 2014 national survey on violence against children in Nigeria, revealed that a quarter of women had experienced sexual violence in childhood. A huge 70% experiencing it more than once. Sadly just about 5% reported their experience while only 3.5% received any form of support. Sexual harassment is pervasive in our society
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