By Abdu Rafiu
In August, I wrote a two-part series on the unique place of women in our world and that a woman is a woman by the nature of her activities. Professor Nduka speaks from time to time in gatherings on Girl Child, on Women, their place or their plight. She writes: Woman, A Name of Honour. Having taken more than passing interest in the High Office of the Woman in the conviction that rebuilding the world and moving it away from disaster starts with women being at their posts, I am unable to resist Mrs. Nduka’s intervention —away from male chauvinism. Enjoy your reading.
Woman, A Name Of Honour
By Prof Florence O. Nduka
No doubt we have been regaled with statistics of the disadvantages and deprivations suffered by the girl child in different societies of the world and the efforts at making amends or offering support at enhanced empowerment. Global bodies have estimated the number of out of schoolchildren in Nigeria to be more than 10.5 million and 60 per cent of these are girls and that varied factors contribute to this sad state. Early marriage has been acknowledged as a major reason why girls drop out of school as poor families see their girls as ready source of income and married out without their consent. Nigeria has the third highest global figure of early marriage put at 3,538,000 by UNICEF in 2018. Girls are also involved in excessive domestic chores (about 14 hours a week) ranging from taking care of siblings, doing laundry, meal preparation, disposing of wastes to fetching of water and fire wood. They are also victims of increased violence including gender discrimination, human trafficking, physical and sexual abuse, corruption, organised crime and peacetime violence.
Many stories are told of women and girls and many societies see them as second class citizens often relegated and deprived of fundamental human rights. More often than not, she is seen only as an appendage to a man and her life cycle segmented into three periods of whose child, whose wife and whose mother. There is a clamour from different organisations to change this perception, but many of these drive the girls and women into more despair from lack of understanding of the essence of a female and becoming consumed with the singular pursuit of achieving equality with the male. There is a reason why male and female come across differently and a disruption of this natural divide does not favour the growth of true femininity. Both female and male represent complimenting activities and each is fitted out adequately to perform optimally in the designated segment.
Girl child has a right to pursue different goals in life as long as they do not distort her feminine values. It is the responsibility of these organisations and families to encourage the growth of true women.
Females represent the finer arm of the human race and can be equated to being the angels of the earth. They are made fragile yet very strong, beautiful and loosely built and assigned serious responsibilities that can only be given to the more matured arm. We hear of such sayings as the future of mankind is in the hands of woman. Many may think it is because she can bear children to populate the earth, but one of the major responsibilities of the female is to ennoble her environment, elevate it, further it, make it more beautiful by ensuring only things that are good are encouraged to thrive. By focusing attention only on matters that bring dignity and decorum, evil will have no roots and society will be happy and peaceful. The female sets the pace and defines the moral agenda of the people and therefore is held to higher standards than the man. She has to cultivate virtues and instill the culture of respect and consideration for others.
While the girl child is acquiring education preparatory to career development, it would be appropriate to inculcate the deep desire for only things that are uplifting in her psyche. She should be constantly reminded that she is to promote and identify with goodness. She cannot be an agent of examination malpractice, forgery, indiscipline, wickedness, but she must have a goal which is beyond material acquisition and anchored in love for her fellow creatures and love for the Almighty Father. She is not ordinary or just a plaything for men, but she is specially called to duty to be a constant reminder to men and children of the need to advance the cause of doing the right things.
In any situation one finds oneself, there is only one way to go, the right way. It is only ignoble ideas that support any and every method, the end justifies the means. To become this guardian of the morals of the people, she is given the highest gift, the delicacy of intuitive perception through which she can receive guidance and lead in an upright manner. The power of the woman’s intuition has been chronicled over time and children can bear witness to the uncanny ability of their mothers to decode issues. This ability makes her a natural leader in deciding the road of development for mankind. When pointed to pure sources, it receives noble ideals on how affairs of mankind should proceed. With this, woman has influence which she exercises unobtrusively to get many to do things. The presence of a true woman can stop evil on its tracks from the pressure of the good emanating from her. Anything woman encourages thrives and anything she rejects shrivels. Deducing from this, she need not jump into the saddle to be a leader but can influence the quality of leadership and its dividends through the quality of children she attracts and raises in the first place and the vehemence with which she rejects evil ways at the current posts she finds herself. It is given to the finer arm of the human race, a naturally ordained priestess to give birth to children and nurture them to honest ways.
A knowing gentleman of the medical profession shared with many recently that the woman is a bearer of life force because an individual can survive with a single X chromosome and she has XX while no one can survive on a single Y which characterises the man without the X from the Woman. This is science confirming the role of the woman as the decisive arm in bringing life to earth. Furthermore, the genes of the power house of the cells of the body, the mitochondria responsible for energy production can only be transferred to the children, male or female through the mother. This makes the woman the bearer of life energy.
Any wonder she is also given the responsibility to care and nourish the body with healthy thoughts and food to boost the energy producing organelles she transferred in the right manner. This is a responsibility women are in a hurry to throw away because ignorant men make ridiculing comments about the kitchen and women. A foolish man jokes with the power house of the home because he wants to mask his helpless dependency and vulnerability by reducing the importance of that task. Unfortunately, women are buying into this and pointing to award winning chefs being men. What do these men provide? Intellectual cooking and dishes that cannot compare to Mama’s intuitively perceived nourishment cooked with love drawing down the rays of blessing which gives strength to the family. Any surprise why mankind is sick globally and in a rush to return to natural food and remedies?
Woman is like the older of two children given the task to look after the younger by the parents with specific instructions on what to do but decided to be distracted by the whining tantrums of the younger. Of course she will be held accountable if anything goes wrong. Still in doubt why she gets blamed for everything? Chasing equality with the men is devaluation for the woman, dollar currency wanting to be Naira and in the process she gets soiled. This is the time of teaching the girl child the importance of healthy balanced diet, exercises and maintaining balance in life through having priorities and a season for everything.
The girl child needs to realise that she is endowed with natural charm, a gift to support her activity of helping to keep the gaze of men and children upwards to the source of all goodness. This way, the desire to flood the environment with only activities that increase growth of spiritual qualities and bring peace is ignited in all. Through her examples of patience, perseverance, selflessness, compassion, empathy, loving care and zero tolerance for evil, others follow to grow a light-filled environment. This charm should not be turned into seduction which keeps the gaze of men fastened on the bodies of girls and women and encourages the men to increased material pursuit in any and every manner to satisfy the woman and earn her admiration. This seduction has reduced women to playthings for men and being regarded as beautiful mother animals.
There is a pervading desire to draw the attention of boys and men to the body of the female with fashion that encourages unlimited exposure of the female body in daring styles. Everywhere one looks, it is a field of exposed cleavages, very tight fitting outfits that advertise curves for sale, high slits, open armpits, poking shoulder blades, torn and sagging trousers etc. The trending word is ‘sexy’ and girls and women fall in millions for one liner tongue in cheek compliment that has only one purpose: To defile the goods and move on. There is unbridled sensuality globally and girls and women are the ugly symbols. Any advertisement is not complete without a picture of a skimpily clad female beside a well dressed male. Video clips of reigning dances of latest music releases are not complete without the riveting flashes of near naked female figures in vulgar gyrations around a decently attired male musician. Little children now mimic these dance steps at school parties. And girls and women want to be taken seriously and accorded equality? How many clamour of affirmative actions and protests have we seen or heard from female organisations, female political leaders, wives of leaders condemning this ceaseless assault and debasing of womanhood? A ready excuse is that girls and women are more affected by poverty, so they are easily exploited. But value must be placed on oneself by girls and women and only when they know who they really are can this happen. There is a reign of shamelessness and anything goes and girls and women unfortunately take the lead in these matters. However, the degree of shame anyone expresses reflects how spiritually matured an individual is and how pure are intents and activities.
The girl child is a special gift to the right mother and to her environment. Her path needs to be guarded and guided onto ways that show a strong desire to live as a symbol of true service to the Creator. Her education should not be only one-sided with intellectual goal of excelling at career ladders or pleasing a husband and children, but also she should be awakened to the task of impacting positively anything she touches, having a sense of beauty and not losing the sense of shame. She should not be encouraged to engage in activities that would solidify her body thereby affecting negatively her ability to perceive intuitively. She should be directed to tow the path of virtues and use the power of the Creator only for the good. Boys and men are also encouraged to see the girl and woman as the great support they need to achieve noble manhood. Therefore, treat the female with respect. When she becomes a bearer of light, standing as a mediator that passes on only noble influences, then the future of mankind will be rosy. Not until then.
Mrs. Florence Nduka is Professor of Parasitology, University of Port Harcourt.
Tasks Before Leaders And The Led
Judicial panels inquiring into the grievances of youths and the aftermath of #EndSARS protests are swinging into action in several states. The governors have done well by promptly setting up the panels which are expected to hold the bull by the horns and unravel those things we don’t yet know in the course of the journey that brought us to this pass. The country has been rife with rage in the likeness of the roar of thunder and the temper and speed of lightning with unbelievable devastation in its trail, striking cold shivers in our spines. Whoever goes round in Lagos and watches television to see what happened in states outside Lagos will discover that the scale of destruction was simply mind-rending. Darkness simply seized the land, spewed its currents and released its storms to assail wherever they could find targets. How such looting and destruction could have happened on such an incredibly humongous scale must interest all of us. In some places, overwhelmed security men were asking looters to go in but in peace and cart away whatever they wanted!
The historic edifices such as the Igbosere High Court and its magistrate’s court wing which is the oldest court in Nigeria with its colonial solid structure were set on fire. The Nigerian Ports Authority Head offices at Marina were set ablaze. Police stations and buses all bearing the stamp or symbols of power were unmistakable targets, and warehouses in which COVID-19 palliatives organized by the Corporate bodies in collaborative working were stored got looted evincing hunger-driven desperation as well as anger.
It is hoped that the various panels will exhibit courage to dig deeper into the issues and come up with exhaustive reports and recommendations which will be designed not to please the leader or mislead the led as to their respective responsibilities. There is no action without consequences. Whoever is familiar with the mechanisms governing Creation known as Divine Laws would not regard what has happened lightly because these Natural Laws, unseen as they may be in their tangibility, are living, incorruptible, immutable and self-enforcing, twist or turn as we may wish in our delusionary bravado and smiles. No one can doubt the existence of electricity currents. But no one claiming ignorance of their outworking can be shielded from their effects. Switch on electricity, in a split second, the entire country to which it is connected is lit. This is the way the Laws of God work, bringing to each human being his just deserts.
The foundation for a harmonious and peaceful living, development and progress lies in love and goodness. This will release the milk of human kindness to flow in our veins. They are what the Laws seek to ingrain in us. The looting across the country consumed our nobility of character and toleration. What the government needs to do is embarking on carefully worked out social welfare programmes for the legions of the unemployed and the vulnerable poor. For the youths, this will go simultaneously with acquisition of skills for self employment. Given human nature, this requires deep thought and learning from experiences of other nations so that the youths are not led into self-indulgence and dependency which will defeat the true purpose of life. Fulfilling the purpose of life entails personal struggle in which, buffeted with prayers, lies the unfolding of talents and abilities.
From the #EndSARS protests, we could see that the youths can be pragmatic, well organized and visionary. In the scheme of things, it will be hard to get them to trust the government unless they are involved in the programmes from the planning stage. Elders they trust and chosen by them should be moderators between them and the government where the programmes are concerned. This will also bridge the gap between the government and the youths.
I am unable to exhaust the subject so as not to pre-empt the work of the different panels. The lesson we may go away with for now is that we have fallen short. The society bred the #EndSARS army and the government was characteristically tardy in sitting on the 2018 panel report on the unit’s reforms.
The Guardian
