The advocacy for women’s rights on the grounds of gender equality is indeed a noble cause. I cannot provide the conventional definition of ‘feminism’. I do not know and I have honestly never bothered to research it . However, what I believe a lot of us will agree with is that this is an extremely controversial issue.
I am for ‘feminism’ when it agitates for equal political and economic rights for girls. I am fervently against prejudice, inequality and oppression. However, I firmly believe in gender roles and in the uniqueness and beauty of the dynamics that each person brings to the table. Nevertheless, this is not what this essay seeks to address, this is a chance for me to enjoin everyone who would read this, to focus on the true sanctity of the feminism cause in the Nigerian context.
In Nigeria, there are still girls who receive inferior education or no education at all compared to their male siblings. In other words, some parents for so many reasons, financial constraints inclusive, still train their male children at the expense of the female counterparts. There are girls who for socio-cultural reasons are deprived the opportunity to acquire formal education and or skills that they need to navigate successfully through life. Many of us do not consider this a real situation, we assume everyone has the basic access to formal education and can make the subsequent choice to pursue any preferred career, this is not true. As of 2015, 10.4 million school age children were out of school in Nigeria, 60% of whom were girls, according to UNICEF. In the last 2 months, I have encountered three young women who can neither read English nor write, in Ibadan, Oyo-State, Nigeria. I cannot effectively communicate how distressing this has been for me, it is what prompted this essay, as a matter of fact. There is an extensive variety of challenges facing the female gender in the Nigerian society. How many maternal and child care centers are available in urban centers, let alone the rural areas? How many organizations and individuals advocate for female sexual and reproductive health? Too few, with very weak impact on the affected percentage of the populace. How often do we hear about abortion related mortality and morbidity, sexual harassment, molestation, malnutrition, child marriage, satisfactory learning achievement for girls? Very seldom!
We must not forget the young girls who are employed as housemaids, who by the way are vulnerable to so many forms of abuse, and get no education or livelihood skills whatsoever. After working as maids in their prime, they have no skills to cope with life. No-one talks about this horrible modern day slavery. It is also imperative to consider timely transition for girls in academics. It is evident that compared to males, fewer girls progress academically in a rapid and timely fashion. This does not seem to bother anyone. People are not agitating for support for women to fully exploit their academic potentials regardless of biological, social and domestic obligations. There are no funds whatsoever to sponsor women to pursue postgraduate studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or any other field for that matter. Many talented women cannot proceed professionally and academically because they become saddled with huge responsibilities. All I see and read about on social media and other Mass media outfits is ‘feminists’ ranting about who gets to cook, whose signature is appended on what documents, who drives what car, who makes what decisions and other banal issues. Certainly, overwhelming domestic responsibilities have great potential to decelerate women’s career progression and it will be nice for men to share the burden by participating more domestically. However, I wish to be clear that I think this is a private issue and I will never campaign publicly for this. There are different kinds of men available. If you are so inclined, you should find yourself a liberal man, who will not object to this sort of arrangement to partner with. There are many women who have excelled in their respective careers and adroitly juggled professional and domestic responsibilities and even motherhood. I know that this must be tough, but against all odds, they are successful wives, mothers and professionals. I believe it is glaring that the issues mostly raised by ordinary citizens and prominent feminists have no real impact on the emancipation of women and the socio-economic development of the country at large.
Nigerians are famous for lamely attempting to emulate and hijack foreign practices and trends. Apart from the obvious disparities in socio-cultural circumstances, isn’t it obvious to any clever person that the Western world is far more advanced and is no longer confronted with some of the basic challenges facing Nigeria today? The health, educational and financial challenges previously elucidated? I think we should henceforth, come together, to agitate for the things that truly matter and will advance women’s participation in important spheres of the society. To achieve collective success in this regard, we must move beyond man-hating and focus on fighting for our rights, in the true sense of it.
Oluwadara Alegbeleye
